Well, actually there isn’t that much news except to say we opted to stay another month as previously suggested. The social side of things continues at a pace. Phil is back on the tennis court, well he was until last Friday when the other knee developed a twinge in exactly the same spot as the right knee only this time he bailed out early to avoid further discomfort. These are not injuries that require the use of crutches just silly little niggles presumably from our advancing years. He is not alone as other early morning tennis court attendees are also suffering mainly leg problems. But with a combined age of over 250 years on court at any one time - what do you expect!

 

February 14th (St Valentine’s Day) was not allowed to pass without another gathering of boaters on the deck at swimming pool number two on the opposite side of the site to the main pool and hot tub. Dress code was wear something red and most did. In fact it’s quite obvious who the regulars are here as they seem to have accumulated a wardrobe of appropriate clothing for such events. Anyway a good evening was had by all and miraculously nobody fell into the pool.

 

  

 

Having attended a few karaoke nights (never seems as bad to sit and watch friends sing) Phil summoned up the courage to search through our music files to see if there was something he could murder in a kind way. After an above average intake of rum and beer prior to getting up he growled his way through Lazy Sunday Afternoon by the Small Faces. As many of the assembled audience had forgotten or better still had never heard the song he was on solid ground and was not pelted with anything at the microphone. They are a kind audience here it has to be said. If that weren’t sufficient to satisfy his curiosity about grabbing a mic and stretching his vocal chords he then fervently started to search through the whole library and then, most alarming of all started singing (rehearsing) on the boat during the week. The following week he rattled through three songs, one of them being Lola by the Kinks getting the audience to join in the L-O-L-O part. This seemed to go down very well although for the next week wherever we went friends were singing LOLA out aloud. Hmm! Lola needed to be exorcised somehow and as the next Tuesday’s gathering of old crooners coincided with the full moon the idea of singing Werewolves of London emerged as a counter to the previous week’s popular chorus. So, Werewolves it was. The problem being that now wherever we’ve been since Tuesday people have been howling at us day and night from out of boat hatches and even from the guest balconies, some saying they ‘couldn’t get the bloody tune out of their heads’.

 

Last Sunday we took the dinghy to the small landing spot at the entrance to the canal system where we are residing and dragged it ashore to walk the long beach with two friends. In fact all the way to Lucaya and back – total distance about 3 miles. Some others did the same, well, as far as the dinghy landing then sat in chairs to ‘shoot the breeze’ as they say. It was just one of those nice easy livin’ days until it came to returning back to the resort. Earlier in the day someone having trouble with their own dinghy asked to borrow our fuel tank and rubber hose which plugs into the front of the engine. This was duly returned but didn’t provide the solution to his own problems. ‘Just leave it Ron, I’ll stick it back on’ says Phil, which is what he did and the Skip duly rammed the hose back into position on the engine just before we set off to the beach. All was fine until we came to return to the resort. Having had to jiggle the engine up and down to clear the shallows we followed our two friends back until all of a sudden our engine cut out. As we were being swept by the incoming tide into the canal they kindly returned for us to throw them our painter. Off we went with their little 8hp struggling to cope with the extra weight. Phil tried a few more times to no avail until we were about to turn the last corner into the resort. It was then he noticed the tube to engine adaptor hiding behind the 5 gallon fuel tank. He proudly held up the line to demonstrate that we had the answer, plugged it back in and primed the fuel bowl with the in-line bulb and Bingo! we were up and running again. That story travelled around the place!

 

  

 

Last Friday the ‘Admiral’ was charged with the awesome task of shopping in the local charity stores for some suitable clothing for the boaters Oscars Celebration Party. There were indeed slim pickings to be had, especially when you go out shopping with 12 other women that have the same idea. The return was one colourful party frock for ‘er and a black waistcoat with chiffon scarf for ‘im. Both outrageously small or should we say ‘tight’. – see the pics. No doubt we won’t be alone with our mis-matched outfits.

 

 

 

                                                                                     

                                                                                                       Receiving the ‘Golden Palm’ award!

And talking of outfits, one of our number here has a tendency to dress up as a pirate at the regular Monday ‘Welcome to Ocean Reef Resort’ do.  This is put on for incoming guests in the time share apartments and for any newly arrived boaters. Last Monday he turned up with a lady pirate who we can certainly say had more charm. Apparently Mr Pirate had been in one of the Johny Depp's ‘Pirates of’ films so presumably they let him keep the outfit. The event is held next to swim pool number one. You have to ask for tickets at reception but it’s free to attend and includes a typical Bahamian meal – peas ‘n’ rice, mac ‘n’ cheese, fried chicken, corn and sometimes conch fritters or meat balls. Also included are two Bahama Mama rum drinks from a seemingly endless barrel of the stuff. Given the boaters are old hands at this we a) sit nearest to the food as possible & b) know exactly when the compare is about to announce the food is ready and charge en masse into the queue. Same with the drinks. Afterwards we enjoy the spectacle of such activities as musical chairs where its been known for contestants to try and carry a chair around with them and line dancing, but by then given the consumption from the endless barrels it’s pretty much an ‘anything goes’ event.