Back to the boat

but not for long.  

We spent a week with Tom's sister Pat and her husband Frank in Fort Meyers, Florida.  They had just moved into a large beautiful condominium in Gulf Harbor Yacht and Golf club where they have lived for many years and had plenty of space for us.   We had lots of family time. Below Tom and Frank are together in charge of amusing Tom's great-grand niece Elena.




Many of the days, Tom spent helping his mother move from one apartment to another one, one with a lanai.   But one day, we spent hanging out at the club, sunning and swimming at the pool and walking the trail along an island breakwater in front of the marina.



One day, on the way back from Tom's mother's, we stopped at a nature center  - Six Mile Slough and walked the trail there.    We did see some nature!    A couple of wild boars,

some painted turtles,

some intricate wetlands,

and an ibis.

After the week, we rented a car and drove the 12 hours back to Beaufort and our boat.

Now we are waiting for the mechanic to come and complete a few tasks on the motor and to take the boat on a sea trial to be sure that all is working well.  Our plan now is to put the boat in storage, either here or a little farther south, go back to Arkansas and spend a month visiting, seeing our doctors and dentist, and generally regrouping. 

We plan to take my van or another rv up through the northeast this summer.   Sometime in the fall we plan to go back to the boat and take it south, maybe to Ft. Myers and on down toward the keys.

Home again, Home again . . . . .

to the United States, we mean.

Tom and I flew the 180 miles from Marsh Harbor, the Bahamas, to Palm Beach, Florida on Friday, March 7.    From there, we rented a car and are now in Fort Myers, Florida, staying with Tom's sister Pat and her husband Frank in their 3-bedroom condominium in Gulf Harbor.

While in the Bahamas, we had poor access to the internet so I'll be showing many pictures of beautiful places, which I may not be able to identify.  Our host and captain Barry took us to a different harbor almost every day so we got to sample many of the great places in the Abacos, the northern Bahamas.

When we got close enough to most islands we could hear roosters crowing.  




After leaving Man Jack, the island we wrote about in the last blog, we went back and got a mooring ball in White Sound of Green Turtle Cay where we had checked in.  There we rented a golf cart and drove the 3+ miles to New Plymouth, the town.  It turned out to be the most "real" of the towns we visited.

We were continuously impressed by how beautiful the water was.  And noticing the difference in the blues between the sky and the water

From Green Turtle, we motored over to moor in Treasure Cay.  It is mostly a resort development. It has no downtown, but a lovely beach.  We actually lost each other there:  Barry walked a long way to the end and when he came back we missed each other at the entrance so we each thought we'd been abandoned somehow.  We happily remade each other's acquaintance about cocktail time.

I think the pictures below are from Guana Cay.  There the beach was also beautiful.  There were rock/coral structures on the beach where people could find little pockets to settle into.

After the beach walk, we hitched a ride in a golf cart to the resort end of the cay and walked back.  We stopped for "Three for $10" beers at a little bayside restaurant.

Then Barry took us over to Hopetown, a colorful fully-populated old and new town.  It is on the island farthest east from the U.S. - 180 miles from Florida.

We took a mooring ball deep into the crowded harbor. Our first stop when we left the boat was to the light house.  It is one of only three like it in the world.  Ignoring modern technology, it is still lit by kerosene-fueled flames amplified by huge prisms.   Three lights sweep around at night, turned by giant gears we saw when we climbed up into the lighthouse.

No, I'm not pregnant here.  I think the wind blew my shirt full of air.  Surely, it's not just me!

When we walked around town, there were too many pretty scenes to photograph!

Several times, Barry mentioned that they should be able to grow bananas in the islands.  We confirmed that when we saw these.

After Hopetown, we anchored outside of Man-of-War Cay.   There, after the walk into town, I tried out our snorkelng gear by the boat.  Later, we dinghyed over to some underwater rock ledges and all snorkeled, but found nothing to eat or keep. 

Our last stop was at Marsh Harbor where we were to fly from on Friday.   It is mostly a large safe harbor with large stores for provisioning.  Really no quaint, colorful downtown.   Our last stop from a shopping expedition was below, where I bought some fresh fish we cooked for our dinner.

We explored a little more the next day and had lunch at a tiny restaurant/bar behind these abandoned pilings.

Now, we are here in Florida, exploring Ft. Myers.  It's a vibrant tropical town with a variety of waterways and marinas alongside.  Is there an anchorage here in our future?