Where are Wink and Wilma? They are living aboard a Great Harbour 47 Trawler.

Summer Trip - 2010 - Part 4

2010-12-17T22:53:00.021-05:00

We went to Crazy Horse Monument which is only about 2 hours from Rapid City, South Dakota.
No government money accepted. This is a private enterprise sponsored by the Indians and start in 1948. Korczak Ziolkowski who also worked on Mount Rushmore was asked to start work on the Monument. Later he met and married Ruth. They had nine children who all helped on the monument. After Korczak died, the monument is still being built by a number of the children.
This statue is a minature of what the monument plans to looklike. Crazy Horse is a lot larger than Mt. Rushmore with full size Amber, Emma and Wilma
I think the head of Crazy Horse is about the size of Mt. Rushmore.

Here is a marked up version of how it is suppose to turn out.

We also went to the Badlands where Emma is posing.

Amber and Emma in the Badlands.

Amber is sworn in as a jr. ranger for Badlands National Park.

We drove through Wind Cave National Monument, but it was so crowded that we decided to just look for wildlife. Our first Buffalo sighting. We actually learned that Buffalo is not the correct name - no buffalo in United States, they are Bison.

Prairie Dos - Millions of them.

Bison heard.

Wild Doneys.

We also visited a Minuteman Missle Site east of Rapid City, SD just north of the Badlands.

We went in groups - only 6 people at a time allowed into the site. Wink taking this picture of the Ranger, two people in our group and Emma, Amber and Wilma.

The blast door is 3 feet thick and is decorated by the airmen who worked on the site.
Just 4 miles away is the action Missle site preserved for mankind to know what the cold war was about. The girls earned another Jr. Ranger Badge at the Minuteman Missle Site.
We also went to Wall Drug where Emma was our action model.

Emma riding a Bucking Bronco. She was great, never fell off.

Emma enjoys a snuggle of a Bison.

Wink, Emma and Amber pet the mechanical Bison. Wall Drug was too commerical for us.

Summer Trip - 2010 - Part 3

2010-12-17T15:11:00.008-05:00

We arrived at our friends Pat and Pat who live in Kansas City, Missouri on Lake Lotawana late in the afternoon on Friday, July 2nd.

Amber took a photo of us having dinner at their home. From left: Emma, Ms. Pat, Mr. Pat, Wink and Wilma.

Wink and Amber getting the luggage from the car.

We took a dip in the lake in the afternoon. Emma was being a motor for Wilma, pushing her around from pier to pier.

On the 4th of July, Grandma Wilma demonstrated water-skiing for Amber and Emma. Both girls tried, but Emma was able to ski for a short while. The fireworks for Lake Lotawanna was right in front of The Pats home. We had a great time.

Thank you, Pat & Pat for a great Independence Day Weekend.

From Kansas City, MO we head toward Sioux City, Iowa. We have plans for staying at the Stoney Creek Inn. Here is a photo of the lobby. It was a fantastic visit. Our youngest granddaughter - Emma loved the western motif and we all loved the rest of the amenities.

We had an extremely large suite with a King Size Bed (for Grandma and Grandpa) and a Queen Size Pull out Sofa Bed (for Amber and Emma). The suite came with a kitchenette, eating bar, fireplace, in room Jacuzzi, large TV, and all the stuffed (real animals) you can think of. We also enjoyed the pool which was both indoor and outdoor combination. A coy pond and large property. Amber and Emma pose at the bar. Grandma went to the grocery store and came back with Chicken Pot Pies for dinner.

On our way from Sioux City, Iowas to Rapid City, South Dakota - we stopped at the 1880 Town to stretch our legs. Amber and Emma posed for their picture on an old swing. On our way into Rapid City, we drove through part of the Badlands. It was beautiful and pictures are available shortly. We stayed in Rapid City at the Ameri-Inn (it was awful and that's the nicest thing I can say about it.)

We went to Mt. Rushmore National Park where Amber and Emma started a great adventure in the Junior Ranger Program earning their first Jr. Ranger Badge.

