Brightwork Done!!!

Ahh...look at that beautiful shiney teak!!

After 16 days & about 100 man hours (not exaggerating), we are DONE with the varnish project...for now. Unfortunately, "brightwork" is one of those chores that must be done routinely to keep it looking nice. It will never be as hard as this 1st time. Our wood hadn't had any tender loving care for at least 5 years. Believe me, after all the work we've done it'll be getting plenty of TLC from us. Which means maintenance sanding & varnishing every so often. Maintenance brightwork will be more like a 1 day project. Thank God!! Our Malaika looks so pretty now! It was worth the hard work. It's these kind of projects that make us love our boat so much. We've invested so much of ourselves!


Before



After! :)

Jib is even more excited we're done because he's allowed on deck again, he was sooo happy to sit on deck & spy on all the neighbors.


We will be leaving Green Turtle at the end of this week. Our month at the Marina is over today, but we can't leave due to weather. The wind is too strong out of the north for the next few days. Part of the passage to our next stop "Marsh Harbor", can get really nasty with north winds so we'll wait. Looks like Thursday could be moving day.
We'll have to see what Mother Nature has to say about that.
Much love to everyone!! Love & miss you all!!!
I got to talk to my parents today...was SOOOO great to hear your voices Mom & Dad!!! Love you!!XXXOOO



Thanks to Grammy Pam from Jib! We finally gave him the last of the toys you brought him. Wish you could of seen his face when he heard the frog say "ribbet". He jumped back about a foot!



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Location:Green Turtle Cay, Bahamas

Happy Sunday

Love & Miss everyone! Hope you are having a glorious Sunday! God Bless
XXXOOO





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Date Night

It may sound strange to schedule "Date Night" when we spend 24/7 (literally) together, but we've found you still have to make the time. We spend a lot of time working on the boat, sharing new adventures, etc. The problem is, we're sharing the exact same adventure so sometimes, believe it or not, it's hard to find things to talk about. So tonight, we scheduled date night. Yay!! I wore a dress, Scott wore a shirt with a collar...very romantic.




On my way to a date with my hubby



Scott hanging out in the marina lounge

It's "wine down" (as in wind down after a long week) Friday at the Marina clubhouse/bar. We shared a delicious grilled grouper BLT & a bottle of their cheapest Merlot (which was actually quite yummy). We got to know our new neighbors, who are the same age as us....(doesn't happen too often), who also have dogs on board...





Our new neighbors, Linus & Willie

Who are also kinda new sailors (although, they have a lot more experience than us..this is their 3rd trip to the Bahamas.) We even watched a little TV... we haven't done that since...well, neither one of us can remember.






What a fun night! And home by 8pm! Cruiser's hours are a bit different. Out of bed when the sun comes up...ready for bed just after sunset. Like camping. "Cruiser's Midnight" is 9pm. So nighty-night. It's 8:35pm. We're actually staying up late tonight to watch a movie.
Great date honey!! XXXOOO
Have a great weekend everybody!!

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Location:Green Turtle Cay, Bahamas

Beach Time

Today I just wanted to share some pics of our favorite beach here in Green Turtle.



Path to our beach

It's a private beach owned by the marina we're staying at. We have never seen anyone else on this beach so now it feels like our special place.



We take Jib there everyday to play.







A couple of my favorites on the path to our beach



The varnish project is going slow due to intermittent rain the past few days but we are almost done!!! Can't wait to show you pictures. It's been really hard work. Our backs, wrists, arms, & elbows are SORE!! Good thing we have our beach time !
XXXOOO

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Location:Green Turtle Cay, Bahamas

New Plymouth, Bahamas

New Plymouth is the name of the town here on Green Turtle Cay. It's just a short 10 minute dinghy ride from our boat so we make the trip in several times a week. Only about 450 people live here but it's a very popular rest stop for cruisers who have just crossed the Gulf Stream. Most stay a few days & continue south to Marsh Harbor...we've been here 1 month today! We'll be moving on next week. It's been great having a rest here at Bluff House Marina & we also used the time at the dock to do the varnish. It's been time well spent but I am getting very excited to go see more of the Bahamas.
I have been very homesick for my family the past few days. Love & miss you all so much!! Thank You to everybody who has stayed in touch with us these past 7 months! (7 months seems unbelievable!) You're comments on the blog & notes on Facebook
make our day!!!!
XXXOOO


Scenes from New Plymouth


Scott & Jib at the dinghy dock



You know you've reached the islands when pastel colored houses are the norm



Main Street



Our 1st order of business a month ago was here at the Pink & white Customs office



Life moves slower here


This is one our favorite hang outs.. "The Wrecking Tree"





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$$$ That Costs How Much? $$$

We love the Bahamas. It's truly an island paradise. However, because it is an island (well actually, it's a group of about 3,000 islands) some things are very expensive. Everything must be shipped in. The islands were formed by coral so things don't grow well here in terms of food. There really is zero agriculture here. Without all the palm trees & beautiful beaches the Bahamas would look a lot like the desert in Phoenix. I still have a moment of sticker shock every trip to the grocery store.


