It can't always be perfect in Atlantis. A cold front was moving through bringing high winds over 25 knots and lots of rain. The temperature dropped to below 70 day and night. After our day of self-indulgence, we pretty much just cleaned up the boat and prepared for my mom and Dan's arrival. Any of you who know my mom realize that all she really wants is warm (actually hot) weather, clear skies and a place where she can get out and exercise a bit. As chance would have it she arrived on the only crappy day of weather we had seen for about 4 weeks! No big deal, after she and Dan arrived we made up a stiff roadie (stiff drink to be consumed on the walk or ride to a destination...for the lay people) and headed for the Casino! We marched up to a slot machine and all four of us stood in front of it like we had finally arrived! Mom found a machine with a pull down lever, pushed some buttons, inserted some money and then pulled the lever with conviction! Nothing happened of course because she forgot to insert her Atlantis Marina card! Who knew and who cares, we all got a good laugh as four of us tried to figure this new puzzle out. Fortunately our luck changed. The drink guy came, took our order right as my mom pulled off her first successful round at the slots! I think she turned 5 bucks into about 15 and then back to 5 again...free fun, what more can you ask for? Actually, the real fun came to Dan as he realized that drinks in the Casino are free! Rach must have had an extra shot in her drink because as soon as we got passed the slots she clapped her hands and said something corny like, "yeah I'm feelin' lucky..." She then turned to me and said "give me some money." I kissed my clean 50 dollar bill goodbye and sat back to watch the show. She proceeded to walk up to a Roulette table, never having actually played before. She was placing bets like she know what she was doing, a couple of chips here, a couple there, some red, some black, who knows? Then after a couple of rounds she gets strategic and decides to place three chips, among others on number 29. Sure enough it falls on her exact number. Now she got excited thinking, cool I won, maybe I'll make a couple dollars. Never having played before she didn't realize that the payout for picking the exact number was 35 to 1! HAHA, she more than tripled my $50 which nearly covered the amount of food that I puked up the day before! Awesome! Thanks babe!
The nights didn't end there. We headed out on a mission to find some good ribs... After we covered about a mile of indoor ground, checked out a few restaurants and put back a few drinks, we ended up at the very same place that Rach and I gorged on food the night before! The ribs were great and the huge fish swimming all around us didn't hurt the ambiance either! We strolled back to the boat and tucked in early enough to get ready for our departure to the Exumas the next day. It is great to have my mom and Dan aboard and I'm sure the adventure is just getting started.

A vacation week in review - From Atlantis to halfway down the Exumas into Staniel Cay (2/17 - 2/22)

We hightailed from Nassau to Highborn Cay with perfect following winds and seas. My mom and Dan did great seeing as they just boarded a boat only half a day ago and were now sailing at over 9 knots in 5 foot seas. The boat even touched 13.6 knots for a few seconds when the wind and seas picked up! We arrived in highborn after sunset and used the new high power wireless spotlight to guide us into the anchorage. A couple minutes after dropping anchor my mom asked if we were there yet and about to drop anchor...I love it when I know people are getting comfortable on the boat and can start to relax and turn the brain off. We headed off to Allens Cay the next morning, sharing out time on land with hundreds of huge iguanas that ran down to the beach to meet us, looking for food. The pinkish prehistoric beasts were pretty aggressive actually, but very unique nonetheless.

We hiked up the island a bit to check out some ruins and some beautiful views of the azure surroundings. We made out way back to the boat and decided the anchorage was too rough to spend the night so we headed back south to Highborn for the night. Now the next part that ensues will make more sense if you know me (Derek) well... I don't like it when things go wrong with my boat systems or any of my technological devices. I usually buy the best, pay more for it and maybe even by back ups just because I don't like to half ass important things... In turn for my diligence and payouts I expect performance from my equipment. For some reason everything went awry this day. First pulling into the anchorage my starboard engine oil pressure alarm was going off. Second, when the anchor alarm switch triggers it prevents the windless (anchoring system) from operating. Third, when we opened the food storage area to get buns for out burgers we found a foot of standing water since the 6 month old water pump diaphragm blew out rendering all water systems on the boat inoperable without profuse leakage. Lastly, the guy at the gas station the day before overfilled my gas cans and the heat from the increasing temperature pressurized the cans so they started overflowing into the gas locker creating a wonderful gas smell in the guest cabin. Really? On my boat? I was not happy.

I planned to hire a charter plane or speedboat to take me to Nassau so I could find a new pump and then fly back the same day. Long story short, we bought a pump (actually 2 to be safe) from West Marine in Fort Lauderdale Florida, paid a courier to take them to a private charter plane in Ft Lauderdale airport and then had the parts flown into Staniel Cay a day later! Unreal that all of this was accomplished through phone and email for only $45 more than the $500 of parts! A friend that we made in Nassau, Drew, offered to take the parts down from Nassau to us by boat since he was headed that way. Remember that Drew was the guy who hooked us up with the guy who got me my Honda generator...I need to buy Drew a drink or two one of these days but to my knowledge he is setting out on a trip across the Pacific soon! Anyway, we had a great sail to Staniel, arrived before nightfall and picked up the parts at the bar. I love the islands...go get your parts behind the bar, the guy from the airplane left them there for you, haha! We installed the new pump in a few minutes and Dan was back up and running with two hot showers and 50 gallons of water usage a day (just kidding Dan). Its hard to summarize the experiences at Staniel, pictures probably do better justice. Visiting swimming 400 pound pigs, snorkeling the Thunderball Grotto (underwater fish filled cave) and the beauty of the anchorage itself.



All that said we couldn't have topped the private day anchorage we found on the South West side of Pipe Cay. Its not on a map as an anchorage, but if you picture a cove big enough for one boat to anchor, with glowing blue water and a sandy beach drawing you in then you will get the picture. We blew up our 6 person party island, pack the coolers with beer and used the dinghy to tow my mom and Dan near the beach into about 2 feet of water. We sat in 85 degree sunshine with the iPod playing and beer flowing without another soul in sight. Great day. The drinks made their way to the brain when we were deflating the party island as you can see from the pictures. The picture below shows Dan using some of his keen deflation skills.


We anchored the night in Compass Cay with only one other boat. The next morning we got an early start and headed back to Staniel Cay so my mom and Dan could catch their flight.

They treated me and Rach and great lunch at the marina restaurant. After we said our goodbyes, Rach and I decided to walk the island. In about 5 minutes even though we started in the opposite direction we found our departing guests standing in a gazebo like deck waiting for their flight...the airport. We walked right up and gave them a kiss goodbye again while their 20 something year old captain viewed their passports and checked their body weight! The islands... We'll miss our family guests and hope they come to see us soon for more fun in the sun. By the way, even if you doubt as much as I did, Dan can readily demonstrate the fish catching power of a Nathans hot dog...he might even gloat after he proves your doubt wrong!