Golden visitors part 1 (April 2-4)
Finally, the long awaited arrival of the Golden clan! Lisa and I made Dragonfly as clean and welcoming as we were able and got up nice and early to bring a bag of trash ashore and pick up our 6 seat golf cart to transport the crew around the island. We were a bit early, so we decided to get breakfast and wait until we needed to head to the airport to pick them up. There was a brief moment of panic when I got a text from Karen saying they were ahead of schedule and I thought they had already landed. Of course, breakfast was being delivered at the leisurely pace that most all services are performed in the Bahamas and I thought we were off to a very poor start indeed. It turned out that she was texting me from an intermediate stop on another island. We ended up having time to eat our breakfast slowly and still beat them to the airport. They arrived safe and sound, if a bit worn out from the brutal schedule where they must have got all of two or three hours sleep the night before. To make matters worse, poor Colin had a bad head cold and was truly a miserable camper when they landed. Due to constraints with luggage, I ended up making two trips bringing Lisa and the boys to the yacht club first and then returning for Karen & Tim and the rest of the bags. They all decided that breakfast sounded good, so Lisa and I settled in for second breakfast like good hobbits. Since I wasn't hungry, I decided to load up the dinghy with all the suitcases and make a shuttle run to the boat and load everything up so that we could fit everyone in the dinghy post-breakfast. Tim very carefully watched from the window and wandered out to offer help once I had loaded everything up. He didn't fool me, I know that he was just hoping to watch me splash into the lagoon jumping off the rocks at low tide, but he was disappointed and I made it without getting wet, although certainly not gracefully.
This is my sister Karen and her youngest, Seth.
We had planned a leisurely first day, since we knew everyone would be a bit worn out by the brutal flight schedule. It turned out that everyone was not too bad off, except for poor Colin who looked a bit like he had been run over by at least a bus and a truck. He pretty much went to bed and didn't emerge again until the next day. Tim and I went ashore and I showed him the fancy local shopping scene. He insisted that they ought to have demerara sugar, while I pointed out that the biggest grocery would be considered a poorly stocked gas station convenience mart back home and there was absolutely no chance they were going to have this. Tim was determined to make the best cocktails he could and clearly a syrup made from white sugar or brown sugar just would not do. Finally, at the least likely store, we found a big jug of the stuff and I had to endure his victory smirk for the rest of the day. Additionally, he had brought a supply of some combination of acids to be used to make "super-juice" which would make the best possible cocktails and provide us with fresh lime or lemon juice that would last weeks! We made up a batch of lime super-juice and although it was a weird mad scientist kind of set up, I must admit that the resulting juice was delicious and remained perfectly fresh and tasty for the entire week. I've since made a lemon version and I now wish he had brought more acid. We all sat up front on the trampolines, drank some delicious classic daiquiris, caught up on stories from the now months we had been apart and generally had a lovely afternoon into evening in the cool breeze and shade. We had a late dinner at the Yacht Club. We had to pre-order our dinner while we were at breakfast, so we got Colin a dinner even though he was unable to actually make it. I'm pretty sure he eventually ate it. The food was not bad and luckily the water was very calm so we had a nice dry and mellow dinghy ride back and forth in the dark.
It is indeed very nice to have a bartender on board.
The next day was our first real indication that Colin was going to live. When I woke up I did see that the first bag of chips had vanished overnight, so I think he must have emerged sometime in the wee hours. We bought what we thought was more chips and cookies than even two teenagers could eat in a week, but we were very wrong. Overnight, we'd usually find one or two bags of both emptied at the table. We had a very busy day planned. Our first adventure was to traverse to Big Majors and visit the world-famous swimming pigs. I had warned them of the potential dangers of becoming pig bite victims and advised that if they wanted to feed them, that they should do so from the dinghy. My warnings were too effective and they chose to avoid food altogether. Given that the two teens are basically full-grown humans, I had come to realize that 6 adults in the dinghy was a serious challenge. It sat very low in the water and not only would it no longer plane, even at full throttle, it would actually hardly move. Apparently we were something of a spectacle, because two weeks later someone asked us just how many people were on our boat. They said they had seen us wallowing around in the dinghy somewhere and their faces indicated that they found it a bit concerning. The pigs were a hit, as Colin legitimately laughed out loud as he got surrounded by pigs ashore and I was happy to see that his survival seemed likely.
