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Week of June 24th
Emerald Bay Marina
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Friday
- this will be our last day at Emerald
Bay ..
- click here for
Log D
..
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Week of June 24th
Emerald Bay Marina
Betty blowing her Conch Horn
Emerald Bay
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Friday
- the winds have died down and the Seas
have laid down so HAWKSHAW,
SCINTILLATOR and LADY SHARON
will be heading back this morning ..
- the sun came out for the first time in
days and it was a great day to start
their trip back ..by 07:30 am with Betty
blowing her Conch Horn all three
Boats had cleared the Marina Harbour and
were underway .. they reported that they
had 2 foot rollers ..
- there is an Air Strip on the top of
the Marinas Break Wall that an Alter
Light Airplane landed on and took some
people for rides ..
- with the winds down we launched our
Dinghies and headed out in search of
treasures .. after weaving our way thru
the Coral Heads we made our way
to a Beach only to find that the Surf
was going to do a number on our Dinghies
so we regrouped and headed out for a
second Beach that was protected a little
.. and we found treasures including the
Conch that Tony was looking for
.. it was a great Dinghy outing ..
- shortly after we got back from our
outing Betty said that two Governmental
Officials stopped by looking for
Illegal Aliens .. she told them that
Tony left this morning and that he was
heading North ..
- we ended up having Docktails / Dinner
at the Wahoo Bar ..
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Week of June 24th
Emerald Bay Marina
Farwell Dinner
Flowers at Four Seasons
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Thursday
- another day to watch the weather and enjoy Emerald
Bay .. and a good day to do planning for
our next number of days in the Bahamas
..
- a few larger Boats headed out of the
Marina this morning .. it was
interesting to watch as they hooked up
their Tenders / Dinghies as they headed
out .. once out of the protected Harbour
area they really bounced .. the topic at
the Boaters Lounge and around the Marina
is the weather .. it is most interesting
to listen to the seasoned Captains and
other Boaters talk about the Seas, Wave
Heights, etc ..
- all of us ended up having lunch
together at the Marina's Wahoo's
Restaurant .. weather permitting the
three RPYC Boats are going to head out
in the morning ..
- we all headed to the Grand Isle
Resort Pool area for Docktails and
then had our Farwell Dinner at
the Four Seasons Restaurant ..
COMMENTS FROM OUR FIRST MATES
- Sharon ( LADY SHARON ) - It has
been an amazing trip. I am so sad to
have to turn around and go home. Marv
has been an excellent cruise leader and
Betty was a great social director. We
could not have asked for better ones.
It has been a journey to remember for
the rest of our lives. Thank you Marv
and Betty. |
Week of June 24th
Emerald Bay Marina
DEE LIGHT at Emerald Bay
Tony Blair Steps Down
Our Weather YUCK !!
'click' to enlarge
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Wednesday
- another day to relax and enjoy Emerald
Bay ..
- the front of the Tropical Wave
moved thru during the night .. the
center of the Tropical Wave
appears to be to the Northeast of us but
we ended up with HIGH winds and
lightning and a little rain .. but later
in the morning we got DUMPED on
big time .. two inches of rain in 30
minutes .. any thoughts of salt on the
Boats is gone ..
- the Emerald Bay Marina is part
of a huge new development .. in addition
to the Marina there is the Four
Season Resort complex complete with
Pools, Restaurants, etc .. and there is
the time share Condo Grand Isle
Resort that also has Restaurants,
Pools, etc .. and then there is Roker
Point at Emerald Bay that must be
the housing / condo development section
.. it is spread out over many acres and
is still under construction .. there is
a Shuttle that we have been using that
will take us to any location within the
development .. as a guest of the Marina
we have full run of the entire
development ..
- when the rains all but stopped we took
a walk around to look at the waves
coming into the Marina Entrance .. a
large Boat ( FIVE STAR ) entered the
Marina and docked when we were on our
walk .. we stopped by and talked with
them .. they said that it was rough and
described it as much like being in a
Laundry Machine .. I have never done
that so I will just have to take their
word for it .. we took a photo of
Poor Betty's Cay that is just off
the Coast from Emerald Bay .. we also
took photos of the waves at the Entrance
to the Marina .. UFFFDA !! ..
