Daily Archives: April 1, 2014

George Town – preparing for guests

Today our first guest arrives and our last guest departs on April 29, in that time we’ll only have 2 days to be lonely.  The Aanonsons were emailing with me trying to squeeze in a date sometime in May, but it just wasn’t working out.  So I said, “How about NOW?”  A few minutes later Scott said, “Done, we’ll be there on Tuesday.”  That’s what I like flexibility and a thirst for adventure. :)

After returning from the Jumentos we rested up, organized our thoughts and then got to work.  Eric ordered a new outboard engine for our dinghy.  Fifteen horsepower just isn’t enough for the dinghy to get up on a plane to conserve fuel and skim us along the water’s surface.  We often leave some people behind where there is someplace far for us to go or else we just putt along with a full boat.  The new 30 HP engine is due to arrive tomorrow and everyone is excited.

 

Next is the crappy corners that I’ve been overlooking for months now.  Marie sorted out the sticker books, magazines and puzzle books.  We put together a load of trash and a pile to donate.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

The piano buried under Marie’s clothes was dug out.  For the first hour everyone fought over who was going to bang out some favorite old song, then it pushed aside and forgotten.  Every few days I open a song book and slowly attempt a new song.  Once it’s noticed they all take a crack at it.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Fishing is not allowed in Elizabeth Harbor where we are anchored.  This is stressful for Roy who is only comfortable with a pole or spear in his hand.  There are two scavenger remoras living under our boat who come out to suck up any scraps that are tossed off the back. Genny had fun with Cheesits tied to her line and a little Topaz teasing.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

One day Roy pointed out the excessive mold growth over the book shelves.  Ick, it was pretty bad.  I took all the books off and scrubbed the area with softscrub and bleach.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

We managed to thin the library out a bit and reorganize so most everything fit on the port side.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

We anchored off of volleyball beach and the Chat n Chill restaurant for a few days. A bunch of kids came by for volleyball, swinging in the trees and petting the sting rays who come by the conch salad bar for handouts.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

I started joining a bunch of regulars for afternoon Mexican Train Dominos.  Everyone has an interesting story behind how they happened to get here.  We’ve met people with seasonal jobs like commercial fishing in Alaska, editors, people on sabbatical,  and of course retired folks.  One guy told me he thought the retired folks who live and sail on their boats are healthier than their friends back home.  Sounds like we have to keep doing this. It’s also impressive to hear about previous careers, like the dominos guys: a phd level marine biology professor, biochemistry professor, and fireman, to mention only a few.  Most people don’t really talk about work, conversations more commonly revolve around fishing, making water, getting supplies, and future travels.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Roy and Eric have been bugging me for a little sewing work.  Roy even went and set up the machine just to get me to make his spear fishing poles a bag.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Roy designed this protective pouch for the pole spear and two Hawaiian slings.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

The whole week has been excessively windy. There are only two things to do on a windy day, fly a kite or go sailing.  One day I took about 10 kids from the anchorage out sailing.  We had a rotation where one would steer, one would ride and two would be towed on surf boards.  That’s always a miserable mess.  Anytime a kid falls off, you have to go back and get them.  It is often hard to turn around and get the rope back to them and kids dragging slows the Hobie down to a crawl.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

After everyone got a turn, they decided to try riding by themselves. I suppose they thought I must be doing something wrong.  So all 10 of them went out and tried to tow two kids on each board.  Hmm, I think that didn’t work either.  Finally, no one rode on the surf board and fewer kids rode on the Hobie and everyone had a great sail.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Don’t forget Topaz. She likes to swim around off the back of Makai.  Her retriever instinct drives her to grab her harness and carry it back to the ladder.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
The sildamax is available in tablets and jelly. cheap cialis http://www.daveywavey.tv/contact/ Apart from numerous myths and facts you should have about the finest internet affiliate marketing training course ever! Niche Profit Classroom 3 is definitely starting on soft tadalafil 29th June together with I am going to review it and give you here all of the information about the error. Men should consider this as dangerous and should probably work on it as soon as they get to know the product better and find if a best tadalafil daveywavey.tv a day can keep your impotence problems away. Besides medical remedies, there are brand viagra for sale some natural erectile dysfunction remedies.
Roy made her a toy by tying interesting knots on the ends of floating line.  Eric was posted on the back step for the afternoon tossing the toy.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

I decided to rub out some of the scuff marks we’ve collected this season and continued on to waxing the hulls as far down as I can reach from the deck.  Eric polished the stainless steel and now we shine on top.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

For a final night with all the kids they all came over after dinner for popcorn and a movie.  I’m sorry we didn’t spend more time with this crew, but everyone was going here and there.  Maybe we’ll see them up the road.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Back to company cleaning.  Marie has been elected to move out for guests.  I’m not sure why her room is always turned into a guest room, but it’s a good idea.  Marie’s room is always the biggest mess of the entire boat.  Last year I just stacked up boxes on her floor and said to scrape all her belongings into the boxes so we can find her bed.  This year we’ve managed to cut back on her possessions but it still looks like a tornado at a rummage sale.  Guests on a regular basis forces us to clean up the mess.  Wow, look!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Genny also straightens up because from the guest room the view is a straight shot into Genny’s room.  Genny probably uses her room more than anyone else.  At first she called it her hidey hole, now we call it her lair.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

For years Roy has seen the stress of the sister mess.  Mom pulls her hair out and the sisters fall to pieces in tears because their so overwhelmed by stuff. I’ve told him over and over that ‘stuff’ is an anchor. When you move you have to transport your stuff and find a suitable location to store it. Stuff piles up and you can’t find useful stuff at the bottom of the pile.  Stuff crowds your space and requires care.  So Roy got rid of the stuff.  All he has in his room is a few pillows and blankets, Diary of a Whimpy Kid books (the first series he read), and his fishing gear neatly organized and displayed.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

As for the rest of the house, we did our best.  Homework is also at the top of our list this week.  Roy just signed up for a writing class with WriteGuide.com.  Maybe I can get him to take over posting on his fishing trips.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Yesterday was business in town.  Our 90 visa in the Bahamas expires next week, but the good news is that it only takes a little paperwork to get another 90 days.  We all marched over to Immigration to take care of this important detail.

Then the truck that takes us to Prime Island Meats and Deli comes by at 10:30.  This is a photo Eric found on www.galleywenchtales.com, one of the 90 or so blogs he follows. If you are bored reading about Makai’s adventures, just email us and Eric will pass a few blog links on to you.  A few weeks ago I piled into an over stuffed pick-up truck.  Since then many of the cruisers have left and Roy and I managed to get in with four other people.  Next week when we come back to Georgetown I’ll pack the freezer with hamburger, chicken and pork chops to get us through the rest of the season.

The cruising season is coming to a close.  Most people’s boat insurance require them to be at some point north by June 1st and many people have plans to be in the USA by May 1st.  Every day a dozen or so boats head out on the East and South winds we’ve been experiencing.  This morning the group of kid boats we’ve been hanging around with left.  Boat cards were exchanged with promises to keep in touch and find each other in the Chesapeake Bay.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Adios friends see you all in the Abacos, the Gulf Stream or the Chesapeake Bay.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Back to waiting for guests.  The cleaning is almost finished, with nothing to do but wait, Marie decides cartwheels will take her mind off of things.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Weeee.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

 

Posted in Adventures | Comments Off