A grumpy old white woman scolded us for walking on a private road and parking our dinghy on a private beach, so we apologized and continued on. Erick went back to move the dinghy to the Fernandez Bay Resort beach. (The same grumpy woman later gave Hannah and Erick a ride back from the airport so partly redeemed herself). Unfortunate, since every local person had been nothing but kind to us up until then.
Late morning Hannah, Erick, and I loaded into the dinghy for a bit of an explore on land. We parked the dinghy on shore and took off on the road, with the first goal of visiting the salt pond. We eventually found the salt ponds, no longer used but at one point a place where salt evaporated out of the salt water, with walls to keep the water in. It was all very similar to what we’d seen on Long Island last year, just smaller.
Following this, we walked up a hill to an abandoned
After our drinks we walked to Kaye’s and had a wonderful culinary experience. She’d asked the day before what we liked to eat and Erick had suggested she cook us whatever she wanted, and we weren’t disappointed. Kaye and her daughter served up lobster bisque and johnny cake first, followed by
We rolled ourselves out of there and back to the boat. Another great day!
We got underway and had delicious homemade sourdough toast for breakfast. We arrived at Rum Cay by 10:30 or so. A bit later we loaded into the dinghy and headed to the government dock, which had been rebuilt recently. Rum Cay has a total of about 90 residents, and when we docked we learned that a “Grill and Chill” party was happening at 1 that afternoon for residents, involving ribs, chicken and a party. The few locals there were really welcoming, and we walked on to check out the town.
Intel from a couple of boaters we’d met was that Kay’s is a not-to-be-missed restaurant, and we saw Kay’s as we started our walk. We went inside Kay’s “Sand Bar '' (which really is a bar with sand on the floor) and talked with a few people hanging out. One woman, Sue, lives in Gila, NM now but lived in Bisbee for 15 years back in the 1970’s to mid-1980’s bartending at the Copper Queen and climbing the stairs to High Street at the end of her shift. We met Kay and asked about dinner, but she said we’d better return tomorrow since the Grill and Chill was taking place that afternoon.
Back to the dinghy and out to the boat for lunch. The Grill and Chill still hadn’t gotten started, so we thought lunch on the boat was a better option. Hannah put together tasty half BLT’s on homemade bread, which we enjoyed with Erick’s pasta salad from the day before. These two really know how to eat well!
Post-snorkeling we all rinsed off, changed, and had rum drinks and snacks. Erick and Hannah taught us the High Stakes version of Farkel, which John won. Erick made incredible cracked conch for dinner, which he served with a huge cabbage salad made by Hannah. Coconut ice cream for dessert and off to bed. Another wonderful day.
Erick made breakfast of eggs, grits, bacon and fruit then off in the dinghy to the mangroves. This dinghy is the second one they bought for surprise with a 15 hp motor so it gets 4 of us where we want to go pretty quickly compared to the first dinghy which had a 6 hp motor. They plan on buying a bigger dinghy and a bigger 23 hp engine since Bonnie Lynn takes more people and they’ll need to ferry more people back and forth.
Milo got pretty burned so today he upgraded to SPF 50 and no more burns. There is only one entrance to the mangroves and you have to go in when the tide is up since there are breakers at the entrance. You get to ride a wave in if you time it right, which Erick did.
We had to get out before the tide got any lower so we found a hole in the breakers and shot out of the mangroves into the ocean and then back to the boat for lunch. Eric whipped up a pasta salad and then back to the beach to hike.
Then over to the other side of the point and down to the beach. The hike back was all on the rock bench which was quicker than through the brush, and then back down the beach where we met a couple from Canada and a couple from Germany trying to open a coconut with a hacksaw and a hammer which they’d carried with them on their swim over to the beach. Who swims with a hacksaw and a hammer and two coconuts? Erick did his machete magic on the coconuts to help them out.
Back to the boat for rum drinks and a supper just after dusk of grilled chicken, bok choi and potatoes. In bed by 9pm.
The wind was good so Hannah and Erick got a bunch of sails up (this thing has more sails than Carter has pills), and we ran part of the day with no motor. I call it a crossing because we left the nice shallow light blue waters and spent the day with nothing but 3000 feet of dark blue water under us and nothing to look at except the horizon. Medium swells so just exciting enough not to get sea sick. And how did anyone not get lost at sea before GPS?
Erick made sandwiches for lunch which kept us busy with the rolling sea.
The satellite stuff told us there were a couple boats already there but when we pulled in there were about 7 boats, but still plenty of room and good anchorage.
