Island hoping

We are not great travelers, the wife and I. We'd like to be, but it's been hard to get outta town. We're a couple who put off our honeymoon for months because of bizzi-ness.

It has been our good fortune to get some quality trips, since quantity of travel is lacking.

The painting above, "Abaco #2" is from one of those trips.

Somehow, we homed in on the Bahamas as a destination. Wife is the researcher of this union. She found a small beach house for rent on Man-O-War Cay, an outer island of Grand Bahama.

Beach house is a stretch. Man-O-War is a parentheses of an island with a harbor in the space between. The smaller paren, with our rental on it, is wide enough to hold two small lots back to back. No beach. All travel to the the larger part of Man-O-War was done by skiffing across the harbor.

Man-O-War is primarily the home of descendants of Tory refugees from the American Revolution. The Albury family are the prime movers of the area, running stores, the island shuttle, as well as being our landlord. On the shuttle to the main island, a youngish local asked us how we "ended up here. Nothing much happens here." Fine with us.

We like quietude. Crowds are o.k. Over there. Way over there.

We also like Fall vacations. Fewer people. The down-side of Fall vacations is that many attractions are closed for the season.

The hope of dear wife was to snorkel coral reefs. We had been spoiled by our honeymoon in St. John, V. I., where one could swim to reefs right off the beach.

There was desperation in the air when we couldn't find reefs nearby. We contacted a diving company to book an afternoon. That's how anxious we were to do this. We were willing to pay! We only had three days left of our vacation.

They told us they needed more people to make the trip worth their while. That another couple may be interested. They'd get back to us. A day passed.

We called back. The other couple couldn't make it. Bummer!

A hurricane was brewing in the southern Atlantic. Locals were beginning the boarding-up drill.

The boat crew called to say they were going to a couple of the islands to take photos for brochures and we were welcome to go with them. Wanna come? You bet!

They showed up the next day and we were off to Green Turtle Cay, the PARTY island.

Wasn't much of a party. Late season. Hurricane coming. We hung while the crew shot location. Drank a $6 beer (that was a lotta money then).

Eventually got back aboard and headed home. About midway, crew dropped anchor. The bay at that point is pretty shallow. Clear water showed mostly a sand bottom. Crewman pointed to the other side. Dark green! Suit up!

We were wet in a flash.

Glad I went to the pool for two weeks before the vacation. Was in middling shape. That elkhorn coral formation shown in the above painting was at one end of the whole reef. Full of fish. All colors.

We dove and came up for air, then back down for as long as they could stand it, then went home happy. Pals to the end. Birth to earth. Don't remember their names now.