Close Encounters

Randy the manatee is still living in the harbor. He has become so accustomed to people and boats that it is becoming dangerous to him. People have enticed him to their water hoses to drink, which encourages him to stay around. One day we noticed that the water hose here at the marina was dripping and Randy was upside down drinking. We shut it off, but Paul from the fuel dock said he had to do it because Randy had been out front trying to drink the water coming out of customers' outboard motors. The manatee just hears the splashing of water and doesn't realize that it's probably saltwater cooling the engines until he first drinks it, but meanwhile the engines are running. Scary.

Randy also like hanging out at the haul-out area in the back pond. He probably hears the water running off the seawall when the workers are pressure washing and cleaning boats. Dave was cleaning Walkabout one day and yup, there's Randy. Luckily when he was in the water yesterday cleaning the bottom of our skiff, Randy didn't sidle up to him. He's been known to do that and several people have gone in the water to swim with him. They say he is gentle, but he has tried to mate with rubber dinghies and was even brushing up against Jim's kayak in the pond the other day. Everyone must remember that he can hold his breath longer than they can if he ends up holding you under! In Catherine's photo below you can see how he has been brushing up against all the boats with bottom paint. I think it's time Randy found a girlfriend!

The scariest thing is that most of us that are here for the winter keep a good look out for him, but there are so many charterers and small boat renters that are oblivious to what is going on. Who would ever expect to see a manatee in the Bahamas? I sure hope he remains healthy and unhurt.

Hard To Believe

It sure is hard to believe that Dave and I were married 39 years ago today! We have done a lot in all those years and our lives certainly have been diverse. I wish I had a wedding photo to put on here, but this is us now. There aren't too many photos taken of the two of us because I am usually the photographer...

Next year will be our 40th and how can we top what we already do? Perhaps we'll go back to the Bahama's Exuma Islands like we did in New Horizon. I wonder if our sign is still on Boo Boo Hill?

Then again, maybe we'll just stay here. I love this photo from the Hope Town Marina's hot tub that Catherine took. In fact it is part of a family collage hanging in my mother's room at Grace Manor.

Happy anniversary Dave! Here's to 39 more years as our story continues!

Stormy Weather

Our weather has been wild for a couple of days. On Wednesday, the wind and clouds kept building. We always know we are in for a blow when there is a parade of boats coming into our harbor. There wasn't a mooring or marina slip available anywhere in Hope Town Harbour. As soon as it got dark it started pouring and blowing so hard from the southeast that our whole covered porch was wet. By 11 PM the cistern had overflowed and we had 4” of water at the base of our stairs. Even the next morning the water was still coming out the overflow. It didn’t help that for the past 3 days the watermaker (makes 100 gal./hr.!) had been on, so the cistern was almost full to start with.  The wind was howling and whistling through the jalousie windows that don’t close all the way. Our cabinet doors under the kitchen sink were creaking and opening up like the place was haunted. At 1:30 AM it was blowing 40 mph. We heard later it blew 30-40 for 6 hours with gusts to 46. I actually saw one of our shingles going flying by. We fell asleep and at 4 AM the wind died and all was quiet for a few minutes until the rain teemed down so hard you couldn’t see outside. In fact I couldn’t see out my windows in the morning and had to clean them from the salt and rain spray. At 7 AM the sky was blue and there was a rainbow with not a breath of wind. It all seemed like a nightmare!

Yesterday afternoon thunderstorms and a white squall appeared just as some of our cruising friends were getting married down at the Abaco Inn. Rain on a wedding is good luck right? It did provide another beautiful rainbow and in fact we had two of them in different spots around sunset.

Dave claims it poured rain during last night too, but I slept through it after the previous night's lack of sleep. The cistern is full again, which is a good thing!

The Award

Here is the photo of Dave and the 'Web Bandits' receiving the Founders' Cup from Race Committee Chairman David (I haven't figured out why David and Dave are holding hands though LOL). Although we don't get to actually keep the cup, Sunrise and skipper Dave will be immortalized on its plaque.  We do get to keep a first place HTSC glass to add to our growing collection.

Next time we bring champagne!

 

Thank you Catherine for these great photos.

Shoppers' Delight

Yesterday was the annual Man-O'-War Flea Market to benefit their primary school. Believe it or not, Dave actually rounded up some items to sell there. Yes, that's right, Dave got rid of some things!

