Thursday, February 18, 2010

Even Ron is cold!

Mark this moment in history, as even Ron was complaining of the cold this evening! (This from the man who loves AC and open windows, no matter how low the temperatures drop.) His comment on the cold amazed me, let me tell you! Nevertheless, temperatures are on the chilly side, just as they've been for a good part of the southern continental US recently. We've always known that the northern Bahamas just aren't far enough south for us to be reliably warm, with the winter cold fronts that come sweeping through every few days, but this year it just feels colder than usual. (Where is global warming when you need it??) In any event, the cold northwest winds continued unabated, ramping up to 20 knots, gusting to 25 knots, and generally making things a tad uncomfortable.

It's kind of unfortunate, but the island geography here is such that the entire harbor is exposed to the north and west, so whether you are in a slip or not, the winter winds are no fun since they so often come from those directions. Last night we got bounced around in the slip as if we were underway with the waves slapping, slamming and splashing against the starboard hull. With such a long fetch across from northern Eleuthera, along with the inter-island ferries that run so frequently, there's chop, wakes and whitecaps that come full force across the wide harbor. It was annoying enough that I finally moved to Ally's cabin (located amidships) since I'm finding my head is still a tad sensitive to the more pronounced rocking and pitching of the boat when in the forward cabin. So....not exactly a comfortable night. 

During the mid-day hours, Ron and I escaped across island again, biking over to one of the beach access trails, and thoroughly enjoying the lee of Pink Beach. We read on the beach, tucked in out of the wind amongst the sand dunes along the hillside facing the Atlantic. There, the sun felt fabulous, so we read, hung out and just relaxed, watching the many couples and families that walked along the water's edge. Oddly, there seemed to be many, many more folks on the beach today; whether they all just arrived or not, it seemed noticeably more busy on the beach, especially when there were so few souls out yesterday, when it was much less windy. It wasn't just the beaches either, because Sip Sip, where we had lunch, was packed with patrons -- perhaps the busy season is starting? All good for the island economy, though! 

Our quiet spot on Pink Beach, out of the wind

The late afternoon and evening were spent aboard and were quietly mellow, although we did have some unexpected visitors drop by the boat after dinner: Ron's dive buddy from the other day, his wife (a former instructor at Oldfields, believe it or not!) and their adorable toddler daughter. I hadn't met them before, not having been on the dive trip the other day, so it was lovely to get acquainted, chat, and trade island stories -- just a fun impromptu visit that enlivened our evening!

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