Day 127 and 128, Tuesday & Wednesday, March 6 & 7, 2012
Wednesday MORNING - The wind continues to howl outside. Just short of gale force winds now with gusts into the gale speed of 30 knots.
Last night, Tuesday, we had a great time on No Snow with Ron,Donna, and Winnie the Pooh. They invited us over for a movie. CAPTAIN RON, OF COURSE! It was great seeing that classic movie again. Donna fixed popcorn and the howling wind & boat shaking around added to the authentic feel of the movie. Well, that was last night. But during the day the wind blew so hard we couldn't even take the dingy to town! There is not much to do at the marina and it is only accessed by water. So, we had a picnic with Ron and Donna at the pool. It was so windy the pool had whitecaps on it. We found some shelter from the wind at the bar that is under construction. This old marina is going to be nice once it is finished being renovated and enlarged. Right now, the docks do not have power at most of the slips. The Internet signal is weak and slow. It took me about 8 hours to UPLOAD my youtube video of our evening with one of the lightkeepers for Elbow Reef Light. If you have 20 minutes, watch it at  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hUZw0nwtss  It was probably more fascinating to me than many of you! I hope the video shows just how interesting this lighthouse is. The light keeper has to manually start the kerosene light EVERY NIGHT of the year AND he has to wind the light every two hours, all night, so it will turn, producing the pattern for Elbow light, five beams every 15 seconds.  The lighthouse shines ALL night on two gallons of fuel, and can be seen by boats for about 20 miles out!So, what did we do at the boat today, Wednesday.  Well not much. I'm still trying to find two long sleeve shirts that have been missing for about a month or so. I creatively made a lock for the stern gate as it was somewhat of a safety hazard. None of our wooden gates had the locking mechanisms when we bought the boat. We have been trying to find parts by all means and they simply do not exist. So, I have destroyed 3 barrel bolts and used their parts for the gate locks! Several children organized a get together for the adults for Wednesday afternoon at the beautiful new pool.  They were so cute, making invitations and going around to all the boats inviting everyone! How thoughtful! I made 'Brooke's' version of a Goombay Smash and Susan served one of Carter's yummy hors d'oeuvres jams with cream cheese and crackers.  Only problem was the lightweight crackers tried to blow away at the pool until some kind soul built a wind wall around them.  It made Susan think of  inventing a line of windproof hors d'oeuvres servers! Oh, almost forgot that we dinghied into the settlement, winds were down a little, to tour the wonderful Wyannie Malone Museum, which chronicles the history of Hope Town from its inception in the early 1780's. For a lighthouse buff, such as myself, the museum even had a section of artifacts from the Elbow Reef Light.  I actually held an old piece of fresnel lens!! We hit each of the two little markets and got a loaf of bread, still warm, and some eggs.  After many mornings of cereal, we were able to have bacon, eggs, and homemade Bahamian cinnamon toast! So good! We haven't found coconut bread yet.

Day 129 and 130, Thursday & Friday, March 8 & 9, 2012
Thursday:We decided to stay one more day at the Hope Town Inn and Marina, as the wind had still not died all the way down to a speed we liked.  It has been SO nice to be able to get up most days with NO agenda and then decide what to do! We went into town, by dinghy, for a walk to the north end of the island, of Elbow Cay. After a long walk past more pastel-colored, gingerbread trimmed houses, we found ourselves in a neighborhood of seaside estates! Just A-Mazing!  We finally reached the top of the bluff and were absolutely stunned by the view of the turquoise ocean and pinkish white sand!!!! There were only six other people walking and sunning.  NONE of our pictures could capture the views! Brooke enjoyed scouring the limestone rocks for shells and pieces of Abaco seaglass. It started to look like rain, so we turned and hiked back to town. We passed a golf cart, headed up the estate road, carrying a man and woman who looked as if they had stepped off a plane, Diane Keaton, perhaps? We saw some of the cute school children walking home in their uniforms of plaid skirts and navy blouses. Everyone is so friendly.  We read today that Hope Town is the safest place in the Bahamas and has virtually no crime!  People don't even lock their houses! We had plans to meet Donna and Ron for dinner in town.  They wanted to go up for the lighting one more time with the lightkeeper, so we were watching for the light to come on and begin turning. Then we were to jump in the dinghy and meet them at the restaurant.  Well, the top of the lighthouse flickered and NEVER came on! Horrors!  Brooke and Susan to the rescue! We hopped into the dinghy, went around to the lighthouse, stumbled up the old sidewalk and climbed the 101 steps to see what problem Sam was having.  This was Brooke's third trip up for the lighting!  Long story short, Sam could not get the mantle to hold the flame. Yes, they do have a backup plan: a 60 watt bulb!  It is magnified by the fresnel lens and casts a surprising amount of light. We hope it is repaired soon and the government decides to continue this as a manually run lighthouse. Yes, we did make it to dinner of blackened grouper with Bahamian mac n cheese!

Friday: Today, after Brooke cooked DEE-licious Bahamian french toast, we went around to tell Ron, Donna, and Winnie goodby. We have been staying at the same marinas since entering the Bahamas and gotten much good advice from them.  We will continue making our own adventure and hope our paths cross again.  We also bid farewell to Marcy, the viola da gamba player on 'Trade Wind', and then left for Man O War Cay, just four short miles away. Weather was beautiful and scenery breathtaking.  Just when we think all our breath has been taken away by Mother Nature, she sucks more out of us as we traverse the sparkling turquoise waters of the Sea of Abaco. After our arrival here, we had ham sandwiches on homemade Bahamian whole wheat bread, made by Vernon in Hope Town. Tomorrow, we will be looking for Lola to come by in her golf cart with her famous cinnamon buns.  For dinner tonight, we dined at the marina restaurant, Dock 'n Dine and both had D'n D' style local lobster (dusted and lightly fried, then somehow sprinkled with white wine and parmesan cheese and sauteed???  Not sure that is the correct order, but it was delicious. Oops, forgot the melted butter for dipping! Today was a real Foodie day! Tomorrow we will walk this island of 500 people, maybe several times!  What fun we are having!

Todays picture is Marcy Brenner's (the viola da gamba player) Yacht Trade Wind, 1938 62' motorsailer....