Our two days at Rum Cay turn into two weeks.  We all had the best time!!  We couldn’t get a weather window to sail and by waiting longer, Hurricane Dean showed up, so we decided this was the best place to be.  The marina has a pretty good hurricane hole so we weren’t worried.  We just took a break and enjoyed the island.  Dan stayed busy fixing Kathy and Bill’s computer problems and fixing the wireless internet at the marina.  Cathi and Melanie took me and the kids to beautiful North Beach to swim.  The evenings were filled with more fish dinners, much laughter and 3 Texas Hold’em poker nights.  Dan won the second place pot on the last night. 

By the second week we got smart and rented a four wheel drive golf cart.  We had a blast exploring the island.  The island is big, but only sparsely settled.  The Montana Group bought the marina and is building a new marina and a huge resort complex.  It is a very ambitious project and it will be interesting to see how far it goes.  There are so many rocky trails to explore by golf cart and you are rewarded with the most diverse, beautiful beaches.  They even have surfing!!  Scattered throughout the island are remains of the Loyalist plantations.  It is amazing to see the rock walls still holding up after all these years.  We really feel at home here.  Our day consists of stopping at Strachans for Gatorade or water and ice cream, taking the golf cart on back trails, stopping at Ocean View for cold drinks and TV and back to the docks for the fresh catch of the day. Dan became known as the “Crab Man”  for catching the largest land crab on the island.  He did it while on the electric golf cart that Bill and Kathy let us use.  He saw this huge crab crossing in front of him and he wanted to bring it back to show the kids.  He found a stick and got the crab to latch onto it, and then he threw him in the basket in the back of the golf cart.  Unbeknown to him, as he was driving the crab was crawling out of the basket and climbing up the back of the seat where he was sitting.  Luckily Andrews, the local policeman, drove up behind him.  He pulled Dan over, saving him from a very nasty set of pinchers!!  Andrews told him that was the biggest land crab he had ever seen.  He joked that he should arrest him for catching the island’s patriarch.  Luckily Andrews had a bucket in his car and he gave that to Dan to put the crab in.  After the kids all got a good look, Dan let Andrews have the crab to eat.  He was very happy and promised to bring peas and rice with crab in it to the dock the next night.    

The island people are very friendly, and on our third stop at Ocean View, Miss Ruby brings out cookies for us.  We love it here.  Marcia and Adrian do a great job running the marina and I feel bad for the long hours they work.  They are never too busy to stop and visit with you though!  Our last night there, Brian, Cathi’s husband picked us up to take us to Ocean View for Miss Ruby’s buffet.  Since his truck was small, the kids and I rode on the golfcart with Marcia and Adrian.  The buffet was a treat.  Curried grouper, Turtle Parmesan, roast beef, turkey, ham, barbeque chicken, crab salad, potato salad, fruit and coconut cake for desert.  It was a great way to end our stay.

Melanie and Glen left first to head to Nassau then back to Florida, and there were lots of tears as Melanie and I said goodbye.  They were so generous to invite us into their “family” and share their fish with us everyday.  We had some good talks, and Tessa and Chance became really good friends. We were very lucky to meet them.    The next night was more tears as I said goodbye to Marcia and Cathi.  They both have funny stories of living on the island, and kept me laughing. Cathi, don’t ever lose your island spirit!  Bill and Kathy had left a day earlier to go to

Nassau.  They were great to invite us and our kids to their house.  Kathy some great pictures of all of us, and shared some of her precious shell collection with Tessa.  Our kids thought they were great.   So did we.  We had some great times on the island and we will always be thankful for the hospitality, laughter, friendship and great food shared by all of them.   

We had one more night of bad mosquitoes before we left.  It was a similar night as before, rain, no wind and sundown.  We thought we had the boat closed up but we discovered the kids’ bathroom window was open.  There were literally a 50 to 60 mosquitoes covering the walls.  I shut the door to Tessa’s room and closed the door to door to the bathroom, trapping them inside.  We left to go eat.  I had to run back to the boat to get something from Tessa’s room about an hour later.  I fought my way through the mosquito infested bathroom, using the flyswatter to kill as many as I could.  When I opened Tessa’s bedroom door, I was sick.  She had left a side hatch open.  The corner of her wall near the window was black with mosquitoes.  It was  a nightmare.  I killed as many as I could, but with the windows closed it was hot and unbearable.  I closed her door and the bathroom door and left them until morning.  That night she slept on the couch upstairs.  We were cleaning up mosquitoes for days after that. 

We had planned to spend just one or two nights at most here, as we were hoping to get wind, but that would almost be going backwards, or try to make Crooked Island, which has lousy anchorages, or try to make it to Mayaguana, a day and a half away.  Dan is adamant about not motoring 30 hours straight to Mayaguana, so we decide to wait for the wind.  In the meantime we enjoy another night of friendship and really good food as we join the dock cookout.  Once again we are spoiled with fresh grouper, conch, and prime rib.  We could get used to this!  After eating the kids pile onto JollyRodgers and air conditioning and play games and watch movies.  Tessa spends a lot of time with Chance who is her age and Tristan has found a new friend in Will, a boy his age who has just arrived for a fishing charter on Jolly Rodgers.  The kids are having such a great time.  During the day they are off exploring around the marina.  Bobby, the guy who originally built and owned the marina, before selling it to the Montana Group, really added some nice touches to the grounds and the restaurant.  Near one of the cabins he built a tree house that the kids love to play in.  Outside of the restaurant are beautiful limestone carvings that he did himself, and rock gardens.  Inside the restaurant is a mosaic countertop, and more of his artwork.  It is really beautiful and gives you a very peaceful feeling.  We love to eat breakfast here in the morning.  Ordering was a bit difficult at first as there is no menu.  The first morning, Erica came to our table as soon as we sat down and asked what we wanted.  I asked her what did she have.  She told me she could fix anything.  Ok.  I look at the kids and ask them what they wanted.  Their response?  “What do they have?”

“You can have anything.  How about some eggs?”

Erica jumps in “How do you want them cooked?”

I pause.  I tell her I am not sure we really want eggs I was just throwing out a suggestion.

Tessa asks “Do they have pancakes?”

Erica, “What do you want with your pancakes?”

Me  “I am not sure she really wants pancakes, again I think that was merely a question.”

Tristan :  “Do they have omelets, and bacon?”

Erica:  “Omelet, bacon.  Do you want toast?”

Me:  “Wait.  I am not sure that is what he wants.  I think he is just asking.”

This goes on a few minutes more and finally as my head is ready to explode I tell her we need a few minutes.  We can’t seem to grasp the idea she is willing to make us anything we want.  Finally we decide and she comes back.  We order pancakes, omelets, and scrambled eggs.  A few minutes later she comes back to the table and tells me it will be awhile as they are out of eggs and are going to go to the grocery store for some more.  My mouth drops open.  I saw those eggs at the grocery store (see previous entry) and am not sure I want anything to do with them. I decide to close my mouth and live dangerously.  The breakfast turns out to be very good. 

The next morning we go in and I am ready for her.  She comes to the table and tells us she has grits this morning.  I thank her for the information, I am not a grits fan, and order an omelet for Tristan and scrambled eggs for me.  I am so proud of myself that I am on top of things.   As I start to say that Tessa will have French toast, she interrupts me.  “We have grits.”

“Yes, thanks.  We don’t really like grits. I think the omelet will be fine.”

“We have grits. We don’t have eggs,” she says.

So much for preplanning.

  Lady Emerald

  Tessa going fishing