- SCINTILLATOR 's Generator has
not worked since Warderick Wells so Tony
got a local Mechanic to look at it today
and HAWKSHAW has not been running
as well as Bob would like so he got a
local Diver to clean HAWKSHAW's bottom
off ..
HEADLINES -
LONDON
(June 27) - Former Treasury chief Gordon
Brown became British prime minister
Wednesday, promising "a new government
with new priorities," after Tony Blair
resigned to end a decade in power.
- the
Island gets a delivery of supplies every
Tuesday when the Cargo Ship comes
to George Town and by Wednesday
afternoon the shelves are restocked at
the local Stores .. so once the Gals
heard that the Grocery Store was
restocked they all headed right over
there ..
- we
had dinner at one of the Four Season's
Restaurants and then ended up in the
Casino where it did not take the Slots
long at all to consume our twenty
dollars ..
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Week of June 24th
Emerald Bay Marina
Rose and Betty - fixing dinner
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Tuesday
- another day to relax and enjoy Emerald
Bay ..
- I looked at the side of HAWKSHAW where
their ladder had tipped into the side of
their Boat .. it looks like the ladder
was the victim of a gust of wind .. when
the rough edges of the ladder rested on
a Plastic Air Intake Grill it made some
scuff marks on the Grill .. should rub
right out ..
- Betty
spent the morning in the Laundry Room
with a number of the other Gals .. and
before turning in the Rental Van I made
an emergency Ice Cream run to the
on-site Grocery Store .. it ended up
being a 'Dry Run' as ALL the non-chocolate
Ice Cream
was GONE !! at the Grocery Store and the
Ice Cream Parlor was not open yet for
the day .. later Gayle went to the Plaza
via Marina Shuttle and picked up Ice
Cream at the Ice Cream Parlor for me ..
- when we had lunch at the Marina's Bar
our entertainment was watching a large
Boat make its way to the Marina Entrance
.. we were all glad that we decided to
stay right here for a few days ..
- in the afternoon the WINDS started to
pick up a lot ..
- we had dinner on the Dock again
tonight .. the temperature, the breeze,
etc were perfect .. and the food was
GREAT .. and the Dogs enjoyed being
included .. after dinner the Crew of
LADY SHARON and Tony headed to the
Casino and the rest of us headed to Bed
..
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Week of June 24th
Emerald Bay Marina
Betty Hair Beaded
Peace and Plenty Hotel
Betty's Flowers
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Monday
- based on the weather forecast ( it is
going to get WINDY the next few days ) HAWKSHAW, SCINTILLATOR
and LADY SHARON decided to stay at
Emerald Bay for a few more days so we
will all enjoy another day in paradise
..
- when we first made it to Emerald Bay
we set up a Rental Van for today .. at
about 10:30 am we all stuffed ourselves
into the Rental and headed into George
Town .. our first stop was the Straw
Market where Betty lined up a Gal to
Bead her hair later today .. we then all
headed to the South end of the Island to
a restaurant for lunch .. well that was
a mistake as most all of the restaurants
.. if you could call them that .. were
closed on Mondays .. we did not find
anything of interest at all on our drive
to the South end so we headed back to
the Straw Market area and had lunch at
the Peace and Plenty Hotel and it was
very good .. when we were done with
lunch Betty stayed at the Straw Market
and the rest of us headed back to the
Marina via the Ice Cream Parlor ..
- later I headed back into Town to pick
up Betty at the Straw Market ..
Emerald Bay Marina is located
about 20 miles North of the George Town
area .. it takes about an hour to travel
the 20 miles due to the condition of the
roads .. we stopped at one of the Fuel
Stations on our return trip to put Gas
in the Rental .. the cost of the Gas was
$5.08 per gallon ..
- later when I was walking Autumn I
talked with Bob ( HAWKSHAW ) he said
that after our trip to George Town he
and Laurel took a nap for the rest of
the day .. when they were napping their
Ship Ladder tipped over right into the
side of their Boat .. UGH !! .. Bob
thinks that it may have been a
'disgruntled local' that Bob had talked
to about cleaning the bottom of his Boat
or it could have been the wind as they
are starting to pick up ..