Colin and Lisa at Pig Beach
You can draw some conclusions about what the boys liked based on what pictures they took.
There were a lot of pictures of pigs, only most of which have women in bikinis in the background
Once we had our fill of watching pigs wander around, we decided to have a beach day. I dropped off our crew at the beach called "Cruiser's Beach" with all their supplies for a picnic and took my man Colin back to Dragonfly to recover from the pigs. We didn't want to push him too far and I get the sense that laying around the beach with us wasn't really his first choice of leisure activities anyhow. I was able to make good speed with just the two of us on the dinghy and preserved my reputation as the uncle who drives fast, at least for Colin. We got some air flying along over the waves in the dinghy and Colin seemed either amused or frozen in terror. Either way, I had fun. When I came back to the beach, we ate our sandwiches, Tim and Seth got in a little snorkel practice and we lounged in the shade provided by Lisa's trusty tarp that was strung between tree branches, rocks and I think a stick stuck in the sand. Seth was very excited to pilot the dinghy as we headed to Thunderball Grotto for a nice snorkel.
Captain Seth of the dinghy Reboot.
We arrived at Thunderball Grotto at low tide ready for a nice snorkel. We got to see a lot of fish and dropped anchor on the north side. Tim and I made a little make-shift rope line to allow people to more easily clamber back into the dinghy after we were done. We were left with about a 75 foot swim to the cave entrance. Unfortunately, Seth isn't the strongest swimmer and even with a snorkel I think he had a bit of a struggle to make it to the cave, which reduced his enthusiasm for the whole endeavor. Later, we found that you could anchor quite a bit closer on the south side of the island and I wish we had done it that way to build his confidence. The grotto itself was really cool when we first arrived, but soon it began to really fill up with day trippers from all around and eventually there were so many swimmers that the fish just hid away from us all and it was a bit difficult to find space to float. Tim and I explored some side passages and found several other ways out that required some tight squeezes to fit through, so of course we coaxed everyone else to try them too. By the time we swam back to the dinghy, hoisted ourselves aboard with varying degrees of grace and got back to Dragonfly, we were all pretty well worn out from a nice long fun day. We had a simple meal of burgers (some mahi-mahi and some beef) and had good enough streaming video to watch the premiere episode of Moon Knight. Colin has been talking to me about Moon Knight since he was about 6 years old, so it is fair to say that it was very eagerly anticipated. We watched it twice to try to work out the nuances and watched the first 5 minutes maybe 8 times as we tried to figure out a technology solution that would work. It was fun to mock Tim's efforts to get it playing, even if it was entirely unfair to do so. We also left the underwater lights on and were rewarded with a nocturnal visit from a pair of nurse sharks who decided to just sleep on the bottom under our boat.
Our blurry nurse shark friends.
Its quite late at night, so I'm surprised the photo turned out at all.
The next day was the first time we would move the big boat. We planned to make a quick jaunt to the south to visit Bitter Guana Cay and then wander back up north to Compass Cay. We used our headsets to involve everyone in the process so that at least they could be lookouts and handle lines when needed. It was a short jump to our first stop, but a good chance to go over some basic safety information and get used to how the boat feels when its moving.
Seth helped Lisa spot the shallow sections as we wound our way out of Staniel Cay.
Eventually that got old and he returned to the salon and the lure of the internet.
