Cris came to visit us in the Exumas! We have been friends since high school (30+ years) and have shared a lot of experiences together over those years, not the least of which was the delivery of her first-born.
We met in 9th grade English grammar class, where Cris was sitting in front of me with her long straight hair. In our sophomore year we were in trigonometry together with Mrs. Sobus and Physics in our junior year with Mr. Neary ~ there were only a few girls in Physics by that time. Cris went on to be a civil engineer and I became a research chemist.
I was happy to have the chance to share the Bahamas and cruising life on Reach with her for the week. The Exumas are beautiful no matter what the conditions. The weather was overcast and rainy for most of Cris’ visit, but with enough of a break to take a daily walk or enjoy a sunset. We stayed in Elizabeth harbor off of the Monument (Reach is anchored far left) to wait out a few days of thunderstorms, where beaches and friends were nearby.
Cris experienced her first conch salad ~ after watching it being made from shell to bowl she was still game to try it.
We got to tour Jeff’s brand new boat, a gorgeous Saint Francis 50, Odyssey, and shared a few happy hours with him to catch up, weather be damned.
Our first attempt at a sailing day was cut short by a huge front-line; not uncommon, but it was the close lightning that made us turn around and wait until another day!
The next day, we made it up to Lee Stocking Island and had the anchorage all to ourselves (Reach on far left). The scenery is always fantastic here.
We continued to eat well, nourishing ourselves with sourdough pancakes to start the day.
By this time, the weather had moderated enough to allow snorkeling, even on the ocean side of the island. It was Cris’ first time ever snorkeling and she immediately adapted like a fish to water. I only wish we’d had more days to enjoy the underwater life!
The visibility was murky, but no matter ~ it was still like being in an aquarium to Cris. We saw thriving elkhorn coral, colorful fish, crabs, lobsters, eels, jellyfish, you name it! We didn’t want to get out.
Cris met her objective of a vacation of R&R… No TV… no phone… no stress! There was plenty of down-time for reading books and chilling out. It wasn’t hard to get Cris to relax, plus I think we even got her hooked on the evening G&T!
We ended the week with a nice birthday celebration for Cris topped off with a lemon mascarpone cake.
Come back soon girlfriend!
