"Laying Low Down in Abaco"-Barefoot Man

I am in the bahamas!!!! I had a surreal moment sitting in the crystal clear water with 70 degree weather and feeling the first licks of the sun on my very pale skin. I took the first chance I could to jump in and swim. The water felt phenomenal and I already loved the Abacos. (This northern most group of islands) I felt bad for Doug who had to make an emergency run to Coopers town hospital because his esophagus had closed around a piece of food and he hadn't been able to swallow anything since the night before (everyone blamed the biscuits). After taking Doug over and learning he had to fly to Nassau for the night we headed over to Manjack Cay where Capt. Bruce had friends who lived on the island. Leslie and Bill were great. They had this really amazing house on the island (only 8 or so houses) and they had a great garden and grew most of what they ate, used solar energy and caught all there water from the roof. They were so warm and welcoming and we spent the night anchored off their island enjoying Corn beef since it was St. Patty's day.

The next day we went down to Green Turtle Cay to go through customs and have our first bahamian beers at the very fun Blue Bee restaurant and I experienced my first Goombay smash – rum punch with pineapple, coconut, orange juice, and flavored rums, basically an extremely tasty and dangerous drink. The rest of the day was spent trying conch and wandering around Green Turtle. Wayne talked Jay, Charlie, Don, and I into the small little museum about the island. The old woman who showed us around was too cute and the history very interesting. I also learned that the name Albury is HUGE in the bahamas and it sounds almost identical to Aubrey so a lot of bahamians hear my name as Albury Anne and I have decided my great uncle must have been named after a bahamian so it must be in my blood. That night we watched a beautiful sunset at sundowners and had some drinks before taking the very long walk to Pineapple. Pineapple was a very cool bar on the water on the other side of Green Turtle.

They had a one man band and I spent the night dancing with Wayne, Don and the Petes. Don kept calling me baby girl so I gave him the new name big papa. Although I feel like all those guys are my uncles. The next day we picked up Doug after some confusion from Coopers and then headed back to Manjack for the full moon party.

The full moon party was fantastic. Some of the guys built the fire on the beach while Bruce taught me the wonders of making his own punch (very toxic) and deep frying a turkey. We hiked the mile across the island to the beach for an amazing night meeting people who lived on the island or were anchored out and ate delicious food and drank punch and watched the sunset and the moon rise over the water while we stayed warm by the huge bonfire. Richard and a lady from France (I think) played harmonicas and it was the greatest evening.

We stayed another day in Manjack swimming and all the uncles tried to help me learn the dingy... I am getting better guys. I didn't hit anything so thats good. That afternoon was spent helping Bill and Leslie put new fronds on their little cabana on the beach. After a night enjoying lobster (another new favorite) speared by Ron, Jay and Charlie we headed to Marsh Harbor but the weather was not happy with us. After fighting the wind we had to sail out to open sea through “Whales Cut” and the waves were doing everything to stop us. Bruce is at the hull and I come up from the galley because while I don't think I am seasick, 6 foot seas while reading in the galley is just asking for it. So we all sat around behind Bruce as he battled the waves and made it look easy. I found it thrilling riding the waves and watching our bow shoot up into the sky and then crash down in the waves and disappearing as the water rains down on us. After we get pass the breakers Bruce yells pull up the main sail, I hesitate long enough to say “NOW?” and am on my feet with Jay and we pull that sucker up in record time. I loved it. We made it to Marsh Harbor safe and sound and I was secretly wishing it was farther away. I really should type these up sooner because I can't remember what we did that day.

The next day we sailed over to Man-O-War for the morning and walked around. It was a very cool place and Doug, Wayne and I wandered around and saw the famous Albury Brothers boatyard. They are the famous boat makers down in the Bahamas. We walked along a beautiful beach and saw all the beautiful houses. We had lunch at the restaurant by the docks and it was delicious. I had chicken in a bag, apparently its a common Bahamian thing. It is a brown bag and inside is fried chicken and french fries covered in ketchup and hot sauce. I am a fan. Then we headed on to Spanish Wells that is right at the top of Eluthera (another main island). We made a stop at Dolphin beach for the afternoon and it quickly became one of my favorite beaches. It is on the top of Eluthera on the open sea side and it is completely undeveloped. We anchored and swam in and wandered around the beach. Bruce told us there was a rope you could climb and then jump off the cliff and of course I had to do it. I convinced Doug (though it wasn't hard) to join me. After a failed attempt to find the path we picked our sand spurs and walked in the waist deep water and then swam around to the rope. After the embarrassingly difficult rope climb I made it to the top and jumped off. Don't worry mom it was like 6 feet deep and I cleared the coral. Doug jumped next and we decided we had to do it one more time. Then we swam into the little cave and climbed around. After making it back to the boat we had delicious hamburgers and milkshakes at Spanish Wells and then headed to Current Cut.

Current cut is an island with a small passage from the inside to the open ocean side where the current goes 7 knots (really fast, our boat is happy to go 6) during the tides. We anchored there for a night and I got a well needed joy shower. A joy shower is actually not joyful or a shower at all. You jump in the water off the back of the boat (or the bow if you're feeling adventurous) and climb onto the dive platform, cover yourself in Lemon Joy and jump back in. It is actually very rejuvenating to say the least and my only form of cleaning myself all week until I get back to Nassau. However it doesn't bother me one bit (shocker I know). We watched the sunset while Bruce blew his conch like a good sailor (something I now expect every night when I see the sun go down) and I tried to learn. The sail back to Nassau the next day was great and I started getting sad thinking about saying goodbye to all my uncles. A few of us went and had the best and spiciest conch salad that has ever existed when we got in. McKinley's under the bridge, go there it will change your life. Thursday night was spent enjoying Bruce's conch chowder and exploring Atlantis. We wandered all the aquariums and saw a couple manarays -always awesome- and went to sleep early. The next morning Doug, Jerry, and Don left to go home. The afternoon was spent being lazy around Nassau. On the Run, aka my home away from home, is the gas station right by the marina and has internet and not to shabby food too. I spent the afternoon emailing and working on my blog. That night nobody felt like going out so we hung out on the boat and enjoyed our last evening together. The next morning the rest of my uncles left and Jay, Charlie and I got busy cleaning the boat. The next group was getting in that afternoon and we had lots to do!