Hello everyone,
It was a great birthday weekend! Thank you to everyone for all the Facebook posts and emails. It was great to hear from so many friends! We had a great week and ended it in Hopetown at Hopetown Hideaways. This has become a favorite spot for us. As I write this post from my hammock near the pool I can hear the crowd at Bingo Night across the harbor at Cap'n Jacks! Bingo is obviously a multi-national sport!
We spent a few nights in Little Harbor on a mooring in a beautiful marine park - home to Pete's Pub/ Gallery and Foundry. Randolph Johnston began a foundry in this spot back in the 50's making bronze sculptures using the 'lost wax process'. (He came from the Boston area!) His son Pete now runs the show along with a wonderful fellow from Algeria named Richard. I met Richard while hiding from the children at the pub! (really, I was) It is a wonderful place built like a fort right on the beach. There is no floor, just sand and one of their mottos is 'where the elite eat in their bare feet." Anyways, Richard was sitting in the adirondack chair next to me and when he saw me duck he laughed and asked about our trip. I didn't know that he was the foundry boss but he started to talk to me about his life sailing around the world for 20 years and about working for Randolph. He offered to give us a tour of the foundry the next morning. It was amazing! We saw first hand how the sculptures are made using a process that dates back thousands of years to ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome. We were absolutely fascinated at the operation and couldn't leave without making a small purchase... meet our turtle whom we have named... Richard!
That evening held much excitement and if the video posts, please take a moment to watch. We were playing cards in the cockpit of the boat when we heard some splashing behind us. Hoping for more dolphins or turtles we quickly dropped the cards and looked out. We had no idea what was swimming in the water but there were many small looking shark like creatures zipping all over the place - especially under the dinghy. We called them sharks but now we know they were not sharks. They were ramoras which attach themselves to large sea mammals for a ride and a meal. A bit like a drive thru?
They would hurt a lot if you got bit by one but they are scary because if ramora are around then usually their hosts - large predator sharks are around as well! Needless to say, we skipped the midnight swim....
The video will not load but I will keep trying! Sorry
The weekend was full of some great body surfing and then snorkeling. I think I have become a bit more proficient with the underwater camera and everyone is getting better with their snorkel and mask! The kids and Jay saw a stingray but I did not get a photo of it. I did get a picture of these beautiful Blue Tang fish.
The weather continues to be a bit of a guessing game. Some days the wind blows from the west and the seas are really crazy. Today, there wasn't a bit of a breeze and so the ocean was as calm as a lake. It made for a very hot day as well.
We have planned our trip home and will be heading north by the end of next week. We are taking our time going back to some of the cays that we skipped on the way down. We plan to be back on the Big Bahama Island by the holiday weekend so that we will have a window to wait for good weather for our crossing. We will be flying back to MD on July 9th if all goes according to plan. We shall see what the weather brings! The kids are happy that we have a plan but they can't believe we only have three weeks left. Everyone from home has asked if it feels like the trip has gone by quickly and the answer to that is not simple. We have done and seen so much that it feels like we have been away longer than we really have but it seems like we just left yesterday! I know that doesn't make any sense but it's the honest answer!
Good luck to everyone with the end of the school year. We plan to wrap up our home/boat school this week. It will be nice to have all that work behind us but the kids have taken their school work very seriously and Jay and I are really proud of them!
More again soon....
Much love,
The Welsh Family
It was a great birthday weekend! Thank you to everyone for all the Facebook posts and emails. It was great to hear from so many friends! We had a great week and ended it in Hopetown at Hopetown Hideaways. This has become a favorite spot for us. As I write this post from my hammock near the pool I can hear the crowd at Bingo Night across the harbor at Cap'n Jacks! Bingo is obviously a multi-national sport!
We spent a few nights in Little Harbor on a mooring in a beautiful marine park - home to Pete's Pub/ Gallery and Foundry. Randolph Johnston began a foundry in this spot back in the 50's making bronze sculptures using the 'lost wax process'. (He came from the Boston area!) His son Pete now runs the show along with a wonderful fellow from Algeria named Richard. I met Richard while hiding from the children at the pub! (really, I was) It is a wonderful place built like a fort right on the beach. There is no floor, just sand and one of their mottos is 'where the elite eat in their bare feet." Anyways, Richard was sitting in the adirondack chair next to me and when he saw me duck he laughed and asked about our trip. I didn't know that he was the foundry boss but he started to talk to me about his life sailing around the world for 20 years and about working for Randolph. He offered to give us a tour of the foundry the next morning. It was amazing! We saw first hand how the sculptures are made using a process that dates back thousands of years to ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome. We were absolutely fascinated at the operation and couldn't leave without making a small purchase... meet our turtle whom we have named... Richard!
That evening held much excitement and if the video posts, please take a moment to watch. We were playing cards in the cockpit of the boat when we heard some splashing behind us. Hoping for more dolphins or turtles we quickly dropped the cards and looked out. We had no idea what was swimming in the water but there were many small looking shark like creatures zipping all over the place - especially under the dinghy. We called them sharks but now we know they were not sharks. They were ramoras which attach themselves to large sea mammals for a ride and a meal. A bit like a drive thru?
They would hurt a lot if you got bit by one but they are scary because if ramora are around then usually their hosts - large predator sharks are around as well! Needless to say, we skipped the midnight swim....
The video will not load but I will keep trying! Sorry
We have planned our trip home and will be heading north by the end of next week. We are taking our time going back to some of the cays that we skipped on the way down. We plan to be back on the Big Bahama Island by the holiday weekend so that we will have a window to wait for good weather for our crossing. We will be flying back to MD on July 9th if all goes according to plan. We shall see what the weather brings! The kids are happy that we have a plan but they can't believe we only have three weeks left. Everyone from home has asked if it feels like the trip has gone by quickly and the answer to that is not simple. We have done and seen so much that it feels like we have been away longer than we really have but it seems like we just left yesterday! I know that doesn't make any sense but it's the honest answer!
Good luck to everyone with the end of the school year. We plan to wrap up our home/boat school this week. It will be nice to have all that work behind us but the kids have taken their school work very seriously and Jay and I are really proud of them!
More again soon....
Much love,
The Welsh Family
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