Thursday morning Sunrise

Our Plan-B in getting Cindy back to the Bahamas went as planned. I met her at the Treasure Cay airport around 12:45 p.m. on Wednesday. She was worn out from the proceedings of the past couple of weeks and had only slept for an hour or two the night before. She was happy to be back in the Bahamas. Sam, our taxi driver, took us the 2-3 miles back to the Green Turtle Cay Ferry Dock where we enjoyed a Goombay Smash with William, another cruiser she met on the plane who has a boat here in Green Turtle Cay. A short ferry ride across the Sea of Abaco had us back on Beatitude. It was another beautiful day.

Cindy arriving in Treasure Cay

It took Cindy a day or so to catch up on sleep and relax, so Thursday was spent chilling on the boat. It was, for the most part, a blustery, cool, rainy day, anyway. We did do a little laundry in the old-fashioned style. You may remember, I swore (sort of) to never spend $40.00 to do a couple of loads of laundry again. So, our 5-gallon bucket and our “Breathing Mobile Washer” was put to use. It actually does a really good job. And, as a bonus, I get a little bit of an upper body workout! Cindy and I hand-wrung the freshly washed and rinsed clothes and hung them outside on the lifelines and the clothesline I had strung from the mast to the forestay. We had dinner at the Jolly Roger Bar at our marina, before returning back to the boat where we played a little “golf” (card game) before retiring.

Our brand-new washing machine!

A look at the complex washing mechanism (minus the power source… me.)

Putting up the clothes-line

Hanging out the laundry to dry

Dinner at Jolly Rogers

Friday we finished laundry and headed to town on Dalí (our dinghy). New Plymouth is on the south side of the island, whereas Bluff House is sitting on the north end. It’s only a couple of mile ride. We tied the dinghy to the public dock while we went to the post office to buy some stamps and send some mail (Only 65 cents for a first class stamp to the U.S.). We then did a little grocery shopping and had lunch at The Wrecking Tree restaurant. The restaurant was literally built around a special tree that extends through a porch and seating area. Throughout the mid-1800s, wrecking ships operated out of the New Plymouth Harbour, salvaging sailing vessels that fell prey to the many shallow reefs in the area. At that time, wrecking was big business in The Bahamas, especially in Green Turtle Cay where at least 17 wrecking ships operated. The wrecking tree itself is where Green Turtle’s wreckers would bring their salvaged treasures. From here, under the shade of the tree, the loot was cataloged and prepared for shipment to Nassau. Our food was really good. I had cracked conch and cole slaw. The cole slaw in the Bahamas is excellent wherever we have tried it. The conch was wonderful. I had had some at the Bluff House last month that was a little chewy and disappointing. The conch at the Wrecking Tree was wonderful. After our day on the town, we decided to have a movie night. In between making water and grilling some burgers for dinner, we watched two really good movies, Black Nativity and The 100-Foot Journey. I’d recommend both.

Beatitude bedecked with drying clothing

White Sound, Beatitude behind

At the New Plymouth post office

Post office

Beautiful Bougainvilleas in New Plymouth

Neighborhood Rooster

Walking the streets of New Plymouth

The Wrecking Tree

Cracked Conch at The Wrecking Tree

Beautiful Bahamian Girl

Public Dinghy Dock in New Plymouth

Leaving New Plymouth

This morning (Saturday) is nice and calm with plenty of sunshine. I believe that is going to change later to day, but for now the weather is beautiful. Now that we’ve both recovered from our time in the States, we need to set a tentative agenda for the next 17-18 days until I return to Lakeland to work. Julie and Tracy are flying into Marsh Harbour in 6 days. We will plan on being there on the 16th to rendezvous with them. Other than that, we have no definite agenda.

Beatitude’s Christmas Cactus (a gift from Margaret at Regatta Pointe in Palmetto) in Bloom

Descending from the dock onto Beatitude near low tide (The tidal range here in the Bahamas is a little over three feet so there is a significant difference in getting on the boat at high and low tides).

This morning’s sunrise