MELODEON

In the Bahamas we just want to celebrate. What else can you do when the temperature hovers around 72F, the water's clear to the bottom and folks favour dance music and love songs on the radio? Granted, there is a national election coming so the local talk shows are extra spicy and informative too. You really don't want to ever call anyone a 'mud dragger' but that's another story. This is just a quick wave to let you know all's well with us. Guess we're like the kid's going off to college. If you don't hear from them it means they haven't run out of money yet and they might be studying, if they're not playing cards and socializing. Guilty! : ) Send money or come and see for yourself. Everyone is welcome because we plan ... read more

YOU are invited to a virtual pot-luck. Please bring a picture of your favourite, tasty dish of food when you visit this blog. How do you do that? (It's a piece of cake if you know how to download pictures or a picnic if you get someone to help you.) Take a picture of your favourite dish the next time you make it and download it here in the message section. "What's the occasion?", you might ask. Well it is Mother's Day today, so that's good for a start. Fortunately I was up this morning to receive a beautiful surprise. Lavonnia, a terrific person from the marina office brought all the boaters a gorgeous rose for Mother's Day. As you can imagine, flowers aren't a big part of the boating scenario, so this one was really ... read more

Remember the old Pennsylvania Dutch expression: "The hurrier I go, the behinder I get"? Well we're working on a corollary of that, something like: "The less we do, the less we do-dee-do-dee-do". Hmmmmm? That's catchy. Maybe there's a song in that. See what I mean...? Since we've taken to indulging ourselves as dock-huggers at the Grand Bahamas Yacht Club, we have had more time to do what we do most willingly... hanging out in good company. So we find ourselves relaxing as we had hoped to do, when we started the boat project years ago. There are no worries about dragging anchor or being mowed under by a mega-yacht although we do have our big red fender balls out to prevent being shoved up against the dock by wind and wakes. Ultimately, finding company can be ... read more

We had no idea what we were getting into when friends took us to have conch salad in West End. This video just happened as we waited for the tasty, innocent looking conch salad to be prepared by the very skillful seaside chef. The rest of the day was relatively normal and enjoyable. Time to venture out of our safe, luxury cocoon and see the how things are going outside the resort. ... read more

If you're saying 'finally' bite your tongue. Time to celebrate and say thanks again to the loyal folks who helped us over the years, so we could get here! After turning back from the crossing Wednesday night, due to extra choppy seas, last Thursday we left Lake Worth at 7 a.m. and aimed south west to cross the Gulf Stream. It was a sunny, relatively peaceful crossing. Beginners need this kind of good luck to keep them going. We got to West End, the nearest north western port in the Bahama chain of 700 islands and scooted into the marina before 4 p.m., for an @ 9 hour crossing. Once we passed the midpoint we seemed to pick up speed as the Gulf Stream gave us a boost. Note to Pat and John... we were startled ... read more