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Day 28 to 30, August 11 to 13
Saturday, August 11,
2007
Today is the day Barry will go off on his dingy adventure on his
own and I’ll stay behind with Salty and go over to the beach but
this time, we’ll cross the waterway while its low tide and see the
other side of the island. Salty and I headed off around 12:45 pm
when the tide is at its lowest and he had a ball, running through
the sand that should be under water, then swimming through the
deeper part of the back bay (only about 4 feet) then off to the
beach on the other side. The water is deep blue on the other side of
the island obviously due to the deeper water and there is also a
nice beach – yes, another beach – for us to explore. The last time
we walked over this stretch of water was in 2005 and we completely
lost all sense of time, so when we returned from the “other” beach,
high tide had set in and there was no visible sand – yikes! This was
going to be a hell of a swim to get over to where we needed to be.
Luckily, we were rescued by someone in a dingy and were saved from
the swim and the current. Because of that experience, I was a little
nervous and didn’t stay too long and even still, I had to let Salty
have a rest half way across. I laid in the water watching Salty get
carried away by the current a little ways down, then he’d swim back
to where I was…he absolutely loves the beach and water. Barry was at
the boat when we got back because it was too rough out there for a
lengthy dingy ride but he did manage to take some pictures of the
sights he had seen – more large yachts, gorgeous scenery, houses on
the small cliffs….its amazing how beautiful some rocks sticking out
the water can be. Sampson Cay is really a beautiful spot and we are
having a wonderful, relaxing time these past few days. Salty in
particular loves to watch the sharks but that is not one of my
favorite things in the world! Another great day of doing nothing
really, so how can we all be so tired?
Sunday, August 12,
2007
RAIN! We woke up to rain today – you have no idea how wonderful
a day of rain can be when it is non-stop sun and heat every day,
every week, every month. We quickly pulled up the carpets – at the
end of the gang way, on the stairs leading to the swim platform and
then put all the plastic down so the aft deck furniture didn’t get
soaked. It wasn’t a big downpour or anything but just enough to keep
us in the boat, watch TV and just be slugs. Well, I did manage to do
laundry – 2 loads of laundry for $16.00 – boy do I ever miss the
free laundry at Emerald Bay! The weather let up long enough in the
afternoon for Barry and Salty to go on a dingy ride to a beach not
far away and that gave me the perfect opportunity to be by myself
for a few hours and get ready for a lovely Sunday dinner of fresh
salad and spaghetti with my famous homemade sauce and so for a day
of drizzle and nothingness, it sure was a fine one.
Monday, August 13,
2007
Well, if I thought that yesterday morning was rainy, it was
nothing compared to what rolled in this morning! Actually, the water
was just a bit choppy on our side of the docks and the Eastern docks
were experiencing virtually nothing as they are much more protected
than where we are. Within about 15 minutes after Salty and I got
back to the boat around 8:00 am, the wind started to pick up and big
drops of rain started to fall. Then, that’s when it really hit!
Barry was out in the blinding rain, securing the boat and dingy as
the waves at the dock, coming in from the channel, were smashing
into the stern of the boat and dingy with no end in sight. What a
way for him to wake up! I swear the waves around us were 2 to 3
footers and that was at the dock so I can only imagine what it would
have been like out there in open water or even anchoring off. There
was a fairly large Trawler anchored off out close to the channel and
I was thinking I sure wouldn’t want to be him out there. Typically,
you can see the small islands just off the channel but when the
storm started to roll in there was nothing out there but the wall of
rain and that poor Trawler. We were rocking and rolling so hard, the
boat would shudder when the waves crashed into the swim platform and
I had to stop working on the laptop and go onto the aft deck – the
rocking action was making me sick. Salty had a better idea I think,
he jumped up onto our bed where it was more stable and a lot less
quiet than being on the floor. That storm produced higher waves,
more wind and rain than when we were here and Hurricane Denis was
rolling by in 2005 – thank God this storm only lasted a couple of
hours. The day actually turned out pretty nice after all and the
heat of the sun just made the whole Marina “steam” throughout the
rest of the day. The poor Trawler that was anchored out in the storm
finally settled down and actually found a new friend to float out
there with. When I was finished working on the next Newspaper ad for
this weekend and updating this Adventure, I took Salty out for a
walk and he must have been suffering from cabin fever or something
but he got all crazy and started hunting the very large gecko’s in
the brush. Pulling him out of there was worse than getting him away
from shark hunting! So, I was forced to take nature pictures while
he was buried in the bushes…another fun day in Paradise.
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