December 17-19, 2016 Floor Painting - Grouper Therapy

Modaki's inside floor needed a fresh coat of paint, so we cleaned and sanded and cleaned

again … this is the colour of the water here

next we are trying our hand at painting some sea life on the floor, pictures to follow

all the colours are vibrate and florescent

this is how you manoeuvre so you don't touch the

wet paint … so I guess it is time to get off the boat for a few hours

the boat is usually not this messy, but it is because everything is off the floor

we are always amazed at how the mangroves take root

one of our favourite walks is to the Sea of Abaco

being explorers as we are .. we took a different route back the

the boat and came across a whole area with coconuts starting to sprout and

grow

and after we came to a dead end, we climbed through some barb wire and

gates with locks on them .. little did we know that we entered a gated

community ..

and not finding a way out we asked some guys doing gardening and they said to follow this

road go thru the gate and turn left … well we did that, but the gates won't open up for a person

walking … so we once again planned to climb some gates with barb wire and exit …

lucky for us a car was approaching and when the gate opened we slipped  out

another Bahamian plant in fruit, and are unable to find it

in our plant book .. its a shrub growing along road ways and at the end of a stem is

this bright red seed pod or fruit

we had planned to head back to Hope Town and attend the

Christmas Village that runs in the evenings for three days

again we walked the beach and came back by the one lane road, here they are clearing

land for a huge house, so the work man said

most of the labour is done by hand, the wood is hauled across the road to a chipper… it was an extremely hot day, I don't know how they managed it

on the other side of the sand dune is the ocean

Cat Tail plant

Heron Moon sign made out of drift wood

there is a lot of hydro outages and wifi outages on Elbow Cay,

I'm not too sure why  ????

and when I went the following day to post this blog, there was no internet on the island

a sign in one of the bars

December 13-16, 2016 crossing the whale, connecting with Grace again

well we crossed on the outside of the Whale again in gentle rolling seas to get back to the north and

New Plymouth … and I caught a fish and had it on line for about 15 minutes and then it broke free, but I still have my hook

one of the boats at anchor with us, just off New Plymouth

we met up with our friends on GRACE, Debbie and Kevin, it has been 7 months since we

sailed together … our conversations was just like we saw each other yesterday

…..

since the ocean was calm and no wind we decided to cross back over the WHALE, going south…

we got up early to see a huge sun rising and to catch the rising tide to go thru Don't Rock Passage

we are in the extreme tides now and our depth of water was 7.9 ft

we anchored in Fishers Bay, on Great Guana Cay,

we needed to walk a beach

Dive Guana has moved to a new location in the settlement, a much larger store, they rent out boats, golf carts, scuba and snorkelling gear, do charters etc.

there was a new cement bench out front (easier to keep down in hurricane winds)

next stop was Nippers

what a view …. have a drink and watch the ocean roll in

… we found 3 more sea beans to add to our collection

the Poisonwood tree is so beautiful, but don't touch it or stand under

it in a rain storm

time to head back to Marsh Harbour … we sailed the whole way….

we had laundry to do, sim card to be topped up, diesel and gas to buy, electrical work on the batteries

and paint to buy for the floor

Mangoes Restaurant is going to be opening soon, today a new roof is being put on

my mung beans are ready to harvest

vegetable rice rolls to be made

our neighbour caught a 50 lb Grouper out at sea

we are still having battery issues, they are not keeping a charge, so Joe has now

installed a shunt to keep track of each battery

… these batteries are only one year old

laundry day on Modaki

…..

December 9 - 12, 2016 Junkanoo and local food we make

a local school putting on a Junkanoo at Iggy Biggy Christmas Open House

there was lots of drums, costumes and dancing

after wards we took Lauren and Bill to Curly Tails for drinks

breakfast one morning, fried plantain with salt, pepper, nutmeg and rum all fried

crispy

another one of our snacks is coconut cooked in coconut oil and curry

finished produced

December 9 - 12, 2016 Sea Star arrives and making conch fritters

Bill and Lauren Phinney on Sea Star have arrived, they use to live in Meaford, Ontario

Bill and Lauren bought us our new dinghy/cooler seat, full of goodies

that we packed back in Owen Sound … also lots more coffee for Joe

(coffee here for the same size of Folgers back home is $18 US - at home it

got it on sale for $7 Canadian)

our new dinghy has one small leak, so Rey at Mangoes helped us haul

it on the dock and after 24 hours it was patched and sealed

the conch man .. on the side of the road with his 1/2 ton

packed full of freshly caught conch … people would pull up in their cars and buy

some as if it was a drive thru

he showed me how it was done

cutting away the part that you don't eat

finished product

know Joe gets to tenderize it by using a hammer

red and green peppers, onions, garlic, egg, bread crumbs and conch

deep fry in vegetable oil ..

ready to eat