Picture above was taken in Warderick Wells. The Sperm whale washed ashore in 95, he suffocated after ingesting plastic garbage bags.
Talk about being in the belly of the beast!
Ben and I met Mom and John in Staniel Cay on Saturday, Dec 29. We took the marina "go fast" boat to Staniel which had us skimming along at 40 knots whoohoo! Ben brought his swim goggles for the boat ride and they were well used as he wore them for the entire trip! It was hilarious looking at him with his hair blowing,skin blown tight, holding my hand for dear life while wearing swim goggles. I hope I never forget that moment because it made me laugh out loud.
My parents proved their love by jumping through hoops to get to us for a five day R & R visit. They flew to Nassau and then chartered a three person airplane to Staniel. My mom sat in front with the pilot and John helmed the back. Pretty cool.
Mom, John and the crew of Independence stayed at the Sampson Cay Club. Indy stayed on the dock in the marina while Mom and John stayed in the Tower which overlooked the beautiful, swimming pool colored ocean.. We were really excited about a marina because we had not been on a dock since April! I had hopes that we would have TV, so I even did the Oprah dance throughout the boat right before we arrived. Wow, TV on board??? well the TV and internet were actually a farce as they were down the entire time which was kind of a bummer! Actually, the internet was working for the first few hours after we arrived but went down that night right before John arrived. In what seemed to be a common theme this time of year in the Bahamas, the internet repairman was on vacation and would not return until after the holidays. I suggested someone try calling him and maybe he could walk them through it but that didn't pan out. It wasn't that big of a deal for us but John likes to have some information from the outside world..especially right before the Iowa caucus! However, communication with the outside world aside, the accommodations were wonderful, even romantic. They had the Tower Room which is a two story white brick 'tower' with two terraces on the edge of a coral bank overlooking the ocean (and it was air conditioned).
I am not going to say too much about their trip because my mom has written a guest blog which will fill everyone in on the events. I will just fill you all in on the Jenny details.
We arrived at the resort the day before M & J and were put on the outside wall by the fuel dock, the rest of the marina was inside a lagoon which was through a little cut off our bow. While docked, we were getting killed by people making wakes on their wave runners or fishing boats, which was making me CRAZY! We were being slammed into the dock by arrogant jerks in go fast boats(you know what I think of those and wave runners) with no regard for the boats . Finally, I had had enough! The Jenny white blind furry came through. Three wave runners off of a yacht from inside came screaming out and did circles right in front of our boat. O was whistling at them to get their attention but they couldn't hear us due to all of the noise they were making. Enough! I ran over to the inside dock and found the boat that owned the wave runners. I asked for the Captain and in so many words told him that his idiot guests were slamming my boat into the dock and he needed to get a crew member in their dinghy out there to stop them (as Marco would have done on Carmac). He said "I can't ,they are the owners". "Bullshit you can't! You ARE THE CAPTAIN!!!" I explained "and it is YOUR responsibility to manage/educate the guests/owners whomever, as to proper boat etiquette!!!" He looked at me and shrugged...I responded by yelling " Actually, today may be your lucky day because you may be running TWO boats tomorrow as your 'owner' may be buying my boat today!" ...HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE STRIKES AGAIN!!!!!!!! Afterward O flagged down the culprits, explained how their careless actions were effecting other boats and they were fine...problem solved,until another person came along two hours later. And I had to talk to another captain...yeah, they were loving me there...
On to happier ....
While in Sampson we were surrounded by all the big mega yachts that used to be our life. It was sooo strange watching the boats having their Christmas/NY charters, the crew were setting meals up, serving breakfast, lunch, cocktails/dinner (not nearly as efficiently as we did on Carmac, I might add). Suddenly our old life did not seem so far away . It actually seemed like just yesterday. It made me grateful that I am no longer crew, as some of their guests were being very difficult (one captain told me his owners wanted to bring extra guests and wanted the crew to sleep on deck!...yes, it sounds crazy, but for those of us in the business not surprising....he declined the owners gracious offer!).
However, it also brought back a lot of memories. It made us both miss all of the people we worked so closely with for SO many years. Friends that became, for all intents and purposes, family (Bron and Marco are Sam'ss Godparents and some of our closest friends to this day). Because of the people we were lucky enough to work with, I wouldn't change a thing.... REMEMBER, they were like family, so we didn't always get along, but we always had each others back.
Anyway,
Ben LOVED being in Sampson Cay because there were kids there his age. We basically only saw him in the morning and at night. At times I would be walking someplace in the resort and would find him climbing a coconut tree, playing checkers in the bar while drinking a virgin daiquiri or running around the docks. It has been wonderful just watching him become so much more confident and independent.
Sam, on the other hand, was not as thrilled because he would watch Ben leave and wanted to play with all of the other kids. When Ben had kids on board they would play in the guest cabin or outside and they never wanted Sam to play with them, unless he was what they were running from. It is hard for him now, but I just have to keep telling myself that his time will come.
My parents visit was great. Although, again, it is always so difficult to say good bye.
We took the dinghy to the beach one day and my parents tried their hand at snorkeling. O and I gave them masks and snorkels as Christmas presents so they gave them a whirl. My mom LOVED it and John tried it. The following day we took them to snorkel Thunderball (yes it was in the movie too!) which is a grotto teaming with fish. I was so pleased that my mom was able to experience great snorkeling because all it takes is one really good snorkel to get the fever. I think she has the fever.
Our days were laid back and relaxed. We lunched at the restaurant on the island, read or went to the beach in the afternoons and all met back at the boat in the evening for dinner, conversation and even Scrabble.
The last day there we were hit with a big blow that had some areas of the marina seeing 40+ kts, however they had us tucked away so we were only seeing 25, for once. Mom and John thought it was romantic...I guess a big blow like that, of which everyone is talking about for days before, is the Carribean version of a snowstorm...the excitement... how fast will the wind be, direction, how long, sea state etc. What a difference it makes weathering a blow in a marina!!
We had a wonderful time and hope to see them again very soon!!!!!!
Keep an eye out for my mom's blog!