Beautiful weather at last!

Just goes to show you, Mother Nature has a wicked sense of humor! Just as we're about to head to the US for a couple of days, the weather has been the best it has been in months. Lovely light winds, wall-to-wall sunshine, with gorgeous turquoise seas that are settling nicely. Finally after brutal winter winds...the reward!

We got out diving yesterday morning with the folks off Karuna, which was a great time; while Greg and Ron have been out diving, I've been on no-dive status until last week. Now that I'm back in the water, it was the perfect time to relax and chill while enjoying it! Greg's other half, Karuna, hadn't done any diving since her certification course in Nassau a month or so ago, so I took her under my wing, and we had a relaxed dive at The Plateau. We stayed in the shallower waters (50' or less) and just reveled in a slow, easy dive, checking out the coral, fish life, flamingo tongues, lionfish, a HUGE channel clinging crab and....barracuda. Karuna did very well, not having any problems with equalizing, and did well with her air use. At depth, she was relaxed in the water and totally jazzed by the sea life. It was a great dive! 

The afternoon had Ron finishing his practical work for his rescue diver training and certification; I did boat chores (as usual) from laundry to bread baking to talking with the Nitrox compressor technician about the slowly falling O2 percentage when we run the Nitrox system. The problem could be a leak somewhere before the filters, so we trouble-shooted that a bit. We'll get it checked out in full in a month or so when we're back in Florida, but in the meantime, we still have the regular air compressor, so that's all good. As always...it's a boat, things will need work. In the meantime, enjoy!

The low pressure compressor system aboard...love it!

In the evening, we finally got to treat Shawne to dinner. He's such a great guy, we've really had a wonderful time on the island sharing fun times with him. From day one, we've enjoyed his company! Ron and he hit it off due to diving -- he and Ron are so alike in their passion for the ocean reefs. Even on his day off, Shawne would stop by to see if we wanted to go diving -- Ron's kindred spirit! From Shawne's personable demeanor and genuine concern for his dive students at Valentine's to his great instruction during Ron's dive rescue course, we've built a nice camaraderie. We three went out to Rock House for dinner (timed right for sunset) and just had a great time, where delicious entrees abounded. The food is SO good here on Harbour Island!!

Sunset from Rock House

Pose for the camera ...no wait! Try again...again...!

Wednesday ... ah, Wednesday. Glorious sunshine, light winds, perfect for diving. But...as we were flying the next day, time was tight and better to be conservative and have 24-hours before flying. We spent most of the morning answering e-mails, following up with necessary paperwork, and then prepping the boat for our departure. It's going to be hard to leave here, since we've made such good friends having been here for so long!

We had a lovely afternoon...we were treated by the crew of Karuna to lunch at The Blue Bar. It's so utterly, utterly gorgeous here with the different shades of the water: blue, azure, teal, aquamarine, turquoise and cobalt, with sky blue above. Mother Nature at her most beautiful! We enjoyed the luncheon fare: local fish tacos, watermelon salad with mozzarella, and scallops margharita. Of course, the gentleman had the local rum drink of choice. All the food here on island is absolutely delicious!

Ron, with Greg off Karuna

We spent the afternoon doing more preparations for cruising, stowing items and just generally tidying up the boat. While we'll be in the US for a few days, we're looking ahead to our return when the boat needs to be ready for passage, and we tried to get a head start on that. So, we cleaned scuba gear, sorted and stowed it accordingly, washed and scrubbed down the tender, prepped and cleared decks on Equinox. When we get the weather window upon our return, we'll be off, heading to the Exumas...but not going to lie, it will be hard to leave here!

Inviting beach cabanas at Romora Bay. The pool 

is behind and above them...

        Equinox at her slip here at Romora Bay. It's been

lovely to be here, and will be hard to leave!