NautiNell's Adventure!: Spending Time in Port Lucaya

NautiNell sitting pretty in Port Lucaya!

Beautiful colors in the Bahamas

Port Lucaya Lighthouse

Okay, I can learn these steps! Just give me a minute!!

Hanging out on the beach - never gets old!

It's Wednesday, June 20 and we're still at the marina in Port Lucaya having a great time. I thought I'd share some of the things that have been going on here (not in any particular order). LOL!

Beautiful sunrise over the canal

Having dinner on Coral Beach with Barry and Larry

Chef Antoine and Bernie at their Tiki Bar on the beach!

Enjoying a potluck dinner with other boaters!
Can anyone say "yummm"??

As I posted earlier we arrived here on June 2 intending to leave in a couple of days. However, it turned out to be such a nice place and even cheaper than the marina in Stuart, we decided to stay the month. We should be leaving sometime next week whenever there is a good weather window for crossing. Right now the weather has changed and it's pretty windy and somewhat rainy. Hopefully this will move out soon!

We've made a lot of friends while staying here at Ocean Reef. Several of the boaters here stay for months and have been doing so for years. Bob and Carol from England and their son Richard have been coming here since the '70s. They built a house here but they missed their boat so much they leased out their house and moved back on their boat ("Getting' Lucky")! Larry is here in his sailboat "Rio Dulce" – we met him while we were in Marsh Harbor. He's also been staying here for years. There are so many here, that I can't mention them all. Now, the real character here is Barry on the sailboat "Figment". He's the one whose boat was struck by lightning the other day. He is quite the storyteller.

Yes, Mike actually sang Karaoke!
"I Walk the Line"

One of Mikey's catches!
Spanish Mackeral - dinner tonight!

Our home for the month of June
Ocean Reef in Port Lucaya

Barry has been coming here from England for over 15 years. A few years ago the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies were being filmed here. Several of the extras for the movie became seasick while filming so the word was sent out to anyone that would like to be an extra. Barry decided he would give it a try. He has quite a few stories of the six months he spent on the movie. I wish I could repeat them all. He did say that Johnny Depp was very friendly and an all-around nice guy. Nice to hear!!

We've been eating rather well – went to Red Beard's with Larry and Barry one evening. Nice place – local hangout. Hope we get to go back again there before we leave. Good Food!

Every Wednesday evening there is a fish fry at Smith Point Island. There is a bus here that takes you over there. This is on Taino beach which is really a pretty place. The fish fry is billed as a local hangout but I was hard pressed to find any locals there other than those working. It was quite interesting though and we did get to taste turbot for the first time. In the states it's known as triggerfish. Not bad, I guess. Glad we went but doubt if we go back again.

We've gone over to Coral Beach and had dinner on the beach there. Wow! The food was great and the view spectacular. Highly recommend it especially if Mango is playing. He's pretty good! We went with Bob and Carol in their car but you can walk over there easily from here. In fact, we may go back there tonight if the weather clears up.

Now one of the best meals we've had over here was our boater "pot luck" dinner. We all got together one Sunday evening at the pool and held a pot luck dinner. Wow! Barry fixed a turkey and another couple (Hank and Diane) supplied us with lobster! They had caught them here and needed to get rid of them before they headed back to Canada by plane. There were 22 of us there so there were a lot of different dishes to choose from. Very Goood!!

A few days ago we visited the east end of the island and went to Banana Johns. Another great place with a beautiful beach. They specialize in BBQ and did not disappoint us! Also we tried the coconut water and coconut jelly that is fresh from the trees there. Not bad!

Mike caught Spanish Mackerel here so we got to try that for the first time! I think my favorite though was the Marlin. I didn't even know that you could eat Marlin! However, the couple in the boat next to us caught a 70 lb. marlin and shared their catch with us. There have been a lot of firsts here for us.
We've eaten lobster at a little tiki bar (Bernie's Tiki Bar) on the beach just a short dinghy ride from here and have enjoyed fresh bread from Esther who operates the pool bar here.

Okay we do more than just eat here. We hang out at the pool or the beaches. Mike fishes from the dinghy. There is a weekly pool tournament and Mike has played in that too. He and Hank even won last week! Bragging rights – but hey – they had fun. Now they're the defending champs! HA!

We've gone to the Port Lucaya Marketplace where I got to do some shopping while Mike hung out at Rum Runners. I saw a lot of things that I'd like to have. We are definitely going back soon! There are several stores and restaurants there along with the local straw market.

We haven't been to the casino yet. For those of you that know Mike – you know how excited he is about going there. NOT! However, I want to donate some money there so I think we're going this weekend. They are supposed to have a really good steak special there on Friday night. Again we are driven by food. HA!

Once a week there is Esther's Native Show held here. It's a mixture of Bahamian music and dance with limbo and Junkanoo costumes. It's a little hokey but fun to watch. They also have bingo three times a week. I've played once – just really not my thing. I did win a T-shirt though. LOL! Line dancing is big here. Every event seems to either start with or ends with line dancing – everyone doing the electric side or the Macarena. Hilarious! But fun!!

Oh and before I forget – every Tuesday night is Karaoke. AND Mike got up and sang last night! He did a very original rendition of Johnny Cash's "I WALK THE LINE". Hmmm! Hope Johnny Cash's estate doesn't sue us – heard they might. LOL! Too bad they didn't have the recording of "Stagger Lee" or he would have sung that too! I'm wondering if the emcee, Charles, will let him have the mic next Tuesday. We'll see!

It's going to be hard to leave this place but we both are feeling the itch to head home to the USA. We plan to spend the Fourth of July somewhere in Florida - leave the boat for a couple of weeks and go back to Joplin for a visit. See ya' all soon!

Till next time!

Admiral "C"