SUMMER LAND TRIP PART 2

2010-09-27T08:47:00.011-04:00

Days 1 & 2:

Sara the sea dog really enjoyed the grass a Wilma's son's home. She had squirrels in the back yard throwing pecans at her which made her more diligent to keep them moving. She stood guard on the porch a lot also just napping and keeping one eye on the trees.

Wink, Wilma, Amber and Emma had made plans to travel on a 3 week road trip north from Texas. Sara the sea dog was left with Wilma's son during this time.

On Thursday, July 1st, the group loaded into the car and left at 7:15 am. As we headed for Wichita, Kansas - enjoying some music from one of Amber's Cd's, we happened upon a song about seizing the day. We started talking and decided that since Amber was in charge of helping manage our summer budget and Emma was in charge of helping with the maps and directions of traveling, we should all have a job and consider it a summer business. It was Winks opinion that if we acted like it was a business and we had goals then we would probably get more out of it. After discussion - we decided our name would be: Buddies Exploring America (BEA). Wink would be the CEO (Chief Executive Officer), Amber would be the CFO (Chief Financial Officer), Emma would be the CLO (Chief Logistical Officer) and Wilma would be the DO-SO (Director of Order-Security Operations) You got it! Anything else that would need to be done on this trip, Wilma would DO-SO.

We stayed our first night at Hilton Garden Inn in Wichita, KS. Although we had the reservation, we were totally surprised that our arrival was so important that they had arranged a concert by the lake for us that evening. They included fireworks as a great ending to our first day as a company and a great trip beginning - giving us exclusive seats for enjoying the evening.

Amber and her Grandpa giving Grandma a photo to remember while Emma socials with all the other kids playing chase. The Hilton also had a great pool and exercise room which the girls took advantage of during the evening. The next morning we headed west toward Kansas City, MO.

In route, we made an unscheduled stop at the Old Depot Museum in east Kansas. Before we could go in the Old Depot Museum, Amber had to check it out and determine if the price of admission was within our budget. At only $8 for the 4 of us - we were approved for the expense.

Amber approving the Old Depot Museum.

Local businesses of past era's donate some of their assets to the museum as they either modernize or go out of business. Wilma sits next to old stamp machines in an old diner setting from the local drug store.

Emma was dressed in a "ole timey" school smock (school uniform), supplied with an apple for the teacher, and a lunch pale for this photo in the "one room schoolhouse" setting.

After our visit we continued east where Amber declined an opportunity to visit another museum because it cost $35 for all of us to go into and it was 20 minutes until closing. Smart Girl! We continued on to our friends "Pat & Pat" home in Kansas City, MO. They are boater friends that have a Pilgrim 43 - M/V Salty Dawg. They live on Lake Lottawana and he's a Rear Commodore for his yacht club.

SUMMER LAND TRIP - 2010: Part ONE

2010-08-17T16:37:00.016-04:00

Every year after the Bahama Trip, Wink, Wilma and Sara the sea dog de-clutter and spring clean John Henry, our GH47 Trawler. We pack everything into our car and take it to the condo. This year, we also de-cluttered the condo. Wilma went through every storage container. She either repacked things more effectively, gave things to Goodwill or packed them back into the car to give to her son William in Texas. We also advertised and sold our Kayaks.

Wink bought himself a new camera, Wilma a new camera, and both granddaughters new cameras this year. Above, Wilma saying hi from the parking lot of the condo while Wink is taking the photo from the Penthouse floor (10th). Who knows which of the camera's he's trying out to make sure they are all working great for our big summer trip.

We stopped by the nursing home to make sure Wink's mom is doing well. Not much has changed for Anna. She's not walking anymore, but she can stand and pivot. Her health seems stable and good.

It's been a full 4 years since we moved on board and we've had a great adventure. Upon purchasing the boat, Wink and Wilma planned to live on board for 3-5 years and see where they wanted to go from there. Last year, we put a "for sale by owner" sign in the window just to keep us focused and help us decide if we really wanted to get off the boat or not. We've had some really great times traveling and living on the water. We're ready to see what's next, because actually we don't really know.

