New Year’s Eve started with a 4 mile walk/Island exploration.  We came home and ate and rested.  Then we sat out for a little sea glass searching.  The wind was still way too strong, the tide was too high, so we were getting way to wet.  We will have to wait until another day for that.  We got a few pieces.

We then went to Jan’s at 3 for a game of Rubikub.  That was a fun way  to pass the afternoon.  By the time we wrapped that game up, it was time to get ready for the party at the pub.  It was to start at 6.

At 6  O’Clock sharp, we were there.  We had the honor of hearing Elizabeth Pitcairn, an American Classical Violinist, perform a few songs in the gallery.   Her family owns the closest Island from Little Harbour, so they have been around here for quite a while.  Hearing her play is quite an honor.  It is usually very hard to get a ticket to see her perform around the world and this was a very intimate setting. (Wikipedia – Just google her)

Jammin’ Jan was our musical entertainment at the Pub tonight.  The food was amazing.  Pete made his famous Lobster Bisque.  The balance of the meal included Panko fried Lobster, New York Strip, Mashed sweet/white potatoes, salad and many desserts.   I brought half of my steak home.  I will have a sandwich or some steak and eggs, I can promise you that.  Eventually, the dancing would begin and begin it did.  I am pretty sure I danced for 4 hours straight.  Never in a million years did I think we would make it to midnight, but we did.  We toasted with champagne and watched the fireworks with Pete.  We brought it in right.  We walked home, safe and sound and ready for 2013.  Bring it on!

We woke up early, feeling great.  Marie and West invited us to their Brunch at the house.  We had Coffee, Bloody Mary’s, Mimosa’s, Fried Eggs, Bacon, fruit and Pancakes made by a chef from the Abaco Club who was also present,  Antonio and Sharon.  They are now our new best friends, great couple.  It was an awesome way to spend our first morning.  After sitting there for hours and visiting, we were both sinking, so a nap was in order, right?  Wrong!

As we are heading down the stairs we here, “Where are the girls?”  It is Charlie and Wellie.  They are going out for lobster, wanted to see if we would like to join them.  Well, how could we say “NO” to that?  We threw on our swimsuits and jumped on the back of the golf cart with them and off to Pete’s we went.   We got water from the bar, Charlie and Wellie went to get the boat.

Let me pause to describe the boat… we are talking a 12 foot wooden skiff, with 1 x 8’s as seats and an old piece of PVC as a tiller, the paint job… well there really wasn’t one, and to top it off, it was taking on a little water.  Low and behold there was a cut out chlorine bottle to use a a scoop for bailing.  No Worries!

That didn’t stop us… We hopped on board with smiles on our faces with Charlie (the town drunk) and Wellie (My friend Susan’s Boyfriend).  These guys have been doing this for their entire lives.  It was crazy to watch.  We were probably not out there 30 minutes.  Wellie put on his wet suit, jumped over board with his Hawaiian sling and came up with this massive lobster on the end of it.  He threw it on board and Gail let out a small scream and we both retracted our feet from the floorboard of that skiff.  Beautiful crustacean I must say!  After two more searches, Wellie said, “That’s Enough” and we headed to shore.

When we were safe and sound at the Pub, we decided to have one blaster for for that nap.  It was probably 2:30 pm by then.  So we sat at the bar and visited and laughed.  Charlie prepared that Lobster for us and put it in a bag with ice in the freezer in the pub.  Dinner!!!!  Willie and Pete appeared not soon after and we laughed and talked with those two for another hour or so.  Meanwhile, Pete had ordered us all lunch.  Lobster bisque and cheese toast.  It was amazing.   Pete can make some soups now.

After lunch, Pete and Willie went and got some rods and reels and we met them at the pier.  Here we were off to sea again, and with two men, imagine that!  We cruise the byte for conch.  We found four.  Now I did get these myself.  I was the retriever.  Ha ha!  After floating around in the shallows for conch, we headed in and stopped by Dr. Jerry’s for a bit.  We floated in there harbour and watched them work on the boat lift.  Really, I am not kidding.  This is what you do in the Bahamas.  You work and watch people work.  Piddle may be the best word.  But hey, we are sitting on the most beautiful water you can possibly imagine, watching the most amazing sunset with not a care in the world.  It just doesn’t get much better.

So, after sunset, safe and sound on the shore and after the retrieval of our Lobster of the day, we walked home to prepare our steak and lobster dinner and looked at each other, laughing, “You can’t make this crap up and you can’t plan it either”

This has been a whirlwind entry into Little Harbour.  Things will slow down, starting today and postings will be more thoughts than activities, but I had to share.  This has been a fun 4 days.  Makes me smile.

BTW:  Internet is not great up on this hill, so photos are hard to upload.  They take a while.  I have so many photos that I want to upload it’s crazy.  Guess I need to be more selective, so I will try this time and in the future.  Thanks for reading!  Comment as well.

P S To top of the fun year in a positive fashion, Devin won his first round in Singles in the Challenger in Brazil.  That is a big deal.  He may be able to pay for his trip over.  I am so very happy for my boy!  It’s gonna be a great year!

