Treasure Cay, Great Guana and the Barefoot Man (12 - 18 March)

We started the week out in Marsh Harbor … again. However, since it looked as if most of the details concerning the home sale were done, we thought we would head out for a few days and relieve the dread Marina Fever.  Now marina fever can take a several different forms. Some people break out in hives and start twitching, their tongues kind of stick out and they generally go bonkers. Moreover, the bottom of their boats becomes overgrown in the green gunk and sea sludge that covers anything that is in the water and doesn’t move for a couple of days. Now, neither Ann nor I had marina fever THAT badly. For Ann it resembled cabin fever; the longer we stayed in the marina the more she wanted to get out. For me, it took the opposite form; the longer we were in the marina, the stronger the pull to stay and the more difficult it was to move on out. There is only one cure – crank up the engines and head out to sea. (Wow! Doesn’t that sound nautical!)

Well, before we went we had to get some foodstuffs and needed to visit the provision store – known to you landlubbers as a “grocery store.” On our way to the “grocery store,” our dinghy ran out of …. well … ok … it ran out of gas. I know some of you want to blame Ann. I may be the dinghy caretaker, but she, after all, is the one who wanted to go to the provision store. But, no, no, no you shouldn’t blame her. I will always take responsibility for things like … well, things like running out of gas. This is what we men do, right guys? And I know that some of you – mostly Ann’s friends (okay, maybe some of mine, too) – might actually want to blame me for running out of gas; honestly, I don’t know why you would want to do that. It is not like we could have drifted into the Atlantic – okay, maybe into the Sea of Abaco, but not the Atlantic. Anyway, as we were floating in the Harbor trying to figure out what to do, a boater who saw that we needed a teeny weeny bit of assistance (before we both drown) deployed his dinghy and came to help us. He said he was doing exactly what another boater had once done for him. Ain’t boaters grand?? Now I guess we’ll have to keep our eyes open for folks who run out of fuel. Or maybe we will just have to let the gas out of someone’s dinghy so we can rescue them and repay the debt sooner rather than later.

As we were trying to figure out where to go and what to do we heard that the Barefoot Man was playing  at Nippers in Great Guana. Now for those of you who don’t know, the Barefoot Man is to the Bahamas what Michael Bean is to the BVI and Jimmy Buffet is to the US of A. He is kind of a boat-ish person who sings funny ballads about the islands and is a heck of an entertainer. It is true that sometimes his lyrics tend to be a little (how shall I put this? Should I say risqué? No, that doesn’t quite capture it. Off-color, perhaps? Again, that is not quite the right word … hmmm … I’ve got it) raunchy – that’s what they are. Well, since we heard there was going to be a concert, we decided we would go to Treasure Cay (with that wonderful beach) for a couple of days, then head too Nippers for the Barefoot Man show.

This is what the Control Head to an ST 7000 looks like --
when it is working YEAH!

First things first: there were two important things that happened when we left the marina. First, the oil I had changed flowed through the system beautifully. I am now an official OIL CHANGER!! Second, the autopilot worked. So, the second qualification I have earned is that of Official-Autopilot-Connection-Tightener! award. In fact, I have also recalibrated the autopilot and now it actually keeps an accurate heading!


As the oil flowed through the system and the autopilot took us to Treasure Cay – our first destination – something truly amazing happened: a dolphin took a liking to Traveling Soul. Ann headed out to the bow and, for at least five minutes, our dolphin friend played in our bow wake. He was so far under the boat that I couldn’t see anything from the helm, but occasionally Ann would take her eyes off the dolphin long enough to give me this look of utter incredulity; she couldn’t believe the antics of our newly acquired dolphin friend.  I am sure she will write more about it below, but it appeared to be one of the highlights of the trip and it was only Day 1!

