Exumas, We Love You!

Ever since we sold our boat we’ve dreamed of sailing back to the places we loved the most.  The remote islands of the northern Exuma chain in the Bahamas are not easily accessible.  That’s the reason why we loved it there so much.  The unspoiled, uncrowded beaches and glistening turquoise waters are only 30 miles from Nassau and the best way to visit is by boat.  Luckily, our sailing/cruising/travel buddies Rick and Eva had the same longing as us.  Rick found us a charter boat from Navtours that we could take one-way from Nassau to Staniel Cay in a week.  The plan was expertly formed and executed!

Blues Cruisin’

We had one of the funnest vacations ever on the Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise.  The entire ship is chartered for blues music fans and musicians.  We’re talking live music day and night all week long!

The Holland America Koningsdam is a brand new ship and it’s beautiful.  We were very comfortable leaving Ft. Lauderdale in high seas and lots of wind.  The cruise had a rocky start when the power went out to the entire Port Everglades. Luckily, we arrived early and were already checked in through security and allowed to board.  Everyone else had to wait in long lines outside until power was restored.

The ship made 3 stops and we had 3 days at sea.  We’ve taken cruises before but they were nothing like this one.  First of all, all of the old people were really cool and there were NO kids!  The entertainment was all music with 6 venues and musicians performing multiple times all week.  By the end of the week, they were joining each others performances and jamming together all night long.

There were theme nights where people got all decked out in costumes. No formal night – it was pajamas! We enjoyed the casual atmosphere and people-watching. It looked like the crew was really having fun along with everyone else.

Bon Voyage!

Back to Cat Island

Our last trip to Cat Island, an out island in the Bahamas, was in 2010 on our boat.  It was a lot easier getting there by plane although we did have a weather delay out of Ft. Lauderdale that left us with very little time before our connection in Nassau.  I was happy to land on Cat Island after a 45 minute flight on an aging plane with no air-conditioning!

Our best sailing and traveling buddies, Rick and Eva, invited us to stay with them at one of their favorite resorts, Fernandez Bay Village on Cat Island.  Our little cottage on the beach was the perfect setting for a relaxing and fun vacation. 

Blog update…long overdue!

The blog is getting a little stale because there’s not much to write about when we’re not traveling.  We’re just enjoying life in paradise!

Sailing blog morphed

My sailing blog is now a decorating blog!  Sorry, I’ll get back to sailing topics some day but everyone keeps asking for photos so here they are:
The front entry looks better with new plants

Skip Freed! Journey will continue

Skip was released from the hospital on Friday.  They switched him to oral antibiotics and he’s healing well.  He sees the doctor tomorrow and with an ‘all clear’, we’ll get ready to leave on Tuesday.   He was pretty tired on Friday but after a good night’s sleep (without someone waking him up every hour) he felt better on Saturday.

The weather turned nicely warm and sunny.  At least we don’t have to have the heater on all the time!  We took out towards Tybee Island and stopped at Fort Pulaski to look around.  Skip grew up near Savannah and remembers what it looked like 40 years ago.  He said that Tybee hasn’t changed much.

Fort Pulaski

Not quite out of the woods yet…

Skip is still in the hospital (a week tomorrow) and is slowly getting better. They took him off the IV drugs today and started him on an oral antibiotic. The doctors said that they will release him tomorrow. We’re not sure how much longer we’ll need to stay here for a followup. I think they’re reluctant to release him until they’re sure he’s fully cured because they know we’re anxious to keep moving south. We’ll do whatever they say because he rest of the trip through Georgia is mostly unpopulated so we don’t want to have a relapse in the middle of nowhere!

Bailey is good company but I’ve been pretty bored. Fortunately (or maybe not!) there are shopping opportunities here. I hit the big Macy’s sale yesterday and got us a few more fleece tops. The dryer cooked some of ours in the laundromat visit. It’s still chilly here, especially at night.

Thanks to everyone who keeps checking in on our status. We hope to get moving again soon!

Advice for the day: don’t ever treat an infection lightly!

Quick Skipper Update

Skip is doing much better today. His hand is much less painful and the swelling is down. The doctor doesn’t think he needs surgery and wil continue with the antibiotics for a few more days. He’s in good spirits and is probably going to get pretty bored. Thanks for all of the well-wishes. Maybe we’ll get moving again soon!

Delayed

The infection in Skip’s hand wasn’t getting better so I took him to the ER last night and they admitted him.  He’s getting IV antibiotics and evaluated by a hand surgeon.  The doctor will look at his MRI and decide the best treatment.  We’re still hoping that the drugs will work and he won’t have to have surgery.  This is definitely more trouble than we ever imagined from a tiny red spot.  Lesson learned: don’t ever ignore something that doesn’t seem right!