Perched once again in our cherished cottage on the beach, I’m sitting and watching the sun rise over Gillam Bay, entertaining the scene like a soothing balm. The hermit crabs had made their highways in the sand overnight, zig-zagging their way to and from the beach and under the sea grapes, and everything else feels untouched and so completely peaceful. Add ‘the sound of waves crashing on the beach’ to ‘petting a cat’ for blood pressuring-lowering hacks. (Just don’t check your email or turn any phone notifications on, or you’ll end up back where you started.)
We arrived late on Wednesday after a long day of travel (but only one versus two! it’s getting easier to get to one end of things to another), and settled into our usual habits as if we’d never left. A stop in Marsh Harbour at Maxwell’s, the big grocery store, the ferry ride to the dock where we met our friend Caroljean with our golf cart, and onto the cottage. Cracked conch at Pineapples immediately after throwing our things in the door- it seems like a requirement at this point. A delicious requirement.
Andy spent yesterday working on the engine: replacing various hoses, replacing the heat exchanger and installing our rebuilt alternator (remember those fun charging issues last year? hopefully we won’t offer a redo). I puttered around in the cockpit, since down below was not accessible due to the companionway being taken apart for the sake of the engine work. I stored the sun shade, installed the dodger and detailed the lazarette, all while also collecting what I hope won’t prove to be my worst sunburn in all of these years. We are all so diligent with sunscreen I can honestly say that in seven years, we have not had any real burns, but I was clearly in tundra mode, and my ‘reapplication sensor’ wasn’t working. Ah, well, at least it wasn’t the kids, and what’s a few layers of skin? Yeesh.
The girls spent the morning in the water, collecting as much sand in their suits and scalps as possible, midday making and delivering lunch (and cleaning up from it, which really shocks the system), and the afternoon biking around. We’ve threatened to have them do schoolwork for the rest of these vacation days, but they’re onto us, and not having it. Bilge-cleaning instead, perhaps?
We launch this afternoon, so after breakfast at the liquor store (I love that THAT’S a thing) and our Day 2 COVID tests at this clinic this morning, we’ll be registering the boat (a new item on our task list, now that she’s Bahamian) and hopefully flying through the rest of our pre-launch to-dos. A day or two more here in Green Turtle, and then we’ll head around the Whale to make our way toward Hope Town. All of the comforting things!
