Ahoy

"It isn't that life ashore is distasteful to me.

But life at sea is better."

Sir Francis Drake

This is the last day being based onshore for awhile. Would it be wrong to tell the kids that they can get homeschool P.E. credits for weightlifting if they help me carry suitcases down to the dock? Greg and Billy decided to go over to Marsh Harbor to pick up the boat and buy rations. They promised to come and collect the women and children...mmm does that make it women and children last? But this is no time to start thinking of sinking ships.

This would be our first day to try out life aboard a boat making us free to roam the ocean as we pleased. The excitement was palpable.

"A tourist remains an outsider throughout his visit; but a sailor is part of the local scene from the moment he arrives." Anne Davison

The kids especially were jumping around unable to concentrate on school or packing. They patrolled the dock on and off for most of the day, scanning the waters for any vessels headed over to White Sound.

"Don't wait for your ship to come in - swim out to it. " Author Unknown

The grin on Billy and Greg's face said it all as they came into view. Tony the skipper was happy to meet us but anxious of the falling tide and lack of daylight hours left to find an anchorage for the night. In a last mad scramble, with help of course from our wonderful Abaco Inn friends, the bags and boards were thrown down below. No time for wistful goodbyes it was off into the ocean blue - well ok turquoise Abaco Sea.

"Why shouldn't we succeed?" Captain Bligh

As the first sunset glowed in the sky the smiles aboard beamed with the same warmness. Grappling with the anchor in the half light we made Lanyard Cay our home for the night.

Ships are the nearest things to dreams that hands have ever made."

Robert N. Rose

The linen was fresh, the boat clean, the skipper sprightly. Everything lay ahead untouched and unimagined, it was a great start to a watery adventure.

Even before sunup Mr. Billy was rigging up with bait and tackle, figuring out what would lure our dinner aboard. Tony made grandiose promises of plucking more lobsters than we could eat. After an unsuccessful attempt to impart some education onto the kids, I took the wise advice of a dear friend and I was happy to just be a 'human being not a human doing.'

"The sea is the same as it has been since before men ever went on it in boats." Ernest Hemingway

I haven't really fished from a boat very much before, so the thrill of the spinning line was a new sound to me. I soon learnt what excitement it brought. Not 12 hours aboard and our legendary Mr. Billy had snagged a red snapper! Is it good to eat? What do I care, I just want to snap that snapper.

The kids took a gruesome lesson in how to fillet a fish. I figured it would count as either science or home economics. Tony promised to show us how to make Bahamian boiled fish. While this didn't really appetizer me into putting it onto to tonight's menu I was interested as part of a cultural study program. Maybe I'm taking the home school thing a little too seriously?

What did it matter? One fish later and Josh was a total convert to fishing. He seemed quite comfortable with the transition from mourning for his deceased goldfish to hunting red snapper. Maybe he has a moral fresh/salt water distinction that I was unaware of? What is it about seeing a boy with a few teeth missing, holding a fishing rod that makes the universe make so much sense? In all my arrogance, how could I assume I would be able to teach him more than the ocean and natural order of the wildnerness? Besides which bailing early on home school was cause for celebration and gave me the perfect excuse for a midday beer. First stop of the day was Little Harbor. A wonderful artist enclave complete with 'Pete's Pub'

"Land was created to provide a place for boats to visit."

Brooks Atkinson

In the 1950's Randolph Johnston settled the area, opting out of mainstream life. Being a talented sculptor, his bronze creations filled the gallery, which along with the foundry has been passed on to his sons and grandsons and so the artist legacy continues. One piece "The Nine Stages of Man" shows each phase of life, the metal bodies running over an arch, from baby to old man.

Anne and I went for a run while the kids went for an explore with the guys. Remind me to take an oxygen tank next time I decide that a jog in 80 degree sunshine is good for my health. Viewing the "Nine Stages of Man" had us all contemplating our mortality. Anne felt she was on the downward slope of the arch, after running around the sandy roads with her I have decided she's at full steam still on her way up the arch! The kids loved poking around in the lagoon lost in a world of discovery.

“for whatever we lose (like a you or a me)

it's always ourselves we find in the sea”

E.E. Cummings

Unfortunately Mr. Billy found himself unravelling a snafu in the fishing line. His act of kindness in bringing the kids a fishing rod had not gone unpunished! Disentangling the line seems the perfect analogy to our unwinding frame of mind. Time seems to slow in these beautiful backwaters.

This slower pace of life provides moments for meaningful chats and friendly visits to the pub. You know your at snail's pace when you have to stop for hermit crabs.

Anchors away, it was time to 'up hook' and head off on our hunt for lobsters. It had been a busy day at the maritime navel institute. With barely 30 minutes training the kids were able to spy out Tony's co-ordinates for his secret lobster spot. Here began Tony's first lesson in how to enable my iodine addiction. Its not that I need lobsters, its just that I really, really want them, really really bad if you happen to mention them. Heading out into open ocean we followed the coastline north. All the time Mr Billy tended his lines which trawled behind us, while we ran up as far as Tilloo Cut. Then we swung back into the protected lee of the cay and found our evening anchorage and the happy hunting ground.

"The world is my lobster." Henry J Tillman

Cocktails served in the glow of sunset brought stories of the one that got away. Jigsaw puzzles and relaxing with our old friends and new. A perfect evening, marooned on our floating island.

“True friendship multiplies the good in life and divides its evils. Strive to have friends, for life without friends is like life on a desert island..to find one real friend in a lifetime is good fortune; to keep him is a blessing.” Baltasar Gracian