Marsh Harbour, Abaco, Bahamas March 13, 2011

We have been almost entirely out of contact since we left Harbour Island. My wifi hasn’t worked since we left Harbour Is., and I can’t send or receive email or get on the internet. And I haven’t had access to wifi anywhere. Our stay on the island was relaxing, and we came to be recognized by a number of people there. We became friends with our inn keeper, Rosie, and we enjoyed talking with her and her mother, Stephanie, and daughter Wongechi. Rosie’s situation is rather interesting. She is married to a Kenyan who runs a tea and coffee plantation in Kenya. Obviously, they don’t live together for much of the year. He is 20 years older than she is. Curiously, both her husband and mother are my age, 64. She was quite interested to hear of our 2006 experiences in Ethiopia and wants us to see her and her Kenyan family in Kenya. We enjoyed our dinners on the island and on Sunday went to the Anglican Church with Rosie. Her daughter had a dance performance during the service. I was asked to introduce us to the congregation, which I did standing by stating my name and that I am from NJ, and this is my wife Pinky and she is from NJ, too. For some reason, everybody laughed at that. There was a lot of hymn singing, and the service was not unlike that of a Roman Catholic Church. Father Russell gave a memorial sermon about going to the mountain and then into the valley. This service ran about 2 hours, the longest regular church service I’ve ever been to. For the remainder of our stay we ran into people who recognized us in one way or another. For instance, our waitress at Sip Sip recognized us from church. At dinner Sunday we ran into Father Russell and his wife and exchanged cordialities with them. Later, at Valentines Marina where they had a great Bahaman band that played Shout, we had the running lady, who I encouraged earlier while she was jogging along a street, speak with us, and a man from Richmond who sat behind us at the church service stopped by, too. The beach was a short ride from Rosie’s B&B. It faced the Atlantic Ocean, was flat and covered with fine white sand. The water was refreshing and relatively calm due to a reef off shore. I was in frequent contact via email with Jerry Brown. On Monday morning Jerry advised that they were docked at Spanish Wells, at the north end of Eleuthera Island, and were waiting for a mechanic to attend to their inoperative generator. On her instruction, after bidding farewell to Rosie and her family, we boarded the 3:40 ferry for Spanish Wells. The Browns met us there with a golf cart, but not without a little drama. The gang plank was raised before we got off, and we almost didn’t disembark with our luggage before the ferry left. It was a close call. Since then we have been cruising around in the 46’ trawler in beautiful Bahamian waters, brilliant sun, continuous breezes (heavier at times) and moderate temperatures that haven’t risen above 80 degrees. Their trawler is a wonderful craft with quarters aft (ours) and for (Browns). The two are separated by a living/dining area, complete with reading lamps and Sirius radio. Above is the bridge, where Capt. Andy directs our passage. The boat is equipped with a rubber dingy that we use to get to landfall when moored. We even had a pretty neat toilet that we flushed with a hand pump.

Hope Town, Elbow Cay, Bahamas March 12, 2011

We have been almost entirely out of contact since we left Harbour Island. My mifi hasn’t worked, and I can’t send or receive email or get on the internet. Our stay on the island was relaxing, and we came to be recognized by a number of people there. We became friends with our inn keeper, Rosie, and we enjoyed talking with her and her mother, Stephanie, and daughter. Rosie’s situation is rather interesting. She is married to a Kenyan who runs a tea and coffee plantation in Kenya. Obviously, they don’t live together for much of the year. He is 20 years older than she is. Curiously, both her husband and mother are my age, 64. She was quite interested to hear of our 2006 experiences in Ethiopia and wants us to see her and her Kenyan family in Kenya. We enjoyed our dinners on the island and on Sunday went to the Anglican church with Rosie. Her daughter had a dance performance during the service. I was asked to introduce us to the congregation, which I did standing by stating my name and that I am from NJ, and this is my wife Pinky and she is from NJ, too. For some reason, everybody laughed at that. There was a lot of hymn singing, and the service was not unlike that of a Roman Catholic Church. Father Russell gave a memorial sermon about going to the mountain and then into the valley. This service ran about 2 hours, the longest regular church service I’ve ever been to. For the remainder of our stay we ran into people who recognized us in one way or another. Our waitress at Sip Sip recognized us from church. For instance, at dinner we ran into Father Russell and his wife and exchanged cordialities with them. At Valentines Marina Sunday night where they had a great Bahaman band that played Shout we had the running lady, who I encouraged earlier while she was jogging along a street, speak with us, and a man from Richmond who sat behind us at the church service stopped by, too.

Dunmore Town, Eleutera Bahamas Friday, March 4, 1011

Pinky and I embarked on another of our adventures today. This all started after I had a couple beers and dinner with Princeton classmate Andy Brown on February 2 after a class Community Service Fund board meeting and Andy told me he and his wife Jerry were leaving the following Monday for the Bahamas to cruise around the islands on their troller. He then asked if Pinky and I would be interested in meeting them in the Bahamas and cruising with them for a few days. My first question, of course, was, “Just what is a troller?” Well, it is an engine driven boat that does not depend on wind power. After following up with Pinky about this we enthusiastically said yes! Andy said they would pick up us up on the island of Eleuthera on or about March 7, and we would all fly back to NJ on Sunday the 13th. All we had to do was get ourselves to Eleuthera! I booked a flight to North Eleuthera airport and a return from Great Abaco. I confess to having to look both islands up on the world atlas, as I really didn’t know where any Bahamas island is except Nassau (a key place given that I was born on Nassau Road in High Bridge and have a particular soft spot in my heart for Nassau Hall.) So, we left on a flight from Newark today, after having an unpleasant incident with TASA. We brought with us 16 oz. containers of sun block and daily moisture lotion, along with a prescription for these needed applications from Dr. Jim Johnson (’69). The TASA agent confiscated these two dangerous substances at security, advising that they each exceeded the maximum permitted 3 oz. and that they were merely over the counter crèmes, not perscriptions. Despite my protests to the contrary, he grabbed them and dumped them in the garbage. Needless to say, I was pissed and also concerned about spending 9 days in the Bahamas without these much needed skin conditioners. Adding insult to this is that when we arrived in Ft. Lauderdale en route to Eleuthera, upon inquiry the TASA agent there told me that the Newark agent was wrong in confiscating the crèmes and that Dr. Jim’s scribbled prescription should have sufficed. (This is where we are today compared to the ‘60’s, less liberty and freedom, more inflexible government imposition, less common sense….) Our flight to Eleuthera was a 10 seater, but I handled it pretty well. We settled into our home for 3 days – the Sugar Maple, a modest 7-room B&B on Harbour Island, a 10 minute water taxi ride east of Eleuthera. Harbour Island is a tiny 3-mile long by 1-mile wide island with lots of restaurants and doll-house like architecture. The best way to get around here is by golf cart, and we have already reasonably mastered the island’s traffic patterns - no traffic lights, no tour buses, no trucks, narrow paved roads with lots of pot holes, no traffic police, people actually wave to you when you drive by and they drive on the left side of the road. I imagine it is like Nassau was 50 years ago before the big hotels and cruise ships. This is a far cry from our usual stays at places like Marriott Vacation Club but looks to be an ideal get away for a few days before we join the Browns on their troller. Our dinner tonight was at a local restaurant and consisted of “Bahamas lobster” - superb!