March in the Abacos

March was a good month. 

We enjoyed nature.  The weather was hotter.  The sunshine would warm not only your body, but also seemed to penetrate to the soul.  Some of the sunsets were so beautiful, they would bring tears to your eyes. 

As seen from Tilloo Cay

As seen from Grabbers

Same

At times dolphins froliked around the boat, both in our wake and at anchor.

Dolphins circling the boat

We had many celebrations of just being alive (aka Happy Hours). 

Happy Hour on the R&B Haven - Starboard Watch

Same, Port Watch

The Hosts

We renewed old friendships.  We made new ones.

Dinner onboard Zingaro

Scotty and Mary-Lyn, their daughter Christa and son-in law, Mike

Brad and Karen looking sad as usual

BBQ on the beach

Ian and Sharon joining us for dinner

They are from Ottawa

Gerald and Diane as they pass North from the Exumas

Gerald and I worked together for the Canadian Federal Government

New Friends in New Plymouth, Debbie and Jim

The were travelling to the Abacos when we were leaving

More sad times in New Plymouth

We attended the Barefoot Man Concert at Nipper's Bar on Great Guana.  To some, this is a great excuse for 60 plus year olds to behave as if they were back in their 20s and back in unversity.  No one seems to care that none of them can really pull it off.

The "stage"

A fan with the right attitude

Friends dancing to the music

We were nominted to be charter members of the new Abaco AA Society (Alchohol Appreciation). 

Sipping rum and cokes on the beach.

Note, it was so cold, I actually wore jeans

My daughter visited for a week (my personal highlight of the month and one of Bev's also).  We established a new kind of relationship with her.

Relaxing on the Flybridge

By the beach at Hope Town

Taking a break from sea glass hunting at Hope Town

At the top of Hope Town Lighthouse

On the beach at Treasure Cay

We watched the pouring of bronze sculptures at Little Harbour.

Clay bust. 

A latex/rubber mould would be built around this. After it has been peeled off, it may be re-used many times to create a wax replica of the original sculpture.  The wax is then dipped into a stucco like slurry until a female mould is built up.  The wax is then melted out. The female mould may then be filled with bronze.

Tin men reparing to pour molten bronze into a mould. 

Who said the tin man had no brains.

The pour

A finished product after the mould has been chipped off and the bronze has been artificially aged.

We went snorkelling.

Ian feeding the fish.

He was hoping that if he fed the small fish, it would not attract really big fish (e.g. sharks) who wanted something much more substantial to eat.

fish

fan

Camoflaged snorkler (me)

We went sea glass hunting and fought off a wild pig (boar) in the process.  It was not really that dramatic but it was scary enough for Bev.  Bev made some of the glass into jewelry   She also commissioned some of the same. 

Porky

Tuk went to sniff him and came back yelping and running on 3 legs.

After checking us out, he walked into the woods.  When we came back from sea glass hunting he was waiting for us at the path back to our dingy.  I held the boat hook and a net high in the air to look as big as possible while staying between the pig and Bev who had picked up the dogs.  The pig kept approaching.  Bev threw an old bottle in its direction to scare it.  It did not scare.  Instead it jumped to the bottle, likely thinking it might be food.  As it continued to approach, I poked it really hard in the snout with the boathook.  That did not bother the pig in the least.  It let us back up to path to the other side of the island and did not follow  At least we came away with a good story.

Sea glass pendant made from black glass originating from a 1700s whisky bottle

Bev started a new quilt.

We attnded a flea market and garage sales.  We saw a commercial product I did not know existed and still wonder why

Treasure Cay Flea Market

Bev and Tiesha on the way home.  Note Tiesha riding in the bag.

Bagged dog

Are these meant as bait?  They would be easy to thread onto a hook.

Best of all, I celebrated my birthday as I turned 30 for the second time.

What a dinner:  lobster, steak, a salad and a bottle of Rombauer 2007

I finally got around to installing the fishtail attachment I made for the rudder (see next post) and experimented with its shape.

The generator gave us a few more problems.  By the end of the month, we had put over 200 hours on it since leaving Florida.

All other systems performed flawlessly.

Morning Coffee