Blue Heaven Rendezvous: Busy, Busy, Busy

Al and I dressed for Valentine's Day Dinner

For the last two weeks it has been a very busy and social time. Valentines Day found us at St. Francis Resort for a wonderful meal with our friends Toni and Dave and Cathy and Tom from Perseverance II. It was the best meal I ever had in the Bahamas. They offered limited choices but all were delicious. Crab cakes, conch chowder or Greek salad for an appetizer. Main dish choices were Grouper Dijon or Rack of Lamb with real vegetables like baby carrots, cauliflower and broccoli and Strawberry Cheesecake or Chocolate Cake for dessert.

The luscious lamb entree.

A glass of champagne was also included. It was a lovely dinner and afterward we went to dance under the stars on the deck at another bar/restaurant called Chat 'n Chill with Rockin' Ron and Cool Karen spinning the tunes once more.

Dancing the night away.

They must really get into Valentines Day in the Bahamas because even at church on Sunday it was decorated with red and white hearts and it was packed with couples, most of who wore red and/or white. Even many of the men had on red pants or red shirts. After Mass they did a renewal of vows for couples too.

We have had some calm weather to once again go snorkeling and so I got a few more underwater scenes.

Snorkeling the reef with friends from Bristol Creme

One of my better fish pictures.

Elk Horn Coral

Ladies enjoying the lu;ncheon.

As I mentioned it has been a very social time. We have been on the beach for Happy Hour, to another person's boat for dinner and games. We have had some people on our boat for dinner as well. I also organized another ladies luncheon and followed the same format as before. It worked great because almost everyone was new except for about 4 people. The women got to know a little about someone they never met and introduced each other. We also had 3 door prizes again. One which was a homemade loaf of bread I baked. You would have thought they had gotten gold! Here we have Ann from Annteak, Chris on Tilt and Dorene on Delcia.

Al blowing his conch horn in a contest.

Another day we went for a Seven Seas Cruising Assoc. lunch meeting on the beach. After the meeting they had a conch blowing contest and Al came in second losing by a hair.

I have been doing yoga on the beach each morning and also a core/pilates type class as well. My body has been screaming sometimes during that class but hopefully it is screaming less now.

Regatta started Friday, February 21^st. Sign ups were on the Volleyball Beach and the crowds came out to sign up. Not only are there sailing races but also all sorts of athletic and non-athletic events. I am in charge of the Arts and Crafts Show so I signed up those who want to display their arts and craft talent.

People signing up for all the events from sail races, volleyball, bocce to scavenger hunt and much more!

This is the lead boy for the junkanoo band.

The same night was opening night talent show over in town at Regatta Park. All sorts of acts from Bahamians and cruisers were included. Several types of bands as well as the young junkanoo group were there. This fellow is not giving a naughty sign. He is signaling to his group with two fingers up!

The Blues Brothers doing there thing!

Some Bahamian dancers and several cruisers who sang or played instruments were also part of the entertainment. The “Blues Brothers” also visited who were a real hoot! Al was in the conch horn blowing contest. Once again he came in second. He just can't seem to reach that first place!

Al on stage this time, but still coming in second!

The crowds enjoying the show.

Sailing on Dejavu a catamaran. A bit different experience.

Al and I also participated on the “Around Stocking Island” race but not on our boat. We joined our friends on Dejavu a 45' catamaran with another couple from a smaller catamaran. We were sailing along at 10 knots once out of the harbor and all of a sudden a very loud bang occurred with the furling system breaking away from the bow. It flailed a few times at the back of the boat until the men got in under control. They hand rolled the sail in and got it tied to the life lines. Luckily, no one got hurt badly. The furler hit the one man on the back of his head to give him a lump but nothing more serious.

The men getting things under control after the furling breaking.

That ended our competitive race but we still went the entire course under a smaller staysail because he had an inner forestay as well. We ended the day at the after race party at St. Francis Resort with almost everyone else on the 250 boats in the harbor!

Even though we have been busy with regatta, we still find time to go into town or walk the trails or beaches. One find that I wanted to share with you is the beautiful helmet shell Al found.

Helmet shell find!

It is rather small for a helmet, but it was a great find because shells and sea beans have been very scarce this year probably due to the fact that there were not any hurricanes last fall.

A hummingbird nest was discovered on a branch at eye level.

Another interesting find was a hummingbirds nest we found at eye level. I should have put my finger next to it so you could see the size. It was about the size of my thumb. How many times do you get to see a hummingbird's nest!

I also worked on my “Bay Bean” jewelry. You can see what I got done for the Arts and Crafts show.

My Bay Bean jewelry.

I made bracelets with jasper, tiger eye and fresh water pearl beads in between. I also did one necklace and bracelet to match. They were given to the Chinese auction we held to raise money for the commercial oven for the culinary program at the high school. We raised $720 which we felt was very good. At the Arts and Crafts show, I displayed my rug hooking, jewelry and baskets I made. There were artists with paintings but most were a variety of crafts such as knitting, quilting, jewelry, junk art, rope art and my rug hooking.

I am explaining the rug hooking process to fellow cruiser.

Even the young displayed their creations.

People enjoying the arts and craft show.

These were the items for the raffle that netted $710 for the high school commercial oven.

Some beautiful cut work and dyeing.

Al in the Beach Golf Tournament

Two other activities Al participated was the golf tournament held on the beach and Coconut Harvest Challenge. Al said it was like playing in one “big ass” sand trap.

The children had small boat races with the boats they made. It was fun to see all the different ideas they and their parents had!

The kids and their boats.

You can see their creations.

Our team ready to go!

The Coconut Challenge was a team of four doing three different challenges with coconuts. There were at least 17 teams. They release about a thousand coconuts in the small harbor and the teams jump in the dinghy and propulsion is only with one swim fin per person or their hands. They paddle and try to collect as many coconuts as possible.

Our team trying their best!

But they only came back with 8 coconuts!

Our team had a rough start getting into the dinghy and were not in a very good spot for the direction of the flow of coconuts. They only got eight while one team got over 100.

The next challenge is throwing 2 coconuts each over the volleyball net and into a target area. You can see what finesse our team had and the results.

Not too many points there.

They caught every one but not enough to win!

The last challenge is one person hands coconuts to the person who has their back to the other two teammates. They have a garbage bag between them and must catch as many coconuts as possible in 10 seconds without going over the designated line. Our team had a lot of fun but no beer, wine or rum for them! Better luck next time.

I played in the bocci tournament with as much success as the coconut challenge team had. No win but had fun!

Trying my hand at bocce.

All these busy times are interspersed with a few quiet moments as you can see early one morning when even the wind quieted down and at sunset one evening.