Spending more time in Lacaya

Fun on the beach - at Billy Jo's

Colorful little cottage in one of the canals

You never know what you're going to see!

Heading back out the inlet

Red sky at night!

Happy Hour at Rick and Liz's home

Guys having a "group session"!

Bob and Carol's house - beautiful!

Happy Hour at Bob and Carol's

Waterspout gaining momentum!

Mike took this from our boat!

Getting closer!

Another one?

Smaller one but just as awesome!

Just inside the inlet

Looking nice and calm?

Funny!  I'm on my cell phone -
had to find a quiet spot to talk!
Don't see these much anymore!

Statue at UNESCO - Dolphin Experience

One big anchor!

Dinner at the Sandbar

Several of the cast members including
Johnny Depp when they were filming
the Pirates of the Carribean series

Fun Place!

Lots of quirky artwork

Sunset near the beach!

Sandbar is naturally right on the beach!

Mike leaving our mark at the Two Dollar Bar!

> The past few weeks have been nice here in Lacaya, however today it’s nothing but rain.  There’s a low pressure system that is hanging over us and southern Florida that could possibly become tropical.  We’re watching the weather and hoping for sunshine soon! 

My time here mostly has been spent at the pool.  Mike goes fishing whenever he gets the chance.  We did have a problem last week though.  Our freezer which is stuffed full of meat for our two-month long trip decided that it no longer wanted to cooperate.  First the ice maker quit, then we realized that the temperature in the freezer was on the rise.  Finding good quality work here in the Bahamas is often challenging.  However, we were recommended Nelson.  Nelson has his own business and does maintenance here at the resort.  Nelson came the same day we called!  That’s unheard of here!  He filled it with Freon and hoped that was the problem.  Of course, that wasn’t it.  He came back by the next day to check on it and said he would return in an hour.  Well, that didn’t happen……  BUT he did come back that next morning.  He worked on it for quite a while and it looks like it’s fixed.  He even called the next morning to see how it was doing.  He only charged us $180.  Not bad at all by Bahamian or American standards.  Keeping our fingers crossed!

I'm back!

We did take an all-day dinghy ride the other day.  We went out to Bell Channel again to Lacaya.  We stopped just outside Bell Channel at Billy Joe’s for lunch.  We had a great lunch here and watched the people on the beach.  I was even able to score a starfish from one of the kids working there.   We went on in to Bell Channel and then headed right rather than into Lacaya.  We checked out several canals and saw several boats anchored.  Finally we found the other inlet that would take us back out to sea.  We went out that inlet and worked our way back toward our canal.  We did stop at the Junkanoo Club that had a lot going on.  It’s a beach bar/restaurant that was keeping its patrons jumping – volleyball, races, games.  The beaches here are beautiful and the sand is like sugar.  Not a bad day!

The boaters here have had a few happy hour get togethers.  It’s not quite like Dock Dynasty in Marathon but we’ve had a fun time.  We went to Rick and Liz’s the other night.  They have a house here just outside the resort area.  What a beautiful home!  They live here full time now.  Fun couple!  We met a couple from France here the other night – Stefan’ and Marie.  They are really fun to talk to although they really don’t speak English very well.  Mike, of course, decided that he’d speak French to them.  He doesn’t really know French but that didn’t stop him.  I walk into the kitchen area and there he is – teaching them to say “Laissez les bon temps rouler!”.   Evidently that doesn’t really translate to French.  However, it is well known in Louisiana!  They loved it and you could hear them greeting people all night saying “Laissez les bon temps rouler!”.  Now that’s funny!

 
A couple of nights ago we went to Bob and Carol’s house.  They used to keep their boat here in the marina and we met them when we were here three years ago.  They are from the UK.  We went to their house by dinghy and we invited the French couple to ride along.  What fun!  We’re still not learning much French but they’re getting better in understanding us, I think.

On Mother’s Day we decided that we’d take the whaler to Coral Beach Resort for lunch.  It was a nice day but a little windy.  This was soon to become a very memorable Mother’s Day.  The waves were a bit much and they were on our beam but we just went slowly.  We surfed along pretty nicely.  Then we had to turn to the port when we reached the beach.  That was where it went south.  Mike brought the whaler up to the beach so I could hop off.  This made the waves on our stern.  Just as I hopped off here comes a three footer bringing water way over the transom and into the boat.  Then before we could do anything about it such as turn the bow into the waves – another one came over the transom.  The boat was full of water and we were in a bit of trouble.  Thankfully there were some beachgoers that came to help.  They managed to get the boat turned around and anchored it out away from the beach.  The whaler is self-baling so Mike was able to pull the plug and they held on to the boat until most of the water was out.  I couldn’t really do anything except retrieve everything that had floated out of the boat and washed up on shore.  I felt like a little yapping dog running up and down the beach.  All it seemed I could do was run up and down – or stand with my hands on my hips while the guys held on to “Lil Nauti”!  Every time I’d go out to help the waves would about knock me over.  Finally we were back in control and we were able to get back in the whaler and headed back to NautiNell.  No lunch for us.  It was after three then anyway!  When we got back to NautiNell - we then needed to dry out everything.  The depth finder and the stereo had gotten wet so Mike started his magic while I fixed us BLTs.  Oh well…….  So far the stereo is not quite working right but the depth finder seems to be coming around.  We’ll see…. 

Oh I don’t want to forget to mention the waterspouts!  A couple of days before Mother’s Day - on May 8 - thanks to Tropical Storm Ana we had several waterspouts that were spawned off toward our marina.  They were very slow moving and eventually went around us and stayed over open water.  It was a little unnerving – but no harm, no foul.  We were able to get some great pictures though!  By that afternoon it was a beautiful day!

We wanted to go back to the Two Dollar Bar again before we left so we decided today was a good day to go in the dinghy.  When are we going to learn!  It wasn’t as bad as the Mother’s Day trip but it was a bit crazy.  We had to anchor way far from the beach – good thing we had swimsuits on this time.  Other than having a bit of trouble getting back in the dinghy after lunch and a few beers it wasn’t so bad. 

It looks like we’ll be heading out tomorrow if the winds and weather do as predicted.  If not we may wait till Saturday.  We’re heading to the Abacos next.  Stay tuned!

Till Next Time!

Admiral “C”