Weds - Thursday March 23-24:  Back to the Bahamas

     We don’t do anything the easy way.  You’ve read how we traveled to Canada to come home to Maine; we did the reverse to get back to the Bahamas, and it was slightly more of a hassle.

     Dan’s parents were up with us at dawn, Marnie getting breakfast of yogurt and fruit ready and Al going over logistics with Dan.  We had retrieved our foam  mattress from our house and they were figuring out how best to store it until we come back.  Dan and I had thought back in May we had a great plan - stuffing it into one of those heavy vacuum bags which flatten things out very well to save storage space.  Well, apparently they don’t hold a vacuum very long, and the foam mattress had blown its boarders sometime between May and March.  Dan decided we would roll it up as tight as we could and tie it down, and Al produced some heavy vinyl bags that once held bird seed.  The four of us managed to roll it up, tie it down, and bag it from both ends.  Dan sealed the bags with duct tape, and lugged it out for storage in his parents’ garage.  We will see how well this works.

     By eight-twenty we were showered, fed, packed, and in the car for the short trip to the bus stop.  Goodbyes were heartfelt and tearful and we were off into the grey morning for the five hour trip to Boston.  The first movie on the bus was McFarland, USA, a feel-good Disney movie based on the true story of a teacher/cross country coach in a very small California town.  We both enjoyed it.  After we changed buses in Portland, the second movie shown was Cinderella.  Dan took a nap and I played cribbage on my phone.  We got to Boston just after one pm and did our first stint at the check-in counter and the security line.  

     I said ‘first’ stint, because on this journey we ended up having to go through the check-in and security process for all three plane rides.  We also found out we were not allowed to check our luggage all the way through to the Bahamas, even though that was our intended travel.  They did check it through to Toronto, but we had to collect it in Montreal in order to get through customs, then check it back in for the flight to Toronto.  The saving grace for us in customs was our Nexus cards.  We were expedited through customs and through security.  There are kiosks to check into customs, and special lines for immigration and security.  While it was a pain to have to collect our checked in luggage, the whole process didn’t take very long as we avoided standing long lines and were even told we didn’t have to remove our shoes.

     Our flight to Montreal was uneventful.  Our flight to Toronto was scheduled for just after ten pm but we managed to get onto an earlier flight that got us to Toronto around nine-thirty.  Here we again collected our two large checked-in suitcases because we had to go through the entire check-in process for the morning’s flight to George Town.  However, we couldn’t do the check-in process until the morning, meaning we had to stay outside the secure area where the gates and shops and restaurants are.  There are a handful of eateries in the non-secure area, but only one of them is a sit-down restaurant as opposed to a counter with pre-packaged food, and as soon we were seated at a table, our waiter apologetically told us the kitchen was closing and we had about one minute to place our orders.  We were just happy that we hadn’t wasted any time getting there!  The snack of choice on the buses and the planes were little bags of pretzels.  We were pretty hungry when we got to Toronto.

     The international terminal in Toronto also has a large lounge on the third floor of the non-secure area.  It’s a fairly quiet place (until someone turns on the televisions) and has slightly padded rows of chairs that have no arms so you can lay down.  There are also two neon sculptures in the middle of padded platforms, and a carpeted children’s area with things to climb on.  The savvier travelers know to head to this lounge and claim a spot for the night.  Dan and I found a couple rows of chairs that we pushed together to stretch out on.  People were curled around the children’s toys on the carpeted area and all around the neon sculptures (that turned on and off all night) and if we didn’t all sleep soundly, at least most of us slept on and off during the night.  One big drawback was that the bathrooms were a five minute trek away.

       At seven am we were back in line to check in for our final flight.  Toronto was very organized about this - there were dedicated counters for specific destinations and cheerful employees overseeing the lines to make sure everything flowed smoothly.  Once our large suitcases were taken care of, we again found a Nexus line to breeze through security, and began the short wait for the nine-thirty flight to George Town.  Almost there!  Finally!   

       At nine-thirty the clerks at the gate announced we would have a twenty minute delay.  The plane was overnight in the hangar, they said, and no one was around to bring it to the gate.  Twenty minutes later they said the flight was delayed until ten-forty-five because the plane had sat outside all night in the freezing rain and some of the systems were showing error lights.  At ten-thirty we were informed we needed to move to a different gate across the terminal, and the flight would be at twelve-thirty, because the plane wouldn’t start.  We were told we could use our boarding passes for ten dollars off a meal at any restaurant, so Dan and I decided to eat an early lunch.

     Outside there was indeed a freezing rain falling steadily, coating the windows and the runway.  We watched a small plow push the stuff into small piles off to the sides while crew and small vehicles slid around dealing with all the outside duties of a busy airport.  The departures board showed many flights canceled or delayed.  We began to wonder how long it would be before they offered us a hotel for the night.

     But no - the plane boarded at twelve-thirty.  We were going to the Bahamas today!  After we sat on the runway for thirty minutes making sure all systems were a go, and after we sat in line for de-icing for another thirty minutes, we took off.  Our flight attendant informed us all that this was the plane that was to have been the plane for the nine-thirty flight.  It had been diverted to Montreal because of weather and had not been able to get to Toronto until noon.  The plane that may or may not have been left out in the bad weather all night had been a back up plane, and it still wasn’t functional.  We didn’t really care at this point, we were finally en route to the Bahamas.  And a good thing, too, because we found out later that the freezing rain took down the power in much of Toronto and closed the airport.  Had we been delayed any longer, we probably would have spent two more nights there.

      We got to George Town and muggy, eighty degree weather about five pm.  At the customs table, the attendant eyed our large suitcases and asked Dan if he had brought any boat parts.  Either he didn’t hear her or he didn’t understand what she’d asked, because he said “No” and she gave him a knowing look and motioned to the baggage.  “Open the suitcases, please.”  

     Dan gave her a grin and produced some air filters, and she nodded with a small smile and said “So you do have boat parts.”  He declared their value and she waved him through with a chuckle.  She must see that all the time.  

      We had met several people on the plane coming to join relatives or friends on boats, and some of us shared a cab to the dinghy dock.  I ran in to the market to pick up things for supper and Dan negotiated a ride for us.  The owner of Cool Cat was there to pick up a couple our taxi-mates, and he offered to take us and all our stuff across the harbor to the Willie Dawes.  

      She was right where we’d left her, with a little yellow stuff on the anchor line and some green stuff on the water line, and a lot of gray stuff inside.  Cat fur.  Everywhere.  And I do mean everywhere.  And one ecstatic cat whose purr could probably be heard from the beach.  Tommie was so happy - rolling around and talking - she wouldn’t let us out of her sight the entire night.  After the initial greeting, she also had to let us know how she felt about us leaving her - both Dan and I received a couple of bites and scratches, just to put us in our place.  I think she’s forgiven us, though.

Sorry there aren’t any pictures… I’ll try to make up for it in other blogs