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Week of June 24th
Emerald Bay Marina
Mt. Sinai Union Baptist Church
Farwell Dinner
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Sunday
- a day to relax and enjoy Emerald Bay
..
- we took the Church Taxi to the Mt.
Sinai Union Baptist Church with one of
the local Gals that we met yesterday at
the Marina .. at 08:00 am when the
Church Service started the Church was
all but empty but after the service
started the Church started to fill up ..
after Church we took the Church Taxi
back to the Marina and checked out
banquet facilities for our final evening
that all of us will be together ..
- in the past we have set up a banquet
for the entire group on the last night
that we were together .. looking ahead
to the weather we decided to have our
get together tonight .. Betty and I went
to the Four Season Resort section of the
Resort and checked out our option only
to find out that LADY SHARON was also
setting up a dinner also .. anyway we
got our heads together and set up the
details with Adrian ( Four Seasons
Resort ) for 07:30 pm tonight ..
- we all took the Marina Shuttle to the
Four Seasons .. once there we were
greeted by Pierre the General Manager ..
he brought us to a special Dining Room
all of our own where we had our Farwell
Dinner ..
- since our Cruise started based on our
observations we came up with a small
'gift' for each of our Bahamas 2007
Cruise Crew and tonight I presented each
Crew Person with their gift and the
thoughts behind their gift .. everyone
had a great time ..
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Week of June 17th
Cave Cay Marina
Junkanoo George Town
Harvest Conch
Junkanoo Junk Food
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Saturday
- we will be traveling from Cave Cay to
the Emerald Bay Marina about ten miles
north of George Town ..
- we hoisted our Dinghy aboard DEE LIGHT
and transferred water to both HAWKSHAW
and SCINTILLATOR .. at about 08:45 am
the Cave Cay Harbour Master came to each
Boat and checked us out for out dockage
etc .. it took forever to get the
paper work done but we were all out of
the Marina about 09:30 am .. we had FLAT
SEAS for the trip to Emerald Bay Marina
.. once within visual site of the
general area of the Marina we could
easily spot their REAL
Red
and
Green
Markers .. once in the Marina Basin we
were directed to our assigned Slip ..
all five of us were docked by noon ..
-
WHAT A MARINA !!!! .. free fast
WI-FI Internet, water at 15 cents a
gallon, free laundry ( large Washers and
Dryers ), Showers and Restrooms to die
for, free Cable TV, etc and shortly
after we were docked they even arranged
for the Heavens to rinse all the salt
waters off our Boats ..
- when we were at the Marina Office we
discovered that today ( Saturday ) there
is the Bahamas Junkanoo Summer
Festival in George Town so we
decided to head into town at 04:00 pm by
Taxi .. on the way to the Junkanoo the
Taxi Driver drove us thru the Downtown
area of George Town ( population of 600
people ) .. once at the Junkanoo we
junked out on Junkanoo Junk Food .. we
watched the locals harvest the Conch ..
YUCK !! .. it takes 5 to 15 years before
a Conch is ready to harvest .. and even
after seeing that Tony, Rose, Gayle and
Bob had Conch Salad .. I had Guava
Pudding / Cake to die for .. and once
back to the Marina I topped it off with
Ice Cream ..
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Week of June 17th
Cave Cay Marina
Betty's Sea Treasure
lunch at Ocean Cabin
LADY SHARON Casino Night
LADY SHARON Casino Night
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Friday
- we will be exploring the Cave Cay and
Little Farmers Cay area ..
- Cave
Cay has been under construction for just
over twelve years .. when Steve started
on the project there was nothing here
but a dream .. at low Tide you could
walk over the area where the Marina
Basin is now located .. he and the Crew
that he put together have dredged out
the entire Marina, built all of the
support buildings, built the Air Strip,
built housing for all of the people
working on the project, etc .. they have
come a long ways but they still have a
long ways to go ..
- the first thing in the morning two
Marina Employees and one of the many
Dogs came by each Boat to collect
our garbage and then the Harbour Master
and his Son came by to see if there was
anything that they can do for us ..
