Well, it’s happened, school marm Mom has won herself a nickname, and it ain’t pretty. After a particularly frustrating Monday morning session where I battled with Lily for her focus earlier today, Violet, who was finished with her work but working hard to distract Lily so she’d have a playmate, came up with a stinger: Ms. Trunchbull. I doubt that most of you have read Roald Dahl’s Matilda, but for those of us who have, it evokes the kind of nasty in a Headmistress that is barely fun to read about, let alone live through. (Though Matilda is fiction, Dahl has most certainly drawn upon his own experiences in boarding school in England in the 1920s and 30s- think canes, whips and anything terrifying and purely ghastly to a 9 year old.) Let’s just say, I’ve clearly hit my stride in the teaching department. At least it got us all laughing, until of course, they segued into the Mr. Grinch song, when I had to put the brakes on. There is no way I’d live in a cave; it just isn’t me.
Soooo, other than two-way educational mental torture (I promise, I haven’t laid a single cane on anyone on this trip), our big excitement has been in the form of eagle ray slaps. After sunset during the past two nights here off of Tahiti beach we’ve heard massive splashes in the water all around the boat. Andy and Lily took a spot light to the bow last night and aimed at a splash to see a giant eagle ray leaping out of the water and crashing back down again. Disarming, really. I later read that the reason isn’t exactly known, but thoughts are that it’s either a female eluding a male (ayuh), a move to escape a predator (an obvious choice), or the ray using the re-entry force to disengage remoras or other sucker fish (I’m not sold on this). Reasoning aside, we heard a story about a ray clobbering a woman who was just sitting in her cockpit, which is a visual both hysterical and terrifying all at once. They can grow up to 6′ long; that’s no small thing to land in your lap/on your face. Plus, stinky.
Yesterday, pre-ray action, we caught a ride with Sam and Kayda up the coast of Elbow Cay to a new restaurant that we wanted to check out. We towed our dinghy, and hopped out ‘on the side of the road’ to go our way while they went back into Hope Town. Though we didn’t eat, we did enjoy their view while the girls enjoyed their pool, and we then snorkeled for a quick minute on the junk pile they’ve used for a habitat close to their dock. The girls were thrilled to see a toilet on the bottom, and made sure that we all saw it before we left. (Lordy, doesn’t take much, I tell you.)
We then dinghied back south but tucked into the Abaco Inn Resort in White Sound on our way back to the anchorage. We met up with the Ruach crew there, and sea glass hunted on the beach, swam in the pool, had a drink under the gazebo and definitely took advantage of their fresh water pool shower. At this point, we could be publishing a cruising guide to ‘Saltwater vs. Freshwater Pools Accessible by Purchasing Beverages’ in the Abacos, with the added bonus of us telling you which showers are unlocked, which have key access only, and which are worth loitering outside of until someone comes out. Notable accomplishment on our part (Ruach is part of this!), if we do say so ourselves; well worth the ‘research’.
Tomorrow we’ll head to Marsh Harbour to look at outboard engines (they’re much more affordable here, and 2 stroke, which is preferred), and then possibly anchor out someplace more remote. Since we plan to be back in Green Turtle on Thursday, we’re trying to take advantage of our last few times anchoring in clear waters on white sand, and being in Marsh Harbour with the murk of many boats doesn’t quite cut it for me.
Heading out to read in the cockpit- wish me luck for a ray-free evening!