From Sarasota, Florida - we went back to Green Cove Springs, FL to John Henry and officially listed the boat for sale with Mirage Mfg. Brokerage. See details at Yachtworld http://www.yachtworld.com/boats/2006/Great-Harbour-Gh47---Mirage---Great-Harbor-2215258/Green-Cove-Springs/FL/United-States .

Wilma drove Wink to the Jacksonville airport on June 12 and he flew to Boston, MA where he was picked up by our daughter-in-law Toni and the two Granddaughters: Amber and Emma.

They live in Derry, NH. Wink made arrangements to stay with them for about two weeks and help them out with a few chores while Wilma and Sara the sea dog made their way to Yazoo City, Mississippi.

Emma giving her Grandpa a big welcome hug. Note: Emma has long hair in this photo.

Yazoo City, Mississippi - Main Street - Historic Downtown Has No Damage

Wilma's hometown. A tornado hit in April 2010. According to the news reports, it took out several buildings at the south end of town. One of those buildings were my parent's church. The devastation was much more severe than reported. Several months after the tornado, the town is still cleaning up. The tornado didn't hit any densely populated areas, thankfully limiting the deaths to three people.

William (Wilma's son) came to visit while she was in Yazoo City. They both went to Jackson to visit Wilma's parents. Claudine, Wilma, Hardy and William. Three generations, best known as

William, Mom, Mamaw and Papaw.

One set of Wilma's Great-Nephew and Niece were visiting in Yazoo City also. Noah and Rachel took Aunt Wilma for a ride on a 4-wheeler. Noah and Rachel live in Dallas, TX. After Wilma's visit to Yazoo City, she headed for Dallas. Rachel needed a ride home as she was headed to summer camp for a week so she hitched a ride with Aunt Wilma.

After a few days in Dallas, it was time for Wink, Amber and Emma to arrive from New Hampshire via DFW airport. Wink and Amber had made some plans to cook several nice treats for us. They're first adventure was Eggplant Burgers. They were awesome.

Amber serving up the Eggplant Burgers - which were eaten immediately - without buns.

Later in the week, William's girlfriend Sara and her two girls Aila and Madison came for a visit. We all went to The Last Chance Ranch and Stables in Keller, Texas to visit Uncle Timmy. Uncle Timmy took Aila for a short gallop around the round pen. Amber, Emma and Madison also road Razzle in the round pen.

After all the riding was done, we celebrated Wink's birthday with a special chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.

William's trilled to see the girls and spend some special time with them. The girls will spend a week with dad and then go on a three week trip with Grandma and Grandpa before returning to Dad's house for an additional 2 weeks.Amber is on the left, Emma on the right and their Dad (William) in the middle. Taken at Uncle Timmy's Ranch near the round pen.
Sara the Sea Dog is enjoying lots of free time with the GRASS. The Green Grass.

Stay tune for the continuing saga of the summer land trip.

Jacksonville to Green Cove Spring, FL

2010-05-12T07:54:00.005-04:00

Great Harbour Trawler Goes Fast - we cruised 107 Statue Miles yesterday with an average of 9.034 mph. We had the wind at our backs - pushing. We traveled with the current and Lady Luck was being nice to us. We approached Jacksonville Landing near Sunset.

Wilma prepared John Henry for docking. Bow line, Forward Spring Line, Aft Spring Line, and a Stern Line all to Port. Five Fenders were arranged for Floating Docks. The skiff was brought in to Anchor/Docking Position. Wink wanted to dock Port side so the bow could be into the current. Wilma went to her station at the stern, opened the gate - Wink performed a perfect about face and gently landed the vessel along the floating dock - Wilma stepped across to the floating dock, retrieved a spring line from Wink and secured the boat to the floating dock.
Wink and Wilma deployed the Bow Line, Aft Spring Line, and repositioned the Forward Spring Line, Stern Line and finally the Skiff. Shane (a passerby) came by and assisted with the Skiff. He's been dreaming about having a trawler and hopes to do the Great Loop when he retires in 12 years. His wife, Brandy - I believe - joined him and we gave them tour of John Henry.