CNN HEADLINE NEWS - Eau Claire WI
- Chemical fire on the South Side of Eau
Claire possibly caused by an electrical
problem ..
- Autumn and I dropped Betty off on a
Beach to look for more Sea Treasures and
then we took the Dinghy out thru the Cut
to an area just South of the Marina
where David Copperfield and
Bill Gates own a number of the
Islands .. Steve said that there is one
Island South of the Marina that they are
spending over 250 million to develop it
.. I tried to ask Steve about his
investment but did not get to first base
..
- at about 11:30 am we headed out with
the Dinghies for Little Farmers Cay and
had a most deelightful lunch at Ocean
Cabin (
www.oceancbn.com
) .. Terry and his wife operate the
Restaurant ..
- we filled SCINTILLATOR's Water Tank
with water from DEE LIGHT .. as of to
date none of us have paid for water
since we have been in the Bahamas ..
most all of the Marinas are selling
their water for 50 cents a gallon ..
- Tony had made a deal with two local
for 20 Lobsters at $5.00 each .. ie
$100.00 .. well the two Guys came by
with six Lobsters that they had speared
and wanted their $100.00 .. after some
heated discussion needless to say they
did not get their $100.00 but Tony did
not get his Lobsters either ..
- LADY SHARON was our
host for our last Theme Party of the Cruise .. due to the HOT weather we
decided to have LADY SHARON's party aboard DEE LIGHT .. Bill and Sharon
put together a Casino Night and what a GREAT job they did ..
complete with Beads, Craps Table etc .. and a dinner to die for ..
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Week of June 17th
Staniel Cay Yacht Club
Little Farmers Cay
Betty and Sharon
Another Day In Paradise
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Thursday
- we will be traveling to Cave Cay
Marina ..
- after getting our Bikes, Dinghies etc
all put back on in place and after
getting checked out at the Marina Office
( end of the Bar ) we are planning to
head out for Cave Cay at about 09:30 am
.. LADY SHARON's Generator failed just
before we were going to head out .. once
we made it to Cave Cay Bill changed out
the Impellor again .. we attempted to time our arrival at
Cave Cay at high Tide as the depth at
their Marina Entrance is 5.5 foot at Low
Tide .. we had an uneventful ( enjoyable
) cruise to Cave Cay and had all of our
Boats docked by 12:15 am ..
- the Cave Cay Marina has been under
construction for twelve years now ..
they have their own support Construction
Crew, housing for the Crew etc .. there
is no theft on the Cay as they control
all .. the Marina Entrance is well
marked with REAL
Red
and
Green
Markers something that we have not seen
for a LONG time .. the dockage at Cave
Cay is
$2.00 per foot plus $35.00 for electrical
per day plus water
..
- after we were docked and checked in Laurel
and Rose headed to the Laundry Room and
the Crew of DEE LIGHT plus Tony headed out with the
LIL DEE to Little
Farmers Cay about five miles to the
North .. once there we were able to get
a Lunch Menu from Terry who is the Owner
/ Operator of a restaurant called Ocean
Cabin .. we will return with the entire
group for lunch tomorrow .. Tony also
bartered for some Snapper Fish that we
brought back for dinner .. later Betty
and Sharon floated around the Marina and
did they come back with a number of
Sea Treasures .. Betty found what
she has said is the BEST Seashell that
she has ever found (
see photos
) ..
- later Tony grilled up the Fish that we
got at Little Farmers Cay and we had a
fantastic dinner on the Dock as the Sun
set on another day in paradise ..
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Week of June 17th
Staniel Cay Yacht Club
Thunderball Grotto
Sea Treasures
RPYC Burgee at Staniel
Fowl Cay Yacht Club
|
Wednesday
- today Tony and the two Bobs are going
to head out fishing aboard a locals Boat
..
- I made another early morning visit to
the Internet Cafe .. it goes much faster
when there are not a lot of others
online at the same time .. later Bob and
Laurel took a morning Bike ride and
Betty took a good walk ..