We shared a table with some new found friends and sold almost all our items. We have never seen so many people in this normally quiet island as there were on this gorgeous day. Ferries came laoded with people from Marsh Harbour, Guana Cay, and Hope Town so all could buy, sell, and eat the delicious food and baked goods. It was another one of those days that we will remember for a long time.

Founder's Cup

Today was another race day and Sunrise had a new crew member...ME! With light winds, and sometimes no wind, it was a good time for me to go out and race.

John is my editor for the sailing club's website, so with our sun protective gear we were calling ourselves the web bandits.

We were over the start line early due to another boat being so close and we had no where to go, so we had to do 360 degree turn and start again.

The race was a challenge looking for zephers of wind and some of the boats fell into 'holes' of no wind. For some reason we were in the right place at the right time and sailed right on by them.

We ended up coming over the finish line second, but when the handicaps were tallied we WON! That makes 4 firsts out of  the 5 races held this season. As soon as the awards photos are available, I will post them. Meanwhile, many thanks to Will for all the race course images.

Perfection

Finally photos of Dave sailing Dandy are available! I especially like the one with him in front of the Abaco Rage. The sail is set perfectly, the name boards on the stern stand out nicely, and it is like sailing an antique piece of furniture.

Next time (hopefully) I'll be in the photos too.

The Past Week

It's hard to believe that a week has gone by since I posted last. It has been a week filled with meetings, luncheons, great visits with friends from both home and here, and lots of sailing. Unfortunately no one has taken any photos of us yet!  I hate to say it, but except for a few chilly cold fronts, our weather has been better than normal. I know everyone from up north hates to hear that when they are digging out from two major snowstorms.

We had our annual HTSC men's and ladies luncheons last week. 45 men went to a past commodore's house and sat around eating tons of fantastic food and talked about sailing. Meanwhile 52 ladies went to the Hope Town Lodge and ate beautifully presented salads...isn't that what ladies are supposed to eat? 😉 We had a fun and entertaining scarf demonstration, complete with door prizes, of which I won one! It's a gorgeous 100% silk scarf that the woman organizing the event had acquired while on a trip to China. Just as nice was the credit I was given for all my hard work at the club and on their website, plus the applause when my name was called.

Dave raced Sunfish in light to no wind yesterday. He came in 4th in very challenging conditions trying to get over the finish in the last race.

With the calm conditions there were many spectators watching the action (or lack of action as the afternoon unfolded). One larger boat had brought a grill and coerced one of the skiffs to deliver hot dogs to everyone watching the races and even the competitors. It was really quite memorable. Hot dogs anyone?

I'll try to keep you better posted on our activities, but if you don't see anything new, rest assured we're just out doing the everyday things we enjoy doing.

Lil' Will

My fears have come to life with the arrival of Lil' Will the rooster. We named him that because our friend Will (who takes all those great cruising boat race photos) imitates him perfectly. During the holidays, Gertrude the hen disappeared. I was really hoping that she was nesting and would return with some chicks, but we never saw her again. That means she was probably someone's Christmas dinner, since she was so friendly and easily caught. About a week or so ago, I saw a chicken from my balcony and thought she was back and threw down some cereal, only to have the bird start crowing! Bad idea. Now he comes around and calls out for food, which I don't give him. Twice now he has come up on our porch and looked in the door.

I have a spray bottle of water that I chase him down the stairs with to discourage the climb up. Funny thing is that I think he may like it. Another bad idea I think.

At least he waits until about 9 AM to start coming around and stays with his buddies up at the lighthouse next door in the early morning hours. I love hearing them, but only in the distance!

One More Win...Sort Of

Today Dave raced in the Sunfish races and did quite well. In fact in the final race of the three race series he actually came in first, which is quite a feat with all the fantastic sailors out there. Overall he came in 4th out of 12 boats, but he only missed out on 3rd place by one point. Dave is #2571 and his competitiveness keeps him in the center of the action...when he isn't out front!

Now it's time to take a break from racing, but we'll still be out there sailing in Dandy and Suja the daysailer. Hopefully someone will email us photos, since we are pretty impressive looking...or at least I think we are!

Winning Streak

Dave just won the two race series for the Hope Town Cup as skipper of the Capri 25 Sunrise! He and his crew won both of the races by a huge amount. That's three races in a row that the boat has won and the race committee took note (as did all the other competitors), and his handicap was changed to give others a chance to catch him. We'll see what happens in two weeks when the next race takes place. He always loves a challenge! Many thanks to Will Heyer for the use of his photos taken out on the race course. More photos of the two day regatta can be found on www.hopetownsailingclub.com .