Happy Sunday!!

The entrance to our church here in Hatchet Bay

Happy Sunday everybody! Hope everybody has had a wonderful weekend!! Our morning started out nice & cozy..as Sundays should. Coffee on, fresh coconut/raisin bread toasting, sun shining...Glorious. Just as I'm pouring the coffee, I hear Scott calmly say from the cockpit, "Oh look..that boat is dragging."

The boat with the black sail cover is dragging. It was originally about 300 yards away from us.

 

I am beginning to think our boat has some kind of dragging magnet hidden somewhere. This is the 3rd time this season a boat has dragged down on us.

And....here she comes...oh look, the dinghy is gone...nobody's home. Awesome!

Scott and another cruiser, Dave, got the boat away from ours & reanchored it to prevent it from dragging on to the rocks. And then...the three of us went to church. Just a little anchorage drama, all before 10:00am.

Yesterday Scott went to the grocery store & picked up a few things we needed. He was so surprised to find eggs for $1.99. That is UNHEARD of here.

Okay, some were actually green but hey...if its good enough for the locals & they're $1.99---we're in! We ate 2 green ones this morning for breakfast & they were delicious! Whew.

So...we've started really looking at weather forecasts for the week...it's time to go.

Bye Eleuthera!

We are headed back to Abaco because we have family coming in February!! YAY!!!! We are so excited for our family to join us on Malaika!! So far it looks like Thursday will be a good day to start North. We'll see if mother nature behaves...sometimes she is quite disagreeable.

This one of several weather web sites we use....this one is "Passage Weather", which we have found to be very reliable.

We still have a few days to soak up the fun here in Hatchet Bay, which we plan on doing to the fullest. Scott went diving today & shot 2 big lobster. Hopefully we can dive & snorkel everyday before we go.

Scott & his dive buddies going out for a hunt

Someone told me there were no snakes in the Bahamas! They were wrong....

Love & miss everybody!!! XXOO

Michelle, Scott & Jib

 

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Swallowing The Hook?

"Swallowing the hook" is a term boaters use when they're talking about people who have found a piece of paradise they love...and settled there. As in, buying land, building a house...staying there. "The Hook" is a reference to the boat anchor....which you won't be using anymore once it's swallowed up...which means you aren't cruising anymore. No....I say with a capital N.O. We are not swallowing the hook. However, we sure do love Eleuthera. Scott is already researching real estate here. Scott says its just for an investment. We'll have our brother Danny, who is an architect, design a hurricane proof house, build it, then sell it...which could take awhile so in the meantime, we'll stay there when we're passing through. We'll see....it's always an adventure!

Part of our friend, Jim's property...he's slowly chiseling his way through the rock to his AMAZING water front...

Meanwhile, as we dream of a house on a cliff in Eleuthera....our boat life carries on. We've been here 2+ weeks and the laundry is piling up. I have not seen a laundry mat here in Hatchet Bay...I've heard there is a lady who will do your laundry for $2.75/load (that's cheap here in the Bahamas), but I don't know where she lives so...I'll just do it. Water is a precious commodity when you live on a boat....I can't fill large wash/rinse buckets full of fresh water to wash clothes. I learned from other cruisers to wash our stuff with ammonia & water. It's cheap, uses little water, and gets the job done.

My washing machine...minus the muscle..which is me! :)

The 1st time I tried it I admit, I was like.."omg...this is going to ruin our clothes". The ammonia smell is so strong. But....when you hang the clothes out to dry, the ammonia blows off. It's amazing. Your clothes are left smelling clean & crisp. It's cheap & a great way to "get by" when you don't have a modern day washer & dryer.

Would rather do laundry here than in a laundry mat ANY day! Much better view!

The other exciting thing I want to share from the past few days is that Scott & I found a new beach that has a plethora of sea glass...one of my favorites!!! I have quite a collection at home from various beaches in the Caribbean but I haven't seen much here in the Bahamas....until the other day.

Scott's collection of sea glass...plus a hamburger bean which are VERY hard to find...

 

Some more sea treasures....

My itty bitty sea biscuit

 

Jib meeting a baby octopus

 

Life is good. Just ask Jib.

Love & Miss everybody. A Lot.

--Michelle, Scott, & Jib

 

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Fifty Shades Of.....

Fifty Shades of.......BLUE!!! Ha Ha :)

Hope everybody had a great weekend! I wanted to do a blog yesterday but my iPad minutes ran out yesterday morning. It turns out that we can't buy minutes for the iPad here in Hatchet Bay. So, we got moving early today to hitch a ride to the next big settlement. (That's what the Bahamians call them...not towns.) I asked the lady at the wifi cafe how far it was to Governor's Harbor & she said "Oh...about 5 settlements down." There was a guy doing some Internet there & he must have seen my confused face because he said "it's about 20 miles". Oh ok...no problem. 20 mile hitch hike in both directions with an 80 pound dog.

It's worth a try...