- this is the typical weather that we
are experiencing every day ..
 |
Wednesday
Chance of Rain. Partly Cloudy. High:
89° F. / 32° C. Wind ESE 8 mph. / 14
km/h. Chance of precipitation 20%.
|
- the Guys were unable to go fishing
because the local contact was unable to
secure a Fishing Boat with a Bimini Top
on it .. Bob and Tony may take my Dinghy
out later this afternoon to do some
fishing .. Betty and Laurel found a
Beach with more treasures that they
lugged back to the Boats .. Laurel fell
in love with a little boy that kept
brining her Sea Treasures .. at least
they were Sea Treasures in his Eyes ..
- in the afternoon HAWKSHAW filled up
their Water Tank ( from DEE LIGHT ) ..
it sure works good to have some Boats
with Water Makers .. after filling up
their Water Tank they made their way to
the Pool for the afternoon ..
- just before noon a small Sea Plane
landed right in front of DEE LIGHT and
water taxied to the Shore .. once to
Shore the Pilot dropped off the
passengers for lunch at Staniel Cay
Yacht Club ..
- after lunch I took LADY SHARON and
Betty out to a Beach and Thunderball for
the afternoon ..
- just before we headed to the Fowl Cay
Yacht Club for dinner we all got
together in the Staniel Cay Bar to date
the RPYC Burgee that has been hanging
for a number of years from the ceiling
of the Bar ..
- at 06:15 pm the Fowl Cay Water Taxi
picked up the ten of us and brought us
to the Fowl Cay Yacht Club for
the evening .. and what an evening it
was .. our Boat ride to the FCYC was
thru the Mega Yachts that were on the
hook, the view from the FCYC was
breathtaking and the dinner was superb
.. and what a great ride back in the
dark thru the Mega Yachts .. Fowl Cay
was developed by an American couple and
it has just been sold to the Sandals
Company .. their Son and Daughter-in-law
have been onsite since the sale helping
out with the transition of the sale ..
they will be leaving in two days .. we
met the new team that will be operating
the Yacht Club and it appears to be in
good hands ..
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Week of June 17th
Staniel Cay Yacht Club
Lorraine's Cafe
Secluded Beach
Conch and Hog Snapper
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Tuesday
- today we will be taking the Dinghies
to Black
Point for lunch ..
- after updating the Dee Light Website I
helped SEA BUFF get moved so OBSIBIAN
could take on Fuel .. Bob's view of
OBSIBIAN's 'ballast' was not totally
lost just a different angle .. OPPs
spoke too soon SEA BUFF had to move
again to get better Electrical Power ..
and with that move his view was all but
gone ..
- HAWKSHAW filled their Water Tank from
DEE LIGHT ..
- SITTING DUCK came in to take on water
.. this is as far South as they will be
going so they will now be starting their
way back to their home in Cape Coral ..
- at about 10:30 am we headed out with
our five Dinghies for Black Point on the
Island of
Great Guana Cay
about six miles South of the Marina or
as Bob and Laurel would saw three Fuel
Stops .. at the Settlement Pier we were
greeted by a number of locals that were
processing Chicken for a funeral that
will take place on Saturday ( none of us
had Chicken for lunch ) .. we walked to
Lorraine's Cafe for a most unique dining
experience .. on our way Betty bought a
Hat from a local native named Eunice ..
she had an open Bar and every one of our
meals were just great .. no one had the
Sheep Tongue nor the Pig Feet Souse not
even Tony .. on our return trip some of
us stopped at a very Secluded Beach
for snorkeling and photo ops and Betty
was attacked by a Sea Creature ..
we also found a number of Sea Treasures
that we brought back to the Boats ..
- now that SEA BUFF has moved we are all
on the same Dock .. at about 07:00 pm we
had Docktails and later had
dinner on our Dock .. Tony grilled Conch
and Hog Snapper Fish and everyone
contributed to the meal including some
of my Ice Cream stock .. during our
dinner we watched the Sunset on another
great day in the Exuma Islands ..
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Week of June 17th
Staniel Cay Yacht Club
Black Point Exuma
Black Point Exuma
Dinner aboard LADY SHARON
|
Monday
- today we will be exploring the Island
and Bob and Tony will be heading out to do
some fishing ..
