Our next port of call after the booming metropolis of Rock Sound Harbor Eleuthera was to be the Exumas Land and Sea Park at Wardwick Wells. This is not so much a town as a preserve. The snorkeling is said to be wonderful and we were looking forward getting a chance to get in the water again, especially now that the water temperature had increased from 65 to 75 degrees.

Okay, I’m thinking here I’m going to get some good natured ribbing but in my defense when you are going to be in the water for an hour or more the difference between 65 degree water and 75 degree water is substantial. If you don’t believe me you come visit and I’ll show you.

On arrival to the island we were disappointed to find that there was a strong westerly wind which made the mooring field quite bouncy. Expecting the wind to settle down and switch we settled in for the night and in the morning went to check in at the office. Due to the fact that the wind had not yet clocked around or reduced Monica and I decided to do home school on the beach near the office. It was a stunning vista and completely comfortable (on land).

In addition to math, reading and writing Nicole was also enamored by the small yellow and black banana birds which you could feed by hand just outside the park office. They have tongues that they flick in and out as they eat almost like humming birds. We fed them in our hands sometimes with as many as 7 per hand. The park provides sugar in a small jar and they flock to it and literally lick the sugar out of your hand and wipe their beaks on the sides of your hand when they get too much crusted along the edge of their beak. The whole thing was just adorable as well as a good nature field trip for school.

Then we fed some other birds (which looked more like the mocking birds we have back home) some of our crackers, they came to visit us the moment we sat down at the picnic table, smart birds. After that we created a hysterical scene with some giant hermit crabs and a bit of the same crackers. These hermit crabs are not like the ones we have on the boat these guys are the size of Nicole’s fist. They are so big I’m afraid to pick them up due to the risk of being pinched.

I decided perhaps the hermit crabs (who were hanging around under the bird feeder) would be interested in some of the cracker too. I took a corner of one back to the spot I’d seen the hermit crabs and dropped it in front of one of the larger hermit crabs who appeared to be combing through the sand for crumbs of sugar dropped by the birds. For a moment I thought the crab wasn’t going to be interested. Suddenly I saw him wheel and head off to the underside of the building.

As though in slow motion replay of a football move the larger hermit crab (I’ll call him #1) tucked the entire piece of cracker under his shell and headed away from the other crabs. The nearest crab wasn’t fooled, somehow he knew about the goody and started following #1. #1 turned and with his other claw he pushed the smaller crab, a big shove, which the smaller crab tried to block. The smaller crab was no match for #1’s strength and it rolled the smaller crab right over on his back. By that time the other crabs were on to #1 and started to bum rush him (all in slow motion mind you). It was quite interesting to watch.

Later Paul got a chance to reproduce the drama with another piece of cracker and then even later we fed a large rather bold lizard a piece of cracker that had apple (kind of like the peanut butter crackers) jam in it. He had the kids in stitches as he tried to fit the entire piece into his mouth at one time. Once he finally managed to swallow the cracker, which took a lot of work, he licked his mouth to get the crumbs and jam off his lips and finally resorted to rubbing his side of his mouth on the rocks to get rid of the excess. We all laughed until it hurt! No snorkeling but what a great time.

In the Bahamas you should be prepared to do it yourself or go without. We have it good because regularly at home we try to solve our problems without buying something new or taking it for repairs. Boyd, in particular, hates to pay someone else for something he can do himself. He finds that many of the repair people you can get to come out to the house are not familiar with the type of product you expect them to service even if you called ahead to tell them the exact make and model of whatever you are calling about.

When our furnace died in the middle of the night on a Sunday night some winters ago he calmly got up went to the basement, popped off the front of the furnace and filed down the prongs (I think the are called igniters) then screwing the front back on the furnace he hit the restart button and the 15 year old furnace fired up as though it were new. Last year before we left the house the refrigerator, which was only 7 years old, started getting a thick coating of frost on the inside of the “frost free” freezer side.

No matter what I did it didn’t seem to matter. I adjusted the temperature, kept the freezer relatively free of unnecessary items and still it frosted over every 7-10 days. Once frosty it was impossible to keep anything appropriately cold in the freezer and I lost several partial gallons of ice cream to the problem. Left to my own devices I would have had to call a repairman or even worse purchase a new refrigerator. Boyd fixed it.

I think here in the Bahamas all of the experience working on our home, our rental units, and even more so our boat before we came has put us in a good position to be self reliant and it’s a good thing too!

The following is a true story and none of the names have been changed to protect the innocent. Paul has been somewhat resistant to fishing (well truth is he loves the fishing part and he even loves the eating the fish part, he can’t stand the part in between). Up until the last 3 days he has been something more than hesitant to go fishing knowing that if we catch it here I’m not playing, I’m cooking it! At home he just catches and releases in the Royal River.

Three days ago our friends on Taua put out a line and amazingly Peter caught an enormous Mahi (or dolphin fish). We weren’t able to weigh it but it was 49 inches long and when I lifted the carcass with the majority of the meat already removed it felt like about 30 lbs still.

We have eaten that as Taua shared generously for the last 3 nights. We had it sautéed in garlic, marinated in teriyaki and tonight I battered and fried some as well. It has been absolutely delicious and, I think, finally Paul is ready to fish.

