A Week With The Grands — Life On the Brink

Apr 1

Apr 1 A Week With The Grands

The wind picked up and the air was cool, but we made the most of our stay at Atlantis. Atlantis is quite a sight to be seen. They have created an out-of-this-world atmosphere with pools and water slides, shopping, a casino, and restaurants. As we wound our way through the walkways, we were able to catch sight of sharks or turtles in the rivers that also wound their way through the many different buildings and water attractions. While making our initial walk through the lobby to get to the pools, MJ says, "This is a really nice hotel with some interesting pictures on the walls." Very observant for a four-and-a-half year old, I'd say. We admired all the beautiful mega yachts that were in the marina as we went back and forth. One even had a helicopter on the back. We went swimming every day. Saylor was really bummed she wasn't tall enough to go down the big water slides. The lazy river seemed to be the favorite place to play and swim. It was chilly getting in the water and then once in the water, you didn't want to get out because it was cold! I keep hearing that this year has been unseasonably cool and windy. I realize it's all perspective. I mean, come on, most of our family and friends are bundled up in winter coats and here I am in shorts and a fleece and I'm talking about being cold?!? Yes, I am, because when I'm cold, I'm cold. My perfect temperature is somewhere around 85 degrees. Anything below that, is cold.

We spent Wednesday morning preparing for the arrival of our first guests this winter, Grandpa and Grandma K. and Aunt Donna. We cleaned and cleared out the girls' rooms and moved their clothes and toys to the master cabin and then gave Captain the news that he'd be sharing his quarters with three ladies now and reminded him to just breath, it might be a challenging week for a guy who likes his space.

The Grands had an adventure before ever arriving to the boat. They had left South Dakota 6 a.m. Tuesday morning, drove to Colorado to drop off their little Annie and had to repack bags because of items we had "needed." They then hopped on the red-eye flight to Atlanta, had a layover there, and then on to Nassau. Thirty-six hours later, they arrived! The girls and I took Aunt Donna to the pool and let Grandma and Grandpa get some rest.

Thursday morning we left the dock and headed for Highbourne Cay. We were able to sail a small portion of the trip. With the wind not being in our favor, we had to motor most of the way. Not what we were hoping to share with the Grands, but we arrived just before the sun went down, made some dinner and let them get to bed.

We originally thought we would try to make it to Staniel Cay, but looking at the winds and the time we had, we decided to shorten the distance we traveled south. Friday morning we pulled up anchor and headed for Compass Cay. Our first night there was a rough one as we dropped anchor in what we thought was the protected anchorage outside of the island, but after a second look at the charts the next morning, we discovered we were actually in the channel and had been fighting wind and surge all night.

Grandpa was up bright and early and had the girls' fishing poles ready. Saylor was so excited to FINALLY get to fish with her pole. It didn't take long for the first fish to bite, and, oh, the squeals and excitement!! "I've got a fish, I've got a FISH!" Some days I wish I could just record my girls' every moment. They say some of the funniest things that I think I'll remember, but rarely do unless I write it down. The enthusiasm and joy they have with life in general is contagious. MJ decided she was ready to fish and Grandpa helped her cast out. She caught a real pretty little yellow fish and wasn't too excited to hold it and was happy to let it free and that was that for her. Captain had gone in to the marina and secured us a place at the dock.

Compass Cay is known for swimming with sharks. When Saylor heard we were moving to the marina, she could not wait to get there and get in the water. Once we were there, she was off the boat before the lines were done being tied. She jumped right in. MJ was a little more cautious and was able to pet a few that swam under the swim platform they have there. Saylor practiced her diving skills and would swim to the bottom where the nurse sharks were hanging out. MJ found the courage to get in and would swim from me back to the platform and then decided it was okay to venture towards the sharks. I asked Saylor to describe what they felt like and she said "Soft." When I asked MJ, she said, "They felt like rock and sponge", which is a more accurate description.

We walked to the beach that's exposed to the ocean. Along the walk there were all sorts of homemade signs from driftwood or other things that had drifted to shore marking the "we were here" of those who came before us. MJ had struck up a conversation with a pretty young lady with a big heart and soon made a new best friend. After swimming, MJ got herself dressed up fancy and wanted to go find her friend and get a photo. Her new friend gave her some kind words of encouragement and things never to forget.

We left Compass Cay the next morning and made it to Hawksbill Cay. Aunt Donna, Saylor, MJ, Steve and I got off the boat and did some adventuring. Saylor and I found a secret hideout, a land of our very own on the other side of the bay. When I first saw it, I was so excited that we had come upon this little "lake" only to find that just around the corner was the inlet from the anchorage we were in. Nevertheless, we played and drew in the sand and on our way back to check in were discovered, "Boo!" by Aunt Donna and MJ, soon followed by Daddy. MJ found a real life conch that was fun to watch crawl across the ocean floor in the shallow water. Grandpa did more fishing. I got a kick out of the fact he would use the girls' Princess fishing poles. He was catching a fish we have yet to identify. He would reel them in and it would lure in a couple of nurse sharks. My assumption is they're pilot fish that hang around the nurse sharks and once they left their posts, the sharks were coming looking for them!

Our time at Hawksbill had a sort of recovery theme to it. First Grandpa, while reeling in a catch, had his line break, losing his hook and bait. He got his pole rigged up again and after a few more casts out, had a fish on the line, started to reel it in only to have it get away. When he reeled in the last of his line, there was the missing hook and bait from earlier. Now isn't that strange?!? Then Aunt Donna had put her only working hearing aid in my beach bag and when we got back to the boat, I was going about my business of cleaning things up, turned the bag inside out and gave it a good shake and then watched as her hearing aid flew into the air, landed in the ocean, started to drift away with the current and then sink. Steve jumped in and was able to recover it from the sea floor where it was tumbling along in the ocean current. When he brought it up, he said, "I wasn't sure if this was it, it blends in." Unbelievable, right!

The next morning brought with it its own excitement. Grandpa is an early bird. And by "early," I mean like 4 a.m. early. He had been getting up and getting coffee on, working in the dark and being very quiet not to wake the girls who were sleeping in the salon. Well, on this morning as he went through the routine, picking up the tea kettle, not seeing that the corkboard hot pad had stuck to the bottom, lit up the stove and placed the tea kettle on it. After a few minutes he started to smell something burning. As the salon filled with smoke, he frantically looked for the source of the smell when, to his surprise, poof, the corkboard went up in flames! He was able to get it out before any real damage or injury happened. I felt so sorry for him. What a rough way to start the morning! Poor guy just wanted a cup of coffee!!

We continued to make our way back to Nassau, stopping again at Highbourne Cay. Initially we were going to make a quick little trip over to Allans Cay to see iguanas, but decided it might be quite the long, bumpy dinghy ride and chose to just stay close and went to the beach. The next day the wind was with us and we were able to sail, motors off, the whole day. We pulled into Nassau Harbor as the cruise ships were making their way out for the evening. We went to dinner thinking that would be the faster route to get food in our bellies, but didn't make it back to the boat until after 9:00 and the Grands had an early flight the next day.

The next morning, before the sun was up, we were saying our goodbyes. It was nice to have visitors onboard. I had a week of not having to do dishes!! Thank you, ladies! The girls enjoyed the attention they were getting, a nice break from Mom and Dad. I hope and think they all had a good time, at the very least they have a better understanding of Life On The Brink. However, sailing is not for everyone and Grandpa, with a wink, let us know he preferred the more pampered pace of the big cruise ships.