Still in Ocean Reef - Grand Bahama

AJAYA'S CRUISE
Phil & Nikki Hoskins
Sat 2 Feb 2019 15:55
We are entering our fourth week at Ocean Reef Resort & Marina. In all likelihood we will stay another month given we are quite enjoying the social side and making good use of the facilities the resort has to offer. There are seven boats here from Titusville so we are not lacking in friends with most of the cruisers meeting up two or three times per week in the evenings. The weekly itinerary issued by the resort goes something like this:-
 
Mondays – Free dinner and Bahama Mama cocktails by the pool followed by disco including (aaagh) line dancing!
Tuesdays - Karaoke by the pool followed by ‘drunk trivia’ if nobody wants to sing (we’ve never got to the drunk trivia yet as boaters here are not shy in offering up their voices) .
Wednesdays – Fish fry but that’s off site and we haven’t been. It’s a Bahamas tradition though and very popular with the locals.
Thursdays – Pool tournament followed by Bingo, music trivia and a movie – by the main pool.
Fridays – Bean bag tossing, ping –pong (unless very windy!) & talent night by the main pool.
Off-site, Saturdays, Sundays & Mondays there is a bus to the local supermarket. We’ve been 3 times. First time the bus broke down, second time it left early from the supermarket and had to come back for us and the third time? Just perfect.
 
In addition to the above Phil has taken up tennis again after 30+ years! He lasted 3 games before a leg injury prevented him from joining the 8 am crowd on the court. In an effort to improve the leg he took to the cycling machine in the gym for an hour of peddling. Whereas an excursion on a friend’s loaner bike to the local 2 dollar bar had him crashing into the back of the friend on the way home who was on his wife’s machine. He’d jammed on his brakes suddenly to retrieve a long wooden stick that had fallen off and which his wife keeps handy to deter the local dogs when on their early morning bike ride!
 
N has been undertaking the more sedate activities of hot tubbing and swimming in the pool some days as well as popping off to Lucaya and Freeport with the ladies for lunch. So we’re generally getting some exercise between the two of us.
 
A recent visit to the Sands Brewery was educational, well, fairly. We didn’t learn so much about how the stuff was made but more about how much of it you could drink before the final bell was rung in the on-site free bar. With our crowd that was quite a lot.
 
The Sands Brewery trip
 
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The bus was pretty full                                                                                                                        We sat in the back like naughty school kids
 
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The bottling plant                                                                                                                                A run of fruity type beer
 
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Most had been before – some are seasonal regulars.....                                        The brewing thingies                                                    Yes we know how its made     
 
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Lets get to the on-site bar and get sampling!                             That’s a lot of plastic cups Phil            Then it’s all back on the bus with our booty!
 
 
The Pot Luck supper
A few days before the brewery visit we’d all been invited to a pot-luck house party across from the marina in a boater’s house whom we knew from previous years. He keeps his boat at the dock in the back garden. Nice house and nice doggy.
 
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Great hilarity was had by all when Phil was introduced to a diminutive lady on a visiting boat. Yes both are standing up in the 2nd pic!