Final Thoughts

We're back in the U. S. of A!!
After a rolling, 10-hour crossing from Nassau to Great Harbor Cay in the Berry Islands, and then a smooth  25-hour crossing to the Florida coast, we're back in the States. Currently, we're in a marina in Stuart, Florida on the St. Lucie River, an inlet between the Atlantic and the Okechobee Waterway of central FL.

Today we plan to do LAUNDRY :) and decide if we want to rent a slip here for the next year. We've already met some friendly people at the marina's St. Pat's Day party and have checked out the pool and other facilities (lovely).

In the meantime, I want to share some random, final thoughts about our adventure in the Bahamas.

• Did I mention that Barry had his evil spirits exorcised in Nassau? Really. A little, wrinkled old woman dressed in old clothes approached him in a marine hardware store and said "I'm hongry. I need $2.00 for a loaf of bread."  Barry gave her the money, and then she said "Let me take away your bad spirits." She placed her hands on his back and his chest, closed her eyes as if in prayer, and mumbled some words. When she finished, she said "You be better now." Barry thanked her and went his merry way.  Hmmmm....Bahamian panhandling? But since his head doesn't spin around 360 anymore, I guess it worked :)
• Island time: This is an adjustment, even for retired people! We learned we could not be in a rush to get fuel pumped, to be served in a restaurant, or certainly to use the internet! A sign in a bar in Staniel Cay summed it up: "The internet may be slower than you are used to. Just relax and look at the beautiful water surrounding you. Eventually you will get a connection--in the meantime, enjoy the view."
• Weather predictions aren't always correct--too bad you discover this when you're miles offshore in 6 foot waves.
• People are amazing! The man who saved our dinghy; the guys who set an extra anchor on our sailboat as it was being dragged to the rocky shore; the couple who are traveling with their disabled son and showed us the true meaning of patience and love; the waitress in a local Nassau food 'shack' who remembered us and the food we had ordered several weeks previous; and adventurous people who just follow the wind!

IT'S THE LITTLE THINGS:

• Fast, free wifi
• Cell phone towers
• Laundry facilities
• Paper towels
• Fresh veggies
• Ice cubes
• Charged batteries
• Trash disposal

      and it's the BIG THINGS:

• A night sky splashed with thousands of pinpoints of light, a sliver of moon, and phosphorescent sparkles in the wake of the boat   
• The breath-taking experience of entering an opening at the waterline of a non-descript rocky island--to find an opening to the sky 

  

• Placing your face mask under the blanketed surface of water and watching an invisible universe of fish and coral unfold before your eyes
• Coming over the crest of a hill, where you are met with the sight of waves crashing onto a rocky shore below you

• Deciding to go a few steps further along a narrow strip of beach....to discover a small enclosure of turquoise water, surrounded by sugar-loaf boulders of limestone upon which the Atlantic crashes from behind. One of the most beautiful places I've ever seen...and I didn't have my camera! (But here's a picture of a similar boulder)

• The way the sun melts in an orange puddle, leaving behind clouds that are the color of conch shells

• Climbing down a rough embankment composed of sharp coral and limestone rocks lined with scrubby brush....to emerge onto the ledge of a blue hole

• Traveling for the past 3 months with a man who throws his head back when he laughs; who greets me like a puppy dog every morning (you're awake! give me a kiss! do you want some coffee?); who looks at the ever-present mechanical break-downs as a challenge, not a problem; who revels in the beauty and wonder of the natural world almost as much as I do.