Dessert was key lime pie. There are a type of small limes grown down
here that are used to make it and it's delicious!
I made sure Angel Jen had more than me because: a) it's the
gentlemanly thing to do and 2) I love it when she smiles like this!
So be good kids. Try to make the teacher smile today. She's pretty
when she smiles, too.
After our marathon sailing session from Chub Cay to Fort Lauderdale
and a full day of running around, Angel Jen said,"Let's eat!"
We had been off shore for months. We needed some good old American
food. No more rice and beans. Not today!
We went to a restaurant and just about turned around and left after
looking at the prices. (Did I mention that we are epic scale
cheapskates? Well, we are.). Then I said,"No. I ain't walking another
step. We're going to eat."
We walked in and ordered up carrot-Ginger soup, barbeque baby back
ribs (note: no babies were harmed in the production of this meal),
sweet potato fries, squash with sun dried tomatos and a couple adult
sodas and we mowed it down. Here's a picture of our first state side
dinner in progress. Yeah, we used all the napkins in that pile before
we were through.
Guess what was dessert. Go ahead, guess!
Angel Jen and I decided it was time to head back to the USA so we took
off!
We had real strong winds, 20-25 knots. It was from a good direction so
we just sailed and sailed. We covered mile after mile, from Warderick
Wells, where the last installment of the blog was written, to Allens
Cay, then Nassau, then to Chub Cay.
We anchored in Chub Cay in a place that was really 'rolly'. That is,
because of the high winds that we were having the waves made the boat
'roll' back and forth, up and down all night. We didn't sleep well at
all but the winds were made for traveling so early the next morning we
headed out for Gun Cay, seventy miles away.
We traveled all day and arrived at sunset. We stopped for a bit but
the seas were 'rolly' again so Angel Jen said,"Lets go! Florida or
bust!"
This meant sailing all night long after our long day. We would be
exhausted, but when the Angel is determined, nothing stands in her way!
I made her stop and listen to the marine weather at least. They were
predicting the good winds to continue so we struck off for Fort
Lauderdale as the sun set.
The night was beautiful. There was a sliver of an almost new moon for
a couple hours after sunset. Then the stars came out and we could see
the glow of Florida's cities way over the horizon fifty miles ahead.
We took turns driving the boat and trying to sleep and sunrise found
us just eight miles off the port in Florida. We sailed in, found a
marina and had a little breakfast.
Here's a picture of Angel Jen after 134 miles of sailing reading her
book. After that we went out around town all day.
That girl is tough!
So there you go kids. There's the moral of the story. Camptown women
are tough! And you can tell'em pirate John said so!
You won't believe what happened to me yesterday! Angel Jen and I were
on the beach with a bunch of other cruisers. I had just finished
giving a knot tying seminar in which the beauty of the Turk's head
knot was shown and the miracle of the one handed bowline was
demonstrated. (Many cruisers attended and much joy was had.)
We were ambling out to the boat after collecting all our materials
when we saw another 'moving rock' in the water. A sting ray! The
dangerous sea creature that killed the crocodile hunter, Steve Irwin!
We got our cameras ready and went to investigate.
Sure enough, it was a ray but not just one. It was a mama ray and a
baby ray, too!
These big flat 'fish' actually seem to be flying through the water.
They don't wiggle side to side like a regular fish, heck they don't
even HAVE a side, they are flat. They flap their wings like a bird to
move.
So this big, giant Ray started coming for me. She flew straight for my
feet. I stood still, waiting for death. Then she got to my feet. She
took a sniff of them, turned tail and flew off.
Saved by my stinky feet! Even an evil sea creature couldn't overcome
the smell!
I'll never wash my feet again!