I thought it was going to be an all day affair with several short rides & possibly a taxi ride home. WRONG! After about 20 minutes a lady in a Toyota 4-runner drove by & we noticed she a had a bumper sticker that said "Pet Pal". I thought to myself "yeah, right" as she whizzed by. To my surprise she turned around and told us to hop in. Guess where she was headed...Govenor's Harbor to run a few errands. Guess what she loves...dogs. She dropped us off at the phone company & we all met up in an hour & rode back to Hatchet Bay together. It was so awesome! Jib definitely helped us get that ride. We tried to buy her lunch or give her gas money but she wouldn't hear of it. Gotta love this place!

So I named the blog Fifty Shades because there are so many colors surrounding us. (not because of that naughty little book on the Best Seller's List! Ha Ha) The water, the buildings..it's so beautiful. Sometimes, it really takes my breath away.....still. Enjoy the pics.

 

 

Heading out for a snorkel/dive

 

Our playground for diving here in Hatchet Bay

Swam with Spotted Eagle Rays that day...was soooo awesome.

 

These rays were 4-5 feet across. Some of the biggest we've seen.

 

Some local shops....

well, gotta get going. We're going to a pizza party at friends house tonight. He has a beautiful home on a cliff over looking the bay. We have only been there once--after dark, so we want to get there early to appreciate what I'm sure is another breath taking view. It's also another hitch hike. It's not always as easy as today. The other night we waited for a ride for almost an hour. I was eaten alive by mosquitos. Oh well...small price to pay to be here.

Love & Miss everybody!! We got some more phone minutes today so we'll call family this week. Can't wait to hear your voices!!

Love--Michelle, Scott & Jib

XXXOO

 

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Hatchet Bay...We're Gonna Be Here Awhile...

We love this place!! 1st of all...it's beautiful. 2nd, The locals here are BY FAR, some of the nicest people we've encountered in all of our travels. We are greeted with smiles & kind words everywhere we go in town. Also, as I mentioned the other day...these nice people are more than happy to pull over & give us a ride to the beach or wherever....if they're heading that direction & have room, they tell us to hop in.

"

Sitting by the big tree hoping for a truck to come by & give us a ride to the beach... By the way, that is ONE tree. It has just branched off in every direction..sideways & up & down. It's so amazing.

 

5 minutes later....just another day in the back of a pick-up headin' to the beach.

 

The other amazing thing about Hatchet Bay is that groceries & restaurants have VERY cheap prices...for the Bahamas. Some things are just slightly more than in the U.S.

As you saw in the last blog, the diving is great....Scott went out today with a friend, speared a hogfish, watched beautiful spotted eagle rays do their ballet in the water....its just exactly what we had in mind when we dreamed of living on a sailboat in the tropics.

Taking Jib for a walk in town

Jib is making lots of friends too. The are lots of dogs here. Some are pets, some are strays....none too aggressive. Everyone in town always greets Jib the same way..."That's a BIG dog!" all the dogs here are little lap dogs or the typical dingo/coyote mutts that look like the dogs that roam through Mexico, Central America, etc.

 

Jib meeting little Eli..

 

Jib meeting the biggest dog in town...don't know his name.

 

That's little T.O. . He goes crazy every time Jib walks by..

 

Jib's happy place

We're really happy here. Hatchet Bay suits the crew of Malaika.

Best Friends

 

Love & miss everybody....XXXOO

Much Love---Michelle, Scott & Jib

 

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Gone Fishin'

One of my favorite pics I've ever taken...

 

Captain Scott heading out for a dive

Yesterday we went snorkeling/diving & were so pleasantly surprised by how beautiful it was. These aren't designated dive sites on a chart or anything...we just pick a spot & jump in. Sometimes it's a little bare... just grass & sand, & sometimes it's full of life & beautiful coral. Yesterday was one of those days. Immediately after jumping in we were greeted by enormous jelly fish. Luckily, they turned out to be the non-stinging type because they were everywhere!

Captain Scott heading out for a dive

My sea ballerina

 

Scott & the other guys were all diving for fish, lobster, & today Scott speared a crab!

Lindsey putting Scott's crab in the bucket. He was delicious.

The guys had a very successful hunt. They speared a bunch of fish, a few lobster, 2 crabs. Everybody ate well yesterday! While Scott is hunting, I just swim around and take pictures which is so fun for me. I can't tell what the pictures look like when we're under water so I'm so excited when we get home to see what I captured. It's like opening a present!

Look close....under those bubbles Scott is about to spear a fish under a ledge of rock about 20 feet below me.

I think is worth mentioning that when the guys are "diving", they are free diving. No scuba. They are all getting to be good free divers! I suck at it. I just can't hold my breath that long. Imagine....they take a big breath, dive down 10-20 feet, get into a position to aim the spear...pull back the sling...then spear! It's really hard! I'll stick to my photography duties.

This is what Scott Was aiming for in the other picture. Humongous lion fish.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. Always thinking of family & friends back home...We miss you guys so much.

Fishy Garden of Eden

Love, Michelle, Scott & Jib

 

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