01/03/09  Another year passes and what do we have to show for it...

Lot's!  Great memories of great times with great friends.  It really doesn't get any better than this!

Overview - Our good friends, Debbie and Dennis, arrived on the windiest day that we've had in a while.  This wouldn't have been such a big deal except for the fact that they were flying in on their small plane.  The winds were 90 degrees to the one runway on Staniel Cay and blowing just under 30 knots.  I video taped the landing but am not posting it because of my stressed comments in the backgound.  Debbie said that it was both the hardest and the most gratifying landing that she had ever made.  Dennis just got out of the plane, fell to his knees and kissed the ground (I'm not posting that picture either!)

The following week, we traveled to many of the same places that we did with earlier guests but, for us the hosts, it was as different and refreshing as if we were doing it for the first time.  Hmmm... let me try to explain that one...  Each guest that we've had onboard has been very different.  So while the places may be the same, the interactions, views and experiences are wholly different.  Plus, we really enjoy turning on our friends to the beauty and serenity that makes the Exumas what they are.  We did a dive, that was new to me (yes, after 25 years I still haven't seen it all...), at the cut adjacent to the southern tip of Big Farmers.  The corals and spotted eagle rays were beautiful, as was the large Mutton Snapper that graced our dinner table that night. 

Anyway, the week went by WAY too quickly, and Deb and Den flew back home (this time with Den at the controls.)  Karl, our favorite bartender at Staniel Cay Yacht Club, was at the airport for the takeoff and declared it "picture perfect."  I know that Dennis will be elated to hear that. 

After our guests left, we took a couple days to work our way down to George Town, diving along the way.  George Town, with it's nice grocery store, afforded us the opportunity to pick up all of the ingredients needed for a scrumptious Christmas feast, which we enjoyed at a private cove north of town.  Christmas night, we went to bed early so that we could get up at 1am (Dec. 26) for the Junkanoo festival that starts off early on Boxing Day.  Having been to Junkanoo several times over the last 25 years, I'm very disappointed with the inclusion of brass instruments that is now the rage.  Traditionally, Junkanoo music was performed using just the drums, cow bells and whistles.  the music created is really quite dramatic... but hey, it's not my country, so I'll just enjoy what's presented and keep my bitching to a minimal.

That's pretty much it.  If I had had more time, right after the holidays, I would have posted this update a week ago but, as it turned out, the weather got great and so we had the perfect opportunity to go down to the Jumentos.  But that's part of the next log so...

Enjoy!

Click on pictures to enlarge! 

We dinghied  to Sampson Cay for dinner, and Debbie graciously acted as our spray shield.  The rest of us arrived dry as a bone.  Thanks Deb!

Deb and Dennis in front of Staniel Cay Yacht Club.  They're so cute... gag.   

Up close and personal with the Sergeant Majors at Thunderball Cave.  "Makes you want to get naked and smear peanut butter all over your body."  Errrr...I'm quoting Dennis...

Thunderball Cave is the only place in the Bahamas where I have seen these luminescent blue sponges.  Pretty awesome, huh?  No!  This is NOT some Photoshop trick!

The guys were scared.  They were each use to just one Debbie, but now they had to answer to two!

There are beautiful views all over Black Point, not just at Billy and Betty's Garden of Eden. 

Yeah, Dennis and I are bad.  You try to get your wife or girlfriend to go caving in a dress!

The only reason he poses with me is because I'm the free help behind the bar whenever I'm at Little Farmer's.

I shot this mutton snapper, sized to feed four, in 25 feet of water off Big Farmer's Cay.  Can you say yum?

A closer view of Stocking Island's Monument Beach anchorage. 

Junkanoo Parade

Junkanoo Parade

Junkanoo Parade

Junkanoo Parade

Junkanoo Parade

Junkanoo Parade

Debbie got out holding on to the plane saying " great landing huh?"  Dennis was a little more realistic as he dropped to his knees and kissed the ground!

With beverages in hand, this was our view as we wandered around Sampson Cay.  

Just a interesting view from the front of Staniel Cay Yacht Club.

Looking upward in Thunderball Cave, you can see the holes in the domed limestone ceiling.

My favorite dinner time guest... the Nassau Grouper.  He makes the best ceviche, not to mention coconut encrusted fillets.  Yum!

You can see the mama's tail coming from beneath the boat and the baby stingray following close behind.

We did not want to post another cute picture of Debbie and Dennis, but we really liked the Christmas decorations on the table, so...

Part of the stalactite ceiling at Oven Rock Cave.

We don't have a clue what to say here.  It's just Dennis being Dennis.  Gotta love him!

Sailing into George Town two days after Debbie and Dennis flew out of Staniel Cay.

I'm enjoying a good book while looking up recipes for Debbie's scrumptious Christmas dinner.   Zzzzzzzzzzz...Zzzzz...

Warming the goatskinned drums by the fire just prior to the Junkanoo Parade.

Junkanoo Parade

Junkanoo Parade

Junkanoo Parade

Junkanoo Parade

Junkanoo Parade

Enjoy!

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Yeah, it's easy to smile when you are sitting on the surface of the earth, munching on grouper ceviche and sucking down Kaliks.

We posed for the bartender during Sampson Cay Clubs Sunday Happy Hour and karaoke.  

Felix, patiently waiting on her people to get back from doing who knows what kind of deboturous  things at the Yacht Club!

The underwater entrance to Thunderball Cave is both eerie and beautiful.... You can see why this site was picked for filming part of a couple of James Bond movies

Aladdin would love to have a magic carpet that glided  as elegantly as the Southern Stingray does.

We call this picture "White Squall".  White clouds, white sails, white deck, white hair.

The girls coming through the woods at the mouth of Oven Rock Cave.  Nice picture...

Ali's favorite endeavor...posing with his female customers.

We eat well, all the time, but this lobster penne with vodka sauce was a high point of the week's culinary indiscretions.

Passing Stocking Island on our way to George Town's Kidd Cove anchorage.

The start of Boxing Day's Junkanoo Parade in George Town, Great Exuma.

Junkanoo Parade

Junkanoo Parade

Junkanoo Parade

Junkanoo Parade

Junkanoo Parade

Junkanoo Parade