Monday February 14, 2011

This day started well before dawn. As has become my custom, I brew a pot of de caf coffee and drink the coffee while I watch the sun rise. I was a beautiful sunrise today, sign from heaven that the weather today would be good. I wore two layers as it was somewhat chilly and damp.

About 8am I jumped into the dingy. Fired up “Old Joe” and headed the 500 yards by water to Mango’s. I was Valentines Day and I was anxious to Skype with Sandy. We have not been able to talk over the weekend. Wanted to tell my Valentine that I loved here and missed here being here. Not me being there in the cold and snow.

We talked for a long time. I used the iPod for awhile so that she could see Mango’s and the surrounding harbor. When the WiFi connection between the iPod began to fail, I switched back to the laptop. I can see Sandy with the laptop. She cannot see me. The laptop that I have does not have a web cam. The iPod does.

We talked for a long time as I sipped coffee watching Sandy sip coffee. It was like we were having coffee together with 3000 miles separating us. Thanks, Tim Byrners-Lee for inventing the Internet. Before the communication boon created by the Internet, folks in the Abacos depended on the mail boat that came just once per week to the larger settlements.

I have noticed that Marsh Harbor has a diverse population of blacks and whites. The little racism that I see here is imported from the USA by some of the visiting yachtsmen and their mates. The blacks and whites here in the Bahamas get along really well. Both races have generations of families going back to the days when the Cays were settled. Now intermarriage is common place. The mixed race children are called “Conchie Joe”.

I then headed back to Water Mark and spent the most of the rest of the day reading and finishing Clive Cussler’s, Flood Tide. Once again Dirk Pitt saved the day and got the girl.

At 7PM Jim and Ellie came by and asked me to join them for a Valentines Dinner. I oblieged. We first went to Mango’s. We waited 90 minutes and did not get served. I appeared the night staff was totally different that the day staff and I did not know any one. After giving up hope that we would be served, we headed over to Curly Tails which is one building east of Mango’s. They were totally booked. We could not get a table. We then back tracked to Scuppers. There was a piano player and we listened to him play old Billy Joel songs while we ate.

I crawled into the aft birth at about 11PM. I could not believe that I stayed up that late. I was a little chilly so I put in the wash board and slid the hatch closed for the night.