- there is free Internet here but you
have to be at their Internet Cafe ( Bar
) to get a signal .. so you know where I
have been .. after updating the Log and
Photos we talked with Leanne (
Staniel Cay Yacht Club ) about
some area options for our group to do ..
ie Black Point and Fowl Cay .. then we
took the Dinghy to Black Point about 6
miles South of the Marina .. Black
Point is undeveloped and many of the
locals work at Staniel or on one of the
other area Islands .. there are two very
local Restaurants that we checked out in
addition to the Garden Of Eden ..
see photos .. when we got back to the
Marina ( 111:15 am ) we fueled up LIL
DEE for the first time .. ie at $5.08
per gallon ..
- at noon we had a very short Skippers
Meeting to discuss options for the next
few days .. after our meeting Bill and I
took LIL DEE to Fowl Cay to set
up dinner arrangements for the group ..
we wanted to have dinner there tonight
but they are full so we set it up for
Wednesday ..
- Bob and Laurel spent much of the day
at the freshly filled Pool .. this is
the home of the areas Water Making
Company so the Pool water was hard to
beat .. a 98 foot Boat OBSIBIAN
moved in on the Fuel Dock right in front
of SEA BUFF .. at 22 knots the Boat uses
250 gallons of Fuel an hour .. OK at
$4.00 per gallon you do the math ..
UFFFDA !! .. one of the people aboard
the Boat is Cato Calin of the OJ
Simpson Trial along with a number of
Gals that are 'body perfect' ..
- in the afternoon Bill, Sharon Betty,
Rose and Tony rented a Golf Cart and took a ride around the
Island ..
- for dinner LADY SHARON ( and
Rainbow ) hosted the Crew on their Boat
.. Tony put together his traditional Conch
Salad and Gayle made a Peach Cobbler
that was great .. right down to the last
'lick' ..
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Week of June 17th
Staniel Cay Yacht Club
Mt Olivet Baptist Church
Swimming Pigs
Thunderball Grotto
Tony's Mask Night
|
Sunday
( Fathers Day )
- today we plan to explore the Island of
Staniel Cay , go to Church and to
explore the area waters by Dinghy ..
- in the morning the RPYC Crew woke up
to SUN, FLAT Seas and Betty's Conch
Horn .. yup its Fathers Day .. once
the Marina woke up we rented a Golf Cart
for later today and then took a good
long Dinghies ride in search for Sea
Life and photo ops .. Bob and Laurel
took their Bikes for a ride and the rest
of the Crew enjoyed a day to rest in ..
- at 11:00 am a number of us went to the
local Church ( Mt Olivet Baptist Church
) and it was a most unique Fathers Day
treat as much of the service was
centered around Fathers Day .. after
Church we grabbed a quick sandwich at
the Yacht Club with most of the RPYC
Crew ..
- Bernie and Barbara ( SITTING DUCK )
stopped by .. they are now anchored near
Big Majors and when they went to Shore
to see the Pigs earlier today they were
rousted by the Pigs .. in the ordeal
Bernie lost his Camera and a Hand Held
Marine Radio to the waters .. Betty gave
Bernie her Camera for the rest of their
trip .. later we headed out with our
Dinghies to see the Swimming Pigs on
Big Majors Spot where we met up with
Bernie and Barbara again as they are on
the Hook real close to where the Pigs
are .. after feeding the Pigs the
garbage that we have been collecting for
the last week we went to the
Thunderball Grotto .. it was near
low tide so we were able to get into the
Grotto real easy .. the colors of the
Fish and Sea Life are breathtaking ..
and once inside the Grotto you can look
up to a number of openings in the rock
ceiling above .. we had a great time
playing in the water ..
- tonight we had our Fathers Day Dinner
and Tony's Mask Night at the Yacht Club
.. Betty put together a Fathers Day Bag
of goodies for each of the fathers .. we
made up Tony Masks from a photo that I
took of Tony last night .. and was Tony
surprised !!!! .. he could not believe
his eyes .. the Masks looked so
realistic that he thought that we had
mirrors over our fazes .. Ramon with a
Mask joined us for desert .. the Staff
and the others dining at the Yacht Club
enjoy seeing Ramon .. Ramon ended up
going back to the Boats with Rose ..
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