Wink and Wilma arrived at Jacksonville Landings about 8:40 pm just after sunset but before the light was gone.

John Henry at 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday, May 12, 2010 Jacksonville Landings, Florida.

Wink, Wilma and Sara the Sea Dog left at 7:00 a.m. and should arrive in Green Cove Springs, Florida around 10:00 this morning.

John Henry & Land Traveling

2010-05-11T10:34:00.025-04:00

During our last blog session - you will remember that we made it to Ft. Pierce, Florida.John Henry with Tender on face dock at Ft. Pierce, Florida

next to Harbor Cove Restaurant (not included in photo).

Once morning, we looked out and there were three (3) sharks cruising the inlet.

Our friends Fred and Judy from M/V Amarse were staying in Stuart (about 15 miles south of Ft. Pierce). They had already gotten their car so they offered us a ride to Sarasota to get our car. We stayed at the condo overnight - enjoyed the hot tub and the company.

Before we left Sarasota, we went to the nursing home and visited with Anna, Wink's Mom.
She seems to be much the same - mumbles and has no recognition of anyone. Her physical health continues to be okay. She doesn't walk but a few steps at a time with assistance.

We kept hearing knocks on the hull. The knocks turned out to be Jack Carvel fish chasing other fish and bumping into the hull. Wilma took lots of photos and this one was the nicest photo.

Jan and Brian from M/V Roving Seas crossed the Gulf Stream with us, but continued on to Vero Beach to hang out on a Mooring. We got together a couple of times for dinner.

These are the new officers of our boat owners club. Wilma is now the President.

Fred is the Vice President, Bettie - secretary, and Punk with dog is the Treasurer.

Of course, Sara the sea dog is also in the picture.

If you want to know more about the boat owners club

GHTA (Great Harbour Trawler Association)
www.ghtacruising.com

The GHTA meeting was held in conjunction with the Mirage Mfg Technical Seminar

put on by the Boat Builder to help owners with questions & techniques

for maintaining their vessels.

Mirage Mfg provides a low-country boil dinner after their Thursday session. Wink was really enjoying the Shrimp, Mussels, Corn, Carrots, Potatoes, and Sausages. Mmmm, Mmmm, Good.

Wilma's niece Jan, her husband Dee and their two children, Tanner and Jenna went over to the condo and stayed for a week. They also drove over to see John Henry in Ft. Pierce. They stayed overnight and we had a great time gathering shells at the beach - then making their grandmother (my sister) a necklace.

Wink and Wilma also took some time to clean out the boat and take a load of stuff over to the condo. The bedroom really looks good now. Our Master Stateroom is in the Bow. From the entrance to the Master Stateroom, the office is to Starboard (Right).

The office of the President (GHTA) that is.

Tim from Cloud X along with his wife Lena came for a weekend visit to the condo.

We went out to dinner at Javier Restaurant for dinner.

Peruvian Food - Excellent (Wilma's Favorite Special Restaurant)

Lena picked out one of Wink's jewelry pieces and asked Wink to make her earrings to match.

She also wanted a Sterling Silver Cross - Above.

We went to the Municipal Marina in Ft. Pierce to the Arts & Crafts show

The weather was very hot - there was guy dressed in a character suit.

Our friend Michael who does wire wrapping talked to Mets mascot.

Wilma held down the Jewelry Booth while Michael visited with the Mascot.

We left Ft. Pierce, FL early on Sunday, May 9th

Happy Birthday - Happy Mother's Day

to Wilma's Mom.

We soon discovered that Roberta and Steve on M/V Indemnity was not far ahead of us.

We chatted on the Radio and anchored near each other in the evening at Addison's Point.

Wink and Wilma jumped into their skiff and went over to Indemnity for a short happy hour.

The following day we traveled trough the Haulover Canal. We saw five (5) Manatee, lots of wildlife and of course a Cormorant drying it's wings.