Trying something different here – Look at photos on this link, my facebook page.  Uploading much faster there.  Bringing in the New Year Album

Literally in PJ’s until noon.  Worked on computer a bit, not a bad gig!  Took Gail on a walking tour of the Island and to meet Cathy and Gordy, up the hill.  Split a blue cheese burger at Pete’s.  We were gonna walk back to the cottage for a nap (We’d had such a grueling day so far), but stopped off a the gallery to talk to Jan about some new songs to learn and here comes Pete and some Bahamian guys.  Who knew that 5 minutes later we would be serenaded by guitar and singing.  You can’t make this crap up and you can’t plan it either.

We walked the rest of the way home via the beach and Pete’s house, only to stumble on to a dinner party.  Pierre Pete invited us in for food, wine and fellowship. We got home at 6:44 pm, (late night).  The stars were unbelievable.  We watched the moon rise and sang a little deck Karaoke.  We were in bed by 9.  Fun Night – Day 2!

First, let me get one thing straight… there is only a handful of people I would allow to join me on my Island Sabbatical, for a lot of reasons.  A few major qualifications include, being able to do your own thing and enjoy being alone.  You must be able to just chill and look at God’s beauty and be happy with that, there is NO schedule, so relax.  The majority of the time will be spent laughing so, get used to it, your cheeks will hurt.   Lastly and Importantly, Don’t Judge!

Having said that, Gail and I began our journey Friday at 10:30, to be exact.  All the stress leaves my body, the minute I make my flight back to Little Harbour, the place I call home.  It’s a good thing because there could have been some melt downs the last few days and there were zero.  I was packed and ready to go with a smile on my face.  As is says in my new favorite song by Keb’ M0′ (Thanks Clay),

“l hear a voice
And l hear the sound
The sound of my shoes
shuffling on out of town
Too many people
Too many cars…”  – Just listen to it!

Went to pick up Gails right on time at 10:30 am and surprisingly, she was ready!  That’s crazy!  I gave her a two thumbs up, (would have given her a “tater”, but she refuses to do that – too redneck, hahaha”).  Her being ready, wow, I never saw that coming.  We had to stop at the bank, so we went the long way to the airport, didn’t matter… we had plenty of time.  Well, all that was about to change.  We sang the above song over and over on the way to the airport.  We made it to the roundabout when it hit her – “OMG, I forgot my passport”.  After a moment of shock, I just made the circle and started heading back to her house.  It was what it was.  It was raining so freaking hard.  I wasn’t convinced we would make it back but we made it 20 minutes before take off.  Let the laughter begin.  To top it off, the lady at the Southwest desk pages Gail… moment of panic!  No worries, they just tore her bag.  Our two flights went smooth from that point, and we made it to the Hilton Bar… we both needed food.  We sat in there, with not a care in the world and laughed so much we were crying all night.

To bed we went 10ish, early flight in the am.  We were up at at ’em at 5:30 and on the shuttle to Twin Air Calypso and to paradise by 6:10 am.  The first place we were dropped off was the “old office”, I knew it didn’t look familiar, so we grabbed the driver and said, “Don’t leave us”, sure enough the office was around the block.  We drug our luggage into the hallway, driver left, only to find the door to the airline locked up tight!  I wasn’t really worried, they are on Bahama time, they would be there soon!  Hummmm, flight was supposed to be at 8 am, it was 7:15, wasn’t looking good at this point.  Some guy walks past us and informs us that Twin Air went out of business months ago…. WHAT?  Oh well!  So I spent the next hour and a half searching for flights, while Gail was relaxing and texting.  There was no panic, no worries, it was just another adventure.

We finally changed locations.  We drug our crap to another part of the building and started looking pitiful (not really we were still all smiles).  We could at least see airplanes and a few pilots scurrying around.  Yes, we told them all our sob story (hard to convince it was a sob story since we were still laughing).  Finally, one bit.  All of a sudden, Gail was handing me some man’s cell phone saying, “Take this, I can’t understand a word he is saying”.  A few minutes later, we had us a pilot driving over from Miami to Fort Lauderdale to pick us up and take us to paradise.  So we waited.  Meanwhile this guy walks in and grabs our luggage and says, “The pilot will be here soon and I am putting you a couple of seats in the plane now” – HAHAHAHA This should be interesting.  Thirty minutes later, “Our Pilot” arrives.  Sketchy?  Maybe!  Mafia type, died black hair, large mustache, Hawaiian shirt (which I have an adversion to), White linen pants and aviator shades.  Ok, I will give him the shades, he is a pilot, or at least says he is.  What do we know?

We make the walk across the tarmack, passing some beautiful private planes.  We are smiling from ear to ear.  We chartered our on plane.  Whoo Hoo!  Then we see her.  We almost wet our pants.  I swear it was held together with duck tape.  We just laughed and said a prayer and jumped on board.  Gail did say that her family would be pissed at me if we crashed.  Well, I was worried about that, I can tell you!  HA HA  (See photos).

We did make it safely, Danielle and Maria were waiting on us at the airport.  I have no idea why they were there at that particular time, because I had not let them know when we would eventually arrive.  We went to the Jib Room for lunch.  Gail tasted her first Conch.  We toasted our arrival and laughed some more.  Next, was our grocery shopping experience, then a nap.  Our first night was perfect, as Susan had a pot luck dinner.  Gail was exposed to the entire Island all at once.  Great food, great friends… it doesn’t get much better.  On the walk home, the moon was full and amazing and she said, “I get it”!

We sat on the deck, listened to some music, laughed some more and went to bed early.

Let The Games Begin!