Just a couple of problems were left to overcome. The first one was that we didn’t have the correct lures, so we bought some. The second one was that we didn’t have the correct line, so we bought some of that. The last one was getting the line that was on Paul’s reel off Paul’s reel and getting the new heavier line onto the reel. I think that this picture should explain it all.

Here Paul holds the line as Boyd winds it off the reel with an ingenious invention involving two paper plates, an empty coke can, a pencil, and the battery operated drill. Nicole helps by holding the pencil. See if you can figure out how we did this.

Taua’s return was a wonderful sight for us. Nicole was nearly beside herself, she was so happy. Unfortunately for Taua they had steering trouble, which was the reason for their sudden reappearance. On the positive note Boyd was able to help identify the problem. They were able to order a part and receive it in a very short period of time and now are ready to sail again. They kindly offered to stay until we were also repaired. Their part came in and repairs were made on Monday and our part was in and repairs were made on Wednesday. Now, since everyone is clear to go to the Exumas as soon we will leave as soon as the weather allows.

Meantime the girls have not eaten dinner apart once. They are together as much as we will allow them to be and they are entirely happy. Sleepovers have begun to be the hallmark of our stay here at Marsh Harbor as, for the girls at least, it has turned into one big play date run on. Did I mention how happy we are that they returned?!!

Looks like the weather will be cooperative by the weekend and we’ll try to move down to Little Harbor then. Little Harbor is the end of the inside in the Sea of Abaco. In fact we can’t get into Little Harbor and will have to anchor outside. That’s the way it is over here. 5.5 ft draft and some places you just can’t get to. For the most part though it hasn’t held us back. I wouldn’t want to try to see this area with a deeper draft though. It’s a squeeze sometimes even for us.

Well it had to happen eventually and today’s the day. Taua, the boat with Nicole’s friend Claudia on it left the marina. It’s been a sad day aboard Passages as Nicole’s 10 year old friend Claudia left the dock headed for the Exumas. We can’t go with them because our part still hasn’t come in and there is only a small weather window to cross from Abacos to Eleuthera so they decided to get out. I don’t blame them.

From where we are, in Marsh Harbor, you have to go out of the Sea of Abaco to get to the Exumas. In fact you have to go out of the “Little Harbor Cut” which is similar to the Whale. This means that the same weather conditions that impact the passage conditions at the Whale impact the Little Harbor Cut. Everyone has to wait for decent weather and good sea conditions to leave the Sea of Abaco and start off to Eleuthera or the Exumas.

Taua saw a two day weather window with North wind and a good sea state and they decided to go for it. We were all so sad to see them go. Peter and Boyd get along well and talk incessantly about engines, steering and all manner of boat stuff. I enjoy Monica’s company equally as she is such a gentle person, never flustered and very easy going.

After just a night and a morning without having Taua around I was already asking Boyd when we could leave just so we could catch up with Taua. Nicole missed Claudia that much. We started school and I found myself unable to offer the carrot, “As soon as you finish you can go play with Claudia” as I had just the day before. It’s probably the most difficult part of this trip, meeting people that you really like, not just interesting but fascinating people with whom conversation just seems to flows effortlessly and then moving on.

As tough as it is for us it’s harder for the kids as we can have the perspective that we will perhaps meet again, stay in touch, or meet someone else that is just as interesting, compatible or nice in the next anchorage.

Nicole was laboring through her school work as I went up on deck to hang out the laundry (at least the breeze taking Taua to the Exumas could dry some laundry for us). Can you imagine my surprise when I looked off our port rail to see what appeared to be Taua. Not willing to sound the alarm without being entirely sure I was right I put down the laundry and went to the cockpit to get the binoculars. Before I could get them out I became convinced that it was safe to announce the Return of Taua.

Marsh Harbor is full of “two blender” boats. Oh, you don’t know this term, two-blender boat; well it’s probably because it’s a faithism. It’s an old category of boats that have been seen and recognized by many other boaters for many years but have been previously under identified. Two blender boats are often powerboats but this category is not exclusively power, some sailboats can be seen among the largest of the class. It is also possible to find monohull and catamarans this classification however cat’s are more prevalent and often come in a shorter lengths.

Two blender boats in the powerboat variety are usually over 45 ft while the catamaran may come in shorter lengths. Monohulls in the two-blender boat genius nearly always come in substantially larger sizes, 65 ft or over.

Two blender-boats are created when the owner of the craft makes the decision that their boat is of the size that requires, nay demands two blenders. Most of the rest of us, on boats of more modest lengths wrestle with the decision, do we bring a Crockpot or not, what about the stand mixer? Maybe the hand mixer, or the rice cooker, should be left behind.

The decision is influenced primarily by the size of your boat and the amount of storage available. The first requirement of a two-blender boat is that the boat is large enough to store 2 blenders. Second the boat’s owner must be of the ilk to prioritize dedicating the available space for storing blenders rather than something else. By default this means that the blender is high enough on the priorities list to demand two.For the owner of a two blender boat there is the need, or perceived need to have either one blender and a backup or actually to have two blenders going at one time on the boat. This is a big, party boat.