Throughout their lives, great men face and make choices. Napoleon decided to gamble everything at Waterloo. Nixon made the trip to China. President O’bama seems to be staking the success of his presidency on the Health Care Plan. Me? Well, I too, had a problem and choices to make. About three weeks ago, as most of you diligent readers will recall, we did not have a very good experience while anchored at Treasure Cay; our anchor drug and I stayed up all night making sure it did not happen again. Even more importantly, I lost a great deal of confidence in our anchoring skills. The following week when our friends Dave and Joan Wolf came to visit, we went straight to the marina rather than face the demons who lurk the bottom of Treasure Cay, unfastening anchors at will. Now that we are going back to Treasure Cay, the great question I had to face and the choice I had to make is whether we should anchor or go to the marina. We got there about 2 PM, at high tide and by God we dropped that anchor with authority. Ann did everything according to the textbook and the anchor set well. I ran the engines in reverse a couple of times to make sure we wouldn’t drag – and we were locked in.

I told you I liked to bury my toes in the sand at Treasure Cay

Unfortunately that night the wind shifted through 360 degrees and that set off our anchor alarm. Now I don’t set my anchor alarm the way everyone says you should, i.e. set the alarm at the same instant you drop the anchor, setting the distance for the amount of line or chain you have out. Because I never remember to set the alarm at the same time we drop the anchor, I set the alarm to go off if the boat drifts more than about 70 feet. Now the boat is naturally going to drift if you are at anchor, I just hope it won’t be more than 70 feet. If it does, I go check the situation and if nothing is untoward, I go back to bed. At Treasure Cay I discovered that the wind was in the process of making this 360 circle – so I decided to stay up until things settled down.



This is my artistic shot. I call it "solo cabana." :-)

The next day we went to the beach, lounged in the sun and went to Coco’s (the local beach bar/restaurant) for lunch and a beer. I then went for a long walk along the beach while Ann went shopping. Generally we had a wonderful leisurely afternoon and evening. Overall, it was well worth staying up most of the night before.



Coco Bar, our favorite on Treasure Cay.

The next morning we were off to Great Guana. Usually when people go to Guana they take a mooring ball in or just outside of Settlement Harbor. We had thought that there would be so many people there for the concert that we ought to reserve a spot in the marina so that’s what we did. When we arrived, however, we saw that most people anchored – which we should have done too, but it just never occurred to me; I wasn’t aware that the anchorage was so big. Next time I will know better. Anyway, within 30 minutes of pulling into the marina, we learned that it was full. However, it wasn’t going to be full of the 40 to 45 boats we were used to, oh no! It was going to have about a dozen hoity-toity 65-plus foot yachts. Usually Traveling Soul is the second or third biggest boat in the marina – not here. Man those boats were big AND they were all new, or at least looked like they were new.

Well, that afternoon the concert started. Before I begin, I should say that nothing I can say will adequately describe the event. It was a happening, man! (Remember happenings?) Nevertheless, I am going to try to give a sense of what it was lik. Nippers is on a ridge overlooking a wonderful Atlantic beach and the third largest barrier reef in the world. The bar/restaurant itself consists of about four levels built into the side of the ridge with picnic tables throughout; some of the tables are in the shade and some are in the sun – and with a two-level pool in the middle. There is also a small stage somewhere near the middle of the first level.

The Barefoot Man and his band. Unfortunately,
he turned his back just as I was shooting the picture!

Now imagine spring break with somewhere between 700 – 800 teenagers, dancing, singing, drinking, eating, drinking, flirting, drinking and listening to the concert. Now imagine that at least ¾ of those teenagers weren’t teenagers at all, but a bunch of 50- and 60-somethings having more fun that the youngsters would have had they been there. There were some young folks there; in fact there were some very cute 20-somethings in bikinis who were dancing on tables. Not to be outdone, there were also some 50-somethings who were dancing on tables and – to be honest – some of them shouldn’t have been. But they were having fun. The rest of us had fun, too. Ann and I grooved to the music (for those of you who don’t know what that means, you are probably too young to be reading this anyway!) we people watched and, well, we might have had a few frozen Nippers and Goombay Smashes ourselves. (Those are two of the most popular local libations and they are very dangerous in that they go down like fruit punch).

The crowd of juniors and seniors at the concert.

The Barefoot Man is an excellent entertainer. Since I do not have the computer skills to sing some of his songs, I will list a few song titles – and yes, some of them are as risqué as the names imply, some even more so.