This small bag if dog food rang in at $9



$7.75



Crystal Light $19.99
That is not a typo.



Chickens do well here & so eggs are always available for the bargain price of $3.50



Coconut Bread (our favorite) $4.75/loaf.
We could by regular bread for about $3.85 but we splurge. Coconut bread makes the BEST French toast !



$2.75/pound

I really don't know how the locals afford things here. Many are unemployed. Gas is as high as $5.85 some places ! Americans ...stop complaining! We have it easy with our big supermarkets.
I wish I had some new exciting travel stories to tell you but we've mostly been working on the varnish project. The "Brightwork." I can honestly say now that I absolutely despise sanding. It is getting easier and it looks beautiful, so at least there is progress. We're 1/2 way done.
Dan & Cheri came to visit us Thank goodness. Great break from brightwork!
Love & miss everyone SOOOO much! Signing off from a land where you too, can buy a box of Triscuits. For $7.50. Good thing I stocked up in Florida.
XXXOOO

P.S. I forgot Beer. Nearly $75/case. That's right folks. No worries though. We stocked up. Rum is cheap!
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Location:Green Turtle Cay, Bahamas

Varnish. Day Five.

Sunset over Sea of Abaco

We just keep plugging away with our "brightwork" . We had a couple days interrupted by weather, including today, so it's slow going. We put on the 1st layer of varnish & 5 minutes later out of nowhere, it started raining. The little sprinkles made little bubbles on our fresh varnish, which we are sanding off today so we can begin again. Good times.





Lots of prep work. Sanding, Taping, Layers & layers of varnish. More sanding.






Good thing Scott has a strong Chemistry background.






Jib feels very left out. He's not allowed on deck when we are varnishing.






Keeping the Captain well fed!






Hope everyone is having a good week! Almost TGIF !! Missing friends & family so much.
Love,
Michelle, Scott & Jib
XXXOOO
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Location:Loyalist Rd,,The Bahamas

Jib's Best Friend

Jib watching Scott varnish cockpit table

So the varnishing continues. It's about a 200 step process. We've been halted today (thank God) due to wind & rain. No worries though! Plenty of boat projects screaming out for attention.



Big priority...our port lights(windows). They are leaking so with rain in the forecast Scott put down the varnish & started on the port lights. Always something!!




On a lighter note, our little Jib is growing so fast! He seems to idolize Scott . He ALWAYS wants to be where ever Scott is. It's so cute.



Jib waiting for Scott to return from bike ride to hardware store



Jib realizing he isn't going to hardware store

We've spent a lot of our free time looking at charts & guidebooks planning out fun things to do & cool islands to go to when our friends from Colorado come to visit. 1st stop, Guana Cay for the Sunday pig roast at the world famous "Nippers".




Weather permitting, of course. All plans etched in jello.
Very homesick past few days. So excited to have friends visit!!
Love & miss you all much
XXXOOO

P.S. I dont know why the last 1/2 of this blog entry is underlined. I tried to erase it twice. Including re-writing it, so I give up. A little blogspot glitch today. :)
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Location:Green Turtle Cay, Bahamas

Bright Work

Sunrise this morning

Bright work is boaters lingo for all that is required in caring for the wood on your boat. Sanding old varnish off, sanding the wood smooth, applying varnish over & over. I'm not sure why it's called "Bright Work". There's nothing bright about it. It sucks actually. I guess the "bright" moment will come when it's all shiney & polished. Right now it's tedious, dusty, & tiring.





Scott scraping off old varnish

Can't wait to show all the "after" pics!! We're on our 3rd day of sanding. Scott thinks we will be able to varnish tomorrow or Tuesday.
Hope everyone is having a great weekend! Love & Miss you. I have to get back to sanding.
XXXOO



Sanding begins at 9am on Malaika



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Location:Green Turtle Caye, Bahamas