Milo got pretty sunburned so he has to do better tommorrow. The SPF 30 did not cut it today.
Every night Milo and Erick put the “flopper stoppers” down, which are two dampers that extend from both sides of the boat. The have one way louvers that cuts way down on the boat rolling at night. Clever.
Pineapple mango rum drinks before dinner. Erick grilled lobster tails, which he served with rice and a nice fresh salad, which made for a nice evening. Another perfect day!
Two loads to get us and the luggage to the boat and one last wave goodbye to Sally on the beach (Malcolm went fishing this morning).
Back on the boat, Erick fixed us delicious rum drinks, followed by delicious chicken tacos for dinner. We were all tired so said
Da Pink Chicken is a classic dive beach bar owned by Patie and her spouse Dean. Patie cooks in the She Shed, and Dean tends bar in the open air space. We spent several very fun hours chatting with locals and non-locals, eating chicken wings and coleslaw, and enjoying rum punch and beers. A pretty perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
Malcolm is a retired fishing guide and he bone fishes here. He can just walk out back of the cottages to fish.
We had breakfast in the big cabin and decided not to rent the car for another day. There was some confusion because Maurice didn’t come for the car until midday, which I suppose means he didn’t have
Nice to have a quiet day after all the travelling. We walked south on the beach a long way. There is zero trash on the beach which seems impossible since we normally see boat trash on other islands. A few sea sponges here and there and a few starfish. Actually nothing but wide white sand beach and coral or limestone rock toward shore and then mangrove further in.
We did some reading on the beach, a little lunch and then we walked north on the beach. We never saw anyone else on the beach so we seem to have our own little island. North of us are houses about a half mile away that appear to be in service although we did not see anyone around or signs of recent activities. So they must be vacation places.
The wind is already picking up so we headed in for the night. Tomorrow the bulk of the storm will arrive.
After the strenuous hike down the “mountain” we drove to Gilberts, the pretty good grocery store on the island. The whole island was abuzz since the mail boat came in this morning, which is their weekly delivery of everything. When the mail boat comes, there are lots of people driving around delivering and picking things up.
At the southern end of the island is an airstrip and a sport fishing marina called Hawk’s Nest where a few people were cleaning the daily catch. They were excited that they’d caught a 58 pound Mahi Mahi, which is just 2 pounds short of “tournament weight” whatever that means.
The big excitement was feeding the entrails to the sharks off the dock. 15 or 20 sharks were waiting and it was quite a show to see them throw the chum to the sharks. Yikes.
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We got breakfast in the hotel which was a buffet, scrambled eggs, sausage, pancakes & French toast, etc.
Our flight is scheduled for 1pm so we called for a taxi at 10:45. We heard that the Western Air flights leave early. The taxi got us there around 11am ($26) and the airport here was way more modern than we remembered. We’ve been here before but only remembered walking across the tarmac to get to and from the plane. We’re on a regional flight which may have not gone upstairs where the modern airport is. We met a woman named Patie who is the chef at Da Pink Chicken Beach Bar on Cat Island and she was on the same flight (only one flight daily) so we followed her. The plane was pretty modern, about 50-60 seats, so not as rustic as we are used to here for puddle jumpers. Sure enough they lifted off the runway at 12:45 and we landed on Cat Island about 30 minutes later. The plane was full and we waited in the parking lot for them to pull the wagon with the bags up to us. Margaret and Beverly were waiting to take us to the Rollezz Resort where we’ll stay until Sunday. First stop was the grocery store but we didn’t feel organized to buy anything but some snacks.
Eric prepared a nice sunset meal of grouper, wild rice, summer squash and tomatoes. The tasteful lighting on deck made for a beautiful evening.
Hannah gave us a moonlight dingy ride back to shore where we collapsed into bed.
Our flight from Tucson to Dallas leaves at 5am and it’s 1.5 hrs drive to the car part and another some minutes shuttle ride to the airport. Once again, the stress is unwarranted since everything worked out great.
The kiosks and desks do not open until 3am so we arrived just as they were starting their day. We got our luggage checked in and boarding passes and found our gate. We like our little Tucson airport. Small and hard to get lost in.
Flight left right on time and we got to Dallas in 2-3 hours. I slept most of the way.
In Dallas we changed terminals so had to ride the little monorail to Terminal A from C. They called our names and we got an upgrade to first class all the way to Nassau. We have only been in first class once before on a 40 minute flight between Phoenix and Tucson so this counts as the first upgrade.
I sat with a guy from Arkansas who was going to Nassau to get a motorboat certification of some kind so he can rent a boat in Europe. Three day course. Deb sat with a woman who worked all the way down while her husband and kids were back in the cattle seats.
