Two weeks with Joe and Jo

       We are currently in Ruin Cove, between Crab and Little Crab Cays, one of the many anchorages in George Town Harbour.  There are only six boats here.  It’s the perfect spot to decompress for a few days after several weeks of guests.  Not that we don’t love having guests!  We very much enjoyed our time with cousins Veronica and Maddie and we had a wonderful two weeks with our son Joe and daughter-in-law Joanna. They arrived the day we said goodbye to Veronica and Maddie.

We spent a couple days in the George Town area and then took advantage of a short weather window to cruise over to Long Island where we spent a week exploring the reefs and wrecks of Thompson Bay off the town of Salt Pond, in the middle of Long Island.  Seven years ago we found lobsters under nearly every rock, but this year they seem to have moved on.  We walked the beaches on the ocean side, joined fellow cruisers for a very lively Happy Hour hosted at a local liquor store, and enjoyed a night out at the Sou’Side Bar and Grill.  The wind kept up a steady 20 knots from the east or north east the entire week.  We did managed to cruise up to Calabash Bay in the north end of the island for a change of scenery.  Joe and Jo found a trove of starfish at low tide at the beach there while Dan and I explored a man-made rectangular cove.  Joe tried his hand at fishing both on the way to Long Island and the way back to George Town Harbour, but even with multiple rods out, he didn’t get a bite.  

Our days fell into a routine - we’d have a leisurely breakfast, work on crossword puzzles, work in a snorkel or at least a swim either before or after lunch, discuss supper plans, and do more crosswords or play some other game in the evenings.  One evening Joe and Jo made supper for us: tacos with homemade tortillas!  

Joe at the stove making tacos.

Jo making tortillas.

Our time together was low key and comfortable as we played, swam, cooked, or just hung out reading.  

NY Times crossword puzzle app.

        Dan made two conch horns for sunset taps, and Joanna, a French horn player, even managed to get more than one note out of one of them.  Each conch has a different base tone, and when blown at the same time, they harmonize!  I was the only one untalented at conch blowing, not having learned to play a brass instrument like the others.  Joe and Dan both played trumpet.  

Sunset ritual

We took Joe and Jo to all the good snorkeling places:  the blue hole near Chat n Chill, where we saw the same great big barracuda that was guarding the place when Veronica and Maddie were there, and I saw a shark quickly leave its resting place under a nearby dock and glide into the hole and out of sight.  We went to the reef off Fowl Cay where Joe spotted all sorts of fish we’d missed on our last excursion there.  And on their last day with us, we went to the reef in the middle of the harbour where we all saw many different kinds of fish as well as turtle.  Joe and Joanna declared it was the best last day of their vacation.  

We crossed the harbour back over to Kidd’s Cove in front of George Town and had lunch at the Island Boy Cafe while we waited for their departure taxi with our new favorite driver Vencil.  Two weeks went by really fast!  

Saying goodbye - Joe, Jo, and Vencil