s. v. celebration: What happens at Nippers Stays at Nippers (until we get home and tell it all)

Monday 8^th

We got up with good intentions of polishing the stainless. After we noticed that we were on our keel at low tide, George decided to clean the bottom of the boat. I washed clothes so we did not get to the stainless. George did continue to study his radio book while I goofed off. Late that afternoon we went to the little store we loving call Sam’s club. It is a small store but they sell things in bulk. We go by dingy and buy water so we don’t have to carry water from the store 2 miles away. We also buy our crawfish (lobster) from there. What we call lobster they call crawfish.

This one's for you Lynda

Swim Up Bar

Tuesday 9^th

We walked to another Marina on the other side of the Marsh Harbour. They have a great view and but not many sail boats. The Boat Harbour Marina is a little more “upscale” than Mangoes, but we love Mangoes.

Just one drink.... Just took two pictures

Wednesday 10^th We went to the jib room tonight to have ribs. It was a little chilly so after trying to stay outside, we moved to the back of the jib room. George was still chilly so we moved inside. All of the tables had people setting at them. There was one table with a nice looking couple and we ask if we could join them. They seemed happy to have us sit with them. We started talking and they were from Colorado. Curt and Karen from Colorado even I could remember that. They were here renting a boat to see how they liked the area. They want to retire and “do what we are doing”. I could not believe they had grown children, they looked so young. She was a Pilates instructor. Move over Joe, pilates may be in my future. We had a great time answering questions. It doesn’t seem very long ago we were asking the same questions. We asked them to come over for a visit and see our boat. We did not see the limbo man this year. I didn’t even dance, I am saving myself for Nippers.

Now that's a dingy!!

A Green Mango?

Thursday 11^th

It was a beautiful day. We straightened up the boat after breakfast. George was studying down below and I was in the cock pit playing on the Ipad when I hear “Freida”, it was our Colorado friends. We asked them to come aboard and we had a nice visit. It is amazing how you meet people and you just hit it off. That is the way we feel about Curt and Karen. Karen shared with us that the night before they felt bad about taking a whole table and talked about moving, but said, “instead of us choosing some one to sit with, let’s let someone choose us. She said she was so glad we had chosen them. We gave them a boat card and asked them to stay in touch.

Friday 12^th

I was so excited we were going to my favorite Cay, Elbow Cay home to Hope Town. This is the Cay with the light house and the quaint little brightly colored houses. The other reason this is my favorite is because we always take the van to Abaco Inn. The Abaco Inn has the best beach for sea glass, best meal, best view, best service, and we had it all to ourselves.

Elbow Cay

Now this is what happens when you waitress really likes you!

Our view at lunch from Abaco Inn.

Like I said, we had it all to ourselves.

Hope Town's School House

I did not take many pictures of the light house because well I have a million already. We did go by Vernon’s grocery store. He is famous for his key lime pie. We made a big mistake. We got his coconut custard. It was good but very unusual. It has big chunks of coconut in it but it did not compare to his key lime.

On the walk home from the ferry landing we met a lady from our dock. Her name was Shirley and she had been to Spanish Wells. We talked to her about what was in Spanish Wells. She said it was nice to visit if you are there but not a destination. She told us she had some friends coming in on Sunday to help get their boat back to Massachusetts She asked us some questions about which cay to take her friends on the way out. They decided to go to Guana, Green Turtle, and West Inn.

OK so I sneaked one in of the Light House.

Saturday 13^th

We ate at Mangoes Restaurant because we didn’t have any eggs. Yes, we have to walk to the grocery store today. Before leaving for the grocery store we stopped by to talk to Shirley. We meet her husband and found out they were from near Buzzard Bay Massachusetts. George and Bruce talked about how to use the AIS feature on the radio. George got back to the boat and said, “How about that. I taught a navy guy something about his radio.” After going to the store we were tired. We decided to have sandwiches instead of pecan crushed salmon. It was a good thing, because it started raining and did not stop until the middle of the night. There was some lighting in this storm also. We wanted to go see Jimmy, the owner of the Marina, and Mike, someone we meet last year, at the restaurant tonight. Mike, a professional pianist, was to play the piano and Jimmy was to sing. We did not make it. The electricity was off because of the storm and we were without internet for two days.

I just can't stop taking pictures of the beach!

Sunday April 14^th

This morning we are heading to Guana Cay, home of Nipper’s and the big pig roast. However, we were not going for the pig roast. We were hoping they still had the cracked lobster on the bun. They did. We saw Caroline and she was worried when she didn’t see the rest of the group. We danced and enjoyed the scenery. My camera’s battery ran out just as I needed it so not many pictures of Nipper’s. George had a special treat!!!! That’s all I am saying about that! We had a great walk on the beach before going to Grabbers for a swing in the hammock.