A Great Visit

This morning my brother, Dave, left after six days of a wonderful visit. On Thursday—the day after he arrived—we motor sailed to Long Island. The three of us joined Jean and Michael for a delicious dinner at Chez Pierre. The next morning we motored down to Thompson Bay. In October Hurricane Melissa hit the lower portion of Long Island and we were anxious to see if Salt Pond and Thompson Bay had suffered any damage. We were relieved to see that the buildings seemed intact but Basil’s dock—the private dock that the owner, Basil, allows cruisers to use—had lost almost all of its planking. George, Dave, and I opted not to try to walk on it. Instead, George and I went to the cove a mile north of the dock but we found other challenges there. Two trees had fallen over the path from the cove to the road, blocking our access. We walked through the woods to get around the trees but it wasn’t easy. Jean and Michael have since cleared the path—thank you! George and I walked 3/4 mile on the road to get to Hillside Food Supply, one of our favorite grocery stores. 

On Saturday Dave helped George install a solar ventilation fan. Later on we joined Jean and Michael at Tiny’s for lunch. On Sunday we motor sailed back to George Town and picked up a mooring ball in Red Shanks. It was low tide when arrived so we dinghied over to the large sand bar at Man of War Cay. The sandbar goes on and on and I love to visit it when the conditions are right. 

Since we were on a mooring ball George was able to disconnect the anchor from the chain yesterday and, with Dave’s help, untwist the chain. In the late afternoon we went for a dinghy ride then watched a Falcon 9 launch. This morning we moved Breeze On closer to town in order to have a shorter dinghy ride to meet Dave’s cab driver, Telecia. 

We are so grateful Dave made the trip and grateful for the time we were blessed to spend with him.  He was such a good sport about getting in and out of the dinghy and helping with some projects. We were glad to share some of what we love about our winters in the Bahamas and we couldn’t believe the calm, settled weather he brought with him!

                                           Enjoying dinner at Chez Pierre with Dave, Jean and Michael. 

                                                               Dave helping to install solar ventilation fan. 

                                                                                     Installing the fan. 

                                                                              Man of War Cay sandbar. 

                                                                    George, Bev and Dave at the sandbar. 

                               Untwisting the chain. Dave operated the windlass while George untwisted the chain. 

                                                First stage of the Falcon 9 rocket descending back to earth. 

                                                                                      Waiting for Telecia.