Our first stop is known as an iguana sanctuary. It is hope to an endangered species of iguana only found in the Bahamas. They have a few laws protecting them such as a ban on bringing your dogs ashore. At least one person was ignoring that rule and I believe Lisa educated her, although I don't think either one of them was satisfied with their encounter. I was a bit torn, because it would really be better if people didn't feed the lizards, since that alters their natural balance. However, dozens of tour boats do it every single day, so that ship has really sailed and I knew that they really love grapes, so I brought the last of our grapes along with instructions on how to do it safely by using a stick or tongs and an admonition not to drop them in the sand because its not great for them to eat a bunch of sand. We also brought carrots, but they were absolutely offended by them and promptly spit them out and looked around for more grapes. We were pretty much mobbed by lizards as soon as we got ashore.
Once we ran out of grapes, we went exploring the trails around the island. I climbed up to the top of the big hill and ran into Victoria from the YouTube channel Nautistyles. They were apparently hosting a charter on the other catamaran in the anchorage. The trail was very narrow and I stood aside to let them pass going downhill and when I looked at her, I exclaimed "I know you!" She looked amused and denied it and I was going to let it go when she thought better of it and grinned and thanked me for following them. The guests they were with said that it was a pretty regular occurrence to be recognized. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't enjoy that aspect of being a YouTuber. Once I got to the top of the hill, I saw the rest of the crew headed the other way (I had thought they climbed before me, but it turned out that they didn't!). I hurried down and told them they I had found another path that led to the other side of the island and I thought it was pretty neat. We all crossed to the ocean side and it was like another world. Instead of soft sandy beaches, it was sharp igneous rock, carved into weird shapes by the relentless sea. There were hundreds or even thousands of little tidal pools and each one seemed to have completely different kinds of creatures in it. Tim and I went out to the edge and had a blast exploring all the nooks and crannies. I also got to torment Colin, who is an avowed Rush hater, with the lyrics of Natural Science all about the "busy little creatures living out their destinies." He did not appreciate it. Boy has no culture.
Tim and I on the edge of the vast Atlantic Ocean. It would be a good sci-fi set.
We eventually pulled up anchor and motored up to Compass Cay. Its interesting that the shallow approaches to Pipe Creek that caused me so much stress the last time we went through here now seemed like no big deal at all. We found a nice anchorage very close to the marina so that we could go ashore and do the "swim with the sharks" excursion. It later turned out that the anchorage was a bit rolly as the current blasted through the area, but by the time we realized that it was too late to move. I had been a bit concerned that the shark swim was going to be a bust, since there were conflicting reports. They charge $15 a head and of course many cruisers are deeply offended by this because they are cheapskates. We arrived a bit late in the afternoon and weren't sure if the experience was still really going to be on or not. It turned out that arriving late was great because we had the experience to ourselves. They have a little shack that sells cold beer and I settled in to watch the nephews frolic with the sharks. There was a little bit of trepidation, but once Lisa jumped in, they couldn't admit to any nerves or they would lose face and they promptly jumped in as well. For a while the sharks just swam leisurely in circles around them and they reached out to rub them as they swam past.
Swimming with the sharks turned out to be a big hit!
Even better, the guy working there wandered by with some fresh caught fish, which he quickly chunked up on the bait table. He started tossing bits of fish into the water, getting them closer and closer to Seth. The sharks would make a beeline to the fish and chomp it down in an instant. Seth initially was very amused by this, but eventually tired of having sharks chomp next to him. Possibly he was actually tired of getting splashed with fish bits, I'm not sure. He did smell a bit interesting by the time it was over.
At this point, Seth is still very entertained.
I think this was probably the most fun day we had of the visit. We got to see a lot of animals, do some boat stuff and there was something for everyone. We grilled some salmon for dinner, Tim kept busy all night making cocktails and we had a great time trying all of them and watching the sun set. We got to have a brief phone call with John, their oldest boy, who couldn't join because he was at college where his spring break didn't align with his brothers' vacation. It would have been better if he could have joined us, but honestly I don't know where we would have fit him!
All the fishes doing their thing at Compass Cay
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