Capt. John & First Mate Vicki prepare for the 2013 adventure to the Bahamas, weather peritting departure is set for January 2. The Office is fully provisioned for several months.

BYE BYE BAHAMAS

WELL, AFTER A COUPLE OF MONTHS AWAY FROM SOUTHPORT, WE ARE ONCE AGAIN HOME!!
We sadly departed March 5 by plane and back to reality and airport security! I only set the darn alarm off once with a bracelet!
The day before we left we had a great farewell lunch and rum at Santanas and bid farewell to Kendall,Steve, Mama (shown in the kitchen) and then toured the helo base. They wouldn't let me fly the ding dang thing!

The Bahamas is a wonderful place and the people are soooooooooooo friendly and the fish and rum are mighty fine! Bye Bye Bahamas and thanks to all my friends for following this trip.

SALTY OLD PILOTS

February 25th
LEARNING HOW TO BE A PILOT! LESSON #1 - PUTTING ON THE HELMET
With Chris, as our instructor, we had our first lesson in putting on the latest in night vision goggles. UNBELEIVABLE what they do ……………….just like daylight. Gazed at the stars……….Chris is a chopper pilot (now retired from the Army) and has some great stories about the Gulf War and Afghanistan. We are so very proud of our military and what they have done and continue to accomplish.

From Sandals to Ruins......

February 15, 2010
Another wild ride in a rented car touring the north end of Great Exuma. Our day began by visiting Sandals resort. Four Seasons had started the resort and went bankrupt and was bought by Sandals. They recently reopened the resort and it is beautiful – includes a golf course and full service marina. The economy of George Town is counting on its success as they employ many Bahamians.
Stopped at Pompey’s statue. He was a slave that stole his master’s salt boat and sailed off to Nassau with a number of other slaves. They were apprehended, jailed and routinely flogged. Later by order of the governor they were returned to Exuma. Pompey was considered a national hero for his role in the mini-rebellion against slavery. The picture is all that remains of the old jailhouse at Steventon that was build in the early 20th century.

Tropic of Cancer & Columbus Monument

The Tropic of Cancer runs though Long Island and through the town of Simms.........if you look real close you will see a line!

Christopher Columbus according to some landed at Long Island - and so there is a monument! No one is quite sure of the accuracy but it does attract attention!

We departed Long Island after a two day stay and major refueling and returned to George Town with no major incidents.

Our internet connections are pretty slow. We do have Skype phone (VOIP) and sometimes it works.

Weather is fantastic...........no snow here..........yet!

Hey Mon, Give Me Tow!!!

February 9, 2010 - George Town to Long Island (Stella Maris Marina)
Exumas Docking Service in George Town has been out of fuel for over a week and not expecting any for at least another week………………….and we were sure we had plenty left to make the 2 hour trip to Stella Maris Marina on the North Shore of Long Island (the furthest south full service marina in the Bahamas). Well we were not disappointed they had plenty of fuel but we DID NOT……………….gave out of fuel about 5 miles short.
The good news fist! We were in about 14 feet of water so we could anchor. Bad news - no fuel, no generator, house battery weak so anchor was dragged out manually. Good news - our hand held radios were fully charge as boat radio was inoperative. Good news – Stella Maris responded immediately and sent a dive boat out to help. They had a bunch of divers and snorkelers on board returning from a dive trip. They were about to be put to work in pulling a 36 ton vessel which was not part of their plan.
Bad news – anchor won’t come loose; wind is blowing and we are all rockin’ and rollin’ . Good news – the dive boat captain says he will dive down and pull it up! Well that is so nice of him. As he is about to dive he says “Hey mon, ya know where you are??” – and we look down and spot about 8 sharks circling the wagons! “You are in “Shark Reef”, no dive here!” Good news – took 3 people to finally get anchor pulled up and we got hooked up for the hour ride to the marina. Tow Boat US would have loved this ordeal.
Channel into marina is very narrow and the entrance is even narrower and very shallow with rocks on one side and bulkhead on the other. Good news we missed the rocks – thanks to boat hooks and big fenders. It took 4 guys to get us pulled in and tied up at the fuel dock. The rum, beer and fuel began to flow freely! Feasted on our stone crab claws and all slept soundly.
Lesson Learned – DO NOT TRUST YOUR FUEL GAGE

A Cotton Pickin' Good Time

George Town – Feb 6 2010
Pictures of our 5 Star restaurant and Dee...........picture of the "salt marker" so the ships could locate salt flats.

After an exquisite 5 star dining experience which was excellent Bahamian food served up with rum punch by Dee……………….the owner, bartender, cook, waitress and DJ, we headed back to the “Good Ship Lollypop” with John at the wheel. A day in 6 foot seas is not as rough as John’s driving on the “wrong” side of the road. Our rental car had faulty seat belts but other than that and a bald tire and lack of shock absorbers it was a great road trip! If you think some of our Southport potholes are bad, GTI 1 (George Town Interstate 1) gets the prize!
We even had some rain today…………..must be some of that snow that turned into rain here.
We visited the salt flats which in 1700s was a major commodity. The Loyalist had plantations here, planted cotton of which some has survived in the wild. We became cotton pickers today and had a cotton pickin’ good time!!