A few of the plastic cups that gave their lives in our quest
for nirvana at the Barefoot Man conert.

·         “Time Flies When You Are Having Rum”
·         “Small Dinghy”
·         “Desperate Horse Wives”
·         ”She Loves My Deck”
·         “The Pussy Cat Song”
·         “Save the Lap Dance for Me”
·         “A Thong Gone Wrong”
·      And, of course, my personal favorite, “Viagra.”

The following day we went to “Grabbers Bed, Bar and Grill.” It too, was a really cool place with a Bahamian man singing some great music. (Sorry, but I didn’t get his name – though many of the folks there did and thought very highly of him.) We had only one rum-filled punch to drink (and we shared it), but for lunch Ann had a burger, which she really liked, and I had a Lobster Quesadilla. Ok, I didn’t find any of the lobster in that quesadilla, but neither one of us is complainin’. We had rum, music, a beautiful beach and lovely weather. It may not have quite been paradise, but it was pretty damn close.

ANN’S NOTES: The past few days have been so much fun for me. We got out of the marina for four days and meet a new couple . We actually meet Bente and Tony in Marsh Harbor before we left and had them over for a drink and conversation. They live on a 40 foot Catamaran named Side by Side…I liked their boat name. They have been living on boats of one kind or another for eighteen years. Anyway…I really did not get to say good bye to them…they were going to breakfast as we were putting our dinghy away… ( I dislike that Boston Whaler and cannot wait to sell it when we get back to VA/MD) I did feel bad that I did not say good bye … as the universe usually does … it lets you make up for things undone. When we pulled into the marina at Great Guana…we were assigned a slip right next to Side by Side. I thanked the universe and was a happy camper. The next morning Bente came over and asked if we could share a cup of coffee together and get to know each other a little better. It was amazing how much we have in common. She is Danish and had stories about when she was a little girl after World War 2. She also has studied Reiki up to level two…I am a Reiki master. She volunteers in Hospice…I have worked in Hospice for many years as a CNA. We both have daughters named Lisa…the list goes on and on. Sometimes the universe just puts people in your path that you connect with on a soul level. We talked about Yoga…she does a daily practice of the 5 Tibetans. It was so wonderful to just sit and talk…hear a female voice…and exchange ideas…book titles…and in general just love being in each others’ company. Bente…if you are reading this…thank you so much for that morning. I have a good chance of seeing her again this summer…they maybe in the VA/DC area.

The second amazing thing that happened was the DOLPHIN!!! OMG…OMG….OMG!!!! I just cannot tell you what that was like. We have seen dolphins from a distance…sort of grey spots swimming around. But this was just heart pounding…sheer delight. We were going into Treasure Cay and we saw the dolphin come close to our boat…but then he/she stated to play in our bow wake. I looked down and could see his/her eyes…hear him/her take a breath…actually feel the beautiful presence of this animal. The tail of dolphins have a split in it…he /she was swimming so fast that I could see the water flow off of it and it looked like a jet stream…Amazing….she/he played for almost five minutes. I was talking to him/her…thanking it for coming to us…sent Reiki blessings to her/him…I even told her /him I loved it. The thought of this dolphin will always be with me…when I need to feel happy…that morning will always be there for me to remember. The universe is an amazing and wondrous.

The concert with Barefoot Man was a blast…it was prime time people watching. There was lots of music, dancing and such. We also learned an important lesson. We have a new VHF  radio on board…great piece of equipment, a must-have when you own a boat…anyway…this radio is set that when anyone pushes a distress bottom a general alarm goes off on our boat and it gives the Lat and Long of the boat in trouble. Problem is …any alarm that goes off and you are not around to turn it off is “not good.” During the concern on the loud speaker we heard…something Soul…had an alarm going off…actually they said the boat was drifting away. Yup…the boat was tied to the dock BUT the VHF distress was on. Michael walked back to the boat and turned the radio off. So…I will make sure the radio is off every time we depart from the boat…Lesson learned…check…

We are counting down the days to the arrival of Tim, Carrie, Caylin and Gavin…less than two weeks to go!!

Traveling Soul…OUT…