Got to Nassau early, where it was overcast and they may get a little rain (did not see any after all). Got our bags and a $20 taxi to Orange Hill Beach Inn where we have stayed before. Reasonable family run place where they have a honor system cooler and meals so you don’t need to take a taxi anywhere. I had my first Kalik beer, I have officially arrived in the Bahamas. Tomorrow we get a puddle jumper (Western Air) to Cat Island where we will stay at the Rollezz hotel and where Hannah and Erick will meet us. Deb had a glass of wine and we sat on the balcony and enjoyed the warm humid air then off to an early bedtime.
OK, time to go home. We took advantage of the dump station and cleaned everything out so we wouldn’t have to do it at home. Then Rt 86, a couple hours, to Tucson. We stopped at one of the Bisbee Breakfast Clubs now in Tucson (there are 6 in Tucson now!!), then Rt 10 to Benson then home. Did the driveway shuffle and cleaned everything out of the van. Dave flies back to Vermont on Monday so we have a little rest time and a few events before he heads home.
Good to be back home!.
Odometer = 26448
I did not have the pie as tempting as it was....
It was nice camping last night with no lights to spoil the night sky. Today we continue our “Arizona Sample Pack” tour, a big loop around Arizona.
We set the GPS to get us to Yuma but we did not go right into town. After a few attempts I got the website to give me a reservation, only a dozen left or so. There are 200+ sites there so this spring break again is keeping us sharp.
We hit I-8 and then east then Rt 85 through an Indian reservation to the park. The visitor center had a ranger tour of the local cactus’ which we did. I think it helped Dave sort out all the different cactus’ here and clarified some things for me.
Nice campsite for $10 with the senior pass. Bathrooms had running water, flush toilets and hot free solar showers which we partook of.
Quit evening, made dinner in the camper and bed. We drive home tomorrow.
109th night in the van
odometer = 26208
We tried to follow the Colorado River as closely as we could which took us south and then a bit west over the river to Blythe CA. Lots of crops being grown, not sure what. They need to put signs next to every field saying what they are growing. Drives me nuts.
We hit interstate Rt 10 and then east to the Quartzsite exit. We saw gas prices go up by a dollar in California and then back down by a dollar in Arizona.
Quartzsite was fairly busy. We went north to find one of the big dispersed camping areas so Dave could see what that was all about. Then south on Rt 95 and turn into the Palm Canyon area of Koffa. It’s about 5 miles to the end where you can hike into the canyon where the palm trees are. Deb and I did it last year. Not too many people here so we drove back down the hill about a half mile and pulled into one of the many flat spots with a fire ring of rocks.
We relaxed until after the sun went down. Dave saw a string of Starlink satellites going by. They launched 23 more this morning and I assume they were on their way to being placed in the right spots up there. Space is getting crowded for sure.
Made some dinner and then off to bed.
Lake Havasu is a huge reservoir which we had heard about had never been to. It looked pretty busy (spring break, I know) so we stopped at Lake Havasu State Park to ask about our chances of finding a site. The guy said he had space in the overflow camping area so we said what the heck, we stay here tonight.
We went into town and saw London Bridge. Kinda bizarre but the guy who made his money selling McCulloch chainsaws who married into the Briggs & Stratton family decided to buy the London Bridge (they were building a new one. He had it taken apart, stone by stone, shipped the stones to Los Angeles, shipped it to Lake Havasu and re-assembled it. Only in America!
Dave had never been to an In-N-Out burger place so we had an early dinner. Back to the campground and spent the rest of the evening talking to assorted interesting people walking by.
Dave had the idea of taking our picture at the canyon drinking milk from the Miller Farm back in Vernon, our grandfathers and now our cousins farm. The bottle it and I had an empty bottle so we had all the props. The guy who took our picture must have wondered what was going on with two old guys drinking milk at the Grand Canyon.
The road east follows the south rim and it was not as bust as the visitor center so we got a couple more pots in. We had a half hour holdup while they cleaned up and accident. Someone had gone off the road and hit a tree and they had a couple ambulances there to get them out and haul them off.
Then east out to Cameron and back south to Flagstaff. Dinner at Texas Road House where we had a conversation with an Indian guy who was in town at a conference of some kind. Fascinating guy who knew all about the Abenaki tribe back in Vermont. Back to the hotel and then bed.
Very quiet campground given we are so close to Prescott. Coffee and then a quick stop at McD’s for the breakfast sandwich we were cheated ou...
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