MV John Henry at Loggerhead Club and Marina

The winds and current were against us most of the day keeping our speed even

slower than normal. We were certain that we would

not be able to reach St. Augustine or the planned anchorage before dark.

Wink and Wilma decided to pull into a marina in Daytona - Loggerhead Club and Marina.

It is a beautiful place and ran well. However, they charge LOA. Length Over All.

They have a nice hot tub and pool which we enjoyed. Caribbean Jacks Restaurant looked great, but we're dieting - so we ate on the boat.

We had a great night's sleep - left the Marina this morning at 8:20 a.m.

The winds, current and good luck have joined us today.

We're cruising fast - 10.6 mph

Location - Just north of Cresent Beach Bridge, Florida

We should arrive Green Cove Springs, FL tomorrow afternoon.

More Happenings in - Bahamas (The Abacos)

2010-05-09T15:50:00.027-04:00

In February, Man-O-War Cay sponsors a flea market and invites anyone to participate. All marketers table fees are donated to the local schools. Wink and Wilma went with Judy from MV Amarse on the Ferry to Man-O-War because the winds were blowing strong. At the flea market, we had to build a barricade to keep our wares on the table. Wink and Wilma were selling the wire-wrapped jewelry that Wink creates and Judy sold her jewelry and cigar box purses. We met our friend Sue from MV Odyssey there also. She had her jewelry and shell decorations for sale.

Sara stayed home and took care of Baby Zebra.

The dock was getting empty near the end of March. Double JJ, John Henry, and Pokey are the last Great Harbour's on Dock 4. Double JJ left shortly after this photo. Silver Queen, another Great Harbour also left the day before we left. Pokey was left all alone, but only for a day - Becki and Tim flew in and met us at Manjack Cay.

Our niece Lee Ann came for a visit the last week we were in Marsh Harbour. We went to Mermaid Reef for snorkeling. I had never notice before, but this year, they had memorial plaques where you can have your loved one's ashes buried into a reef. Wink photographed this one and I was truly surprised by the name on it. Both my cousins (David and Curt Douglas White) have passed away years ago. It's a good reminder of them.

The weather this year in the Bahamas was like the rest of North America - colder than usual.

Wink was able to only get a few lobsters before the cold set in. This little guy seems to know that he's in a "no take zone" and posed for his picture.

Lee Ann, Wilma and Wink

taken at a BBQ put on by The Silver Foxes.

On the nice weather days, we would occasionally take the dingy out to Man-O-War

and have lunch at Dock-N-Dine.

Wink played Bocce with the guys every week in Marsh Harbour.

After the majority of the boaters left for the season, three couples

decided to have a couples play off .

Above: S/V Tally Ho: Andrew and Vanessa

M/V John Henry: Wink and Wilma

Taking Photo: M/V Roving Seas: Jan and Brian

Surprise - Each Team won once.

M/V Peeples Choice: Paul and Claudia

traveled with M/V Roving Seas: Jan & Brian

and us on M/V John Henry

from Marsh Harbour to Manjack Cay when we left on April 2, 2010

Once we anchored Jim and Kathy from M/V Fennders arrived on their skiff,

their boat was docked at the Bluff House on Green Turtle Cay.

All four groups of boaters went ashore and enjoyed the walking tour to the Ocean Side Beach.

Manjack is a privately owned island, maintained well and generously allows boaters

to enjoy the island - with maintained paths, and clean beaches.

Family Beach Portrait

Wink, Wilma and Sara the Sea Dog

Our second day at Manjack, the three groups decided to go over to Green Turtle Cay

and check out Bluff House for next season. They are offering RMHYC members

a deal starting next August and we wanted to confirm our boats would

fit into their slips. Everyone enjoyed a drink at the bar/deck.

Lexi and Clarissa

from M/V Pokey caught up with us in Manjack

and cruised with us to Allans-Pensacola Cay and Grande Cay.
Wilma's in her dive suit in the background.
Wink's driving the boat.

The girls are graduating high school this May.

We had lots of fun with them.

Sara the Sea Dog and Wilma in her snorkel suit.

Wink towed Wilma behind the skiff at the end of the day.

Wilma found and caught 6 Conch (The Limit)

John Henry at Fort Pierce, FL

Harbortown Marina

THE CROSSING

At 5:00 pm - a vote was taken, M/V John Henry, M/V Pokey and M/V Roving Seas

left the bank at Grande Cay and went into the Atlantic Ocean.

M/V Peeples Choice had departed from us as we all left Manjack heading for Allan-Pensacola.

It was a night crossing - John Henry' radar decided not to function,

no worries -we're traveling with two other boaters.

Our depth sounder also stopped working - no worries - we're in deep water.

The weather was predicted with east winds - 2-4 ft waves.

We should have a nice push across the Gulf Stream.

THE REALITY: Waves were 4-6 ft. sometimes more - the skiff was surfing down waves, jerking on the boat -worrying us that it would come loose.

After line lengthening, things were better until 4:00 am.

Once line came off the skiff (good thing we tow with two lines )

We contemplated putting the line back on - Not Happening!

We decided we might loose the skiff.

Fortunately, we all slowed down to 5-1/2 knots and made

it in to Ft. Pierce at 9:00 am with the skiff in tow.

Pokey and John Henry took a dock at Harbortown Marina while Roving Seas continued 15 miles up the ICW to their destination - Vero Beach, FL.

Happenings in Bahamas

2010-05-06T19:28:00.021-04:00

Fred and Sidonia on MV Shearwater sponsored a Veggie Car Race for the Royal Marsh Harbour Yacht Club. The racers were made of all vegetables - only the axels were allowed to be wood.

A trophy was given to the winner - Trophy in center.

The RMHYC held a Arts & Crafts Exhibit. Many boaters have creative hobbies

on board their boats. This year, due to the cool winter, many boater had lots of time

to work on their hobbies. It was amazing to see the talent that floats about.

Wink displays his underwater photography and wire wrapped jewelry.

Sidonia from MV Shearwater makes Pine Needle Baskets.

She taught many RMHYC members the Art.

Four couples went out for Valentines Day.

Wink and Wilma, Fred and Sherry, Dick and Ann, and Judy and Fred.Travis & Jessica Fickett came by with a friend for dinner. They were on college break and enjoying a week on MV Spoonbill - N47 Charter Vessel

Wilma painted this Lionfish and created the display piece.

Kathy from MV LoKee creates wonderful paintings.

Judy from MV Amarse makes Jewelry and Pine Needle Baskets

Judie from MV Double JJ ties Flies for Fishing.

A view of Dock 4 with Dingy's heading out for an Adventure and

lunch at Cracker P's.

GHTA Bahamas Cruise

Great Harbour Trawler Association - Bahamas Cruise
The weather was so windy that the Cruising was not possible. The cruise was not the most important thing as we all were docked near each other.

We did however, think that a Happy Hour was important.

Photo taken on GH47 Pokey's Roof Deck.

From Left: Gene & Judy - GH37 LoQueSeA

Sue & Paul GH37 - Odyssey

Sheila & Neil - N37 Silver Queen

Lois & Karl - GH37 Puffin

Becki & Tim - GH47 Pokey

Judie & Jonathan - GH37

Wilma & Wink - GH47 John Henry

Wink and Wilma display their GH47 Mirage Shirts.

W ink and Fred help Tim move Pokey to the Boat Yard for Bottom Paint.

Wink went fishing with Steve several times. Steve is pleased with

his new boat and his catch - Queen Trigger Fish.

Our friends Chris and Sandra came for a visit and enjoyed the heated Pool.

Family Picture

Wilma (Grandma), Emma, Toni, Amber, Wink (Grandpa)

Sherry and Wilma

saying goodbye for now

Sherry and Fred leave Marsh Harbour on their SV Chippka Fire.

February - Grandchildren Visit

2010-05-06T19:05:00.013-04:00

Our grandchildren, Amber and Emma, came for a visit in February with their mom, Toni.

Amber and Emma in the Tender
Amber, Emma and Grandpa Wink

Emma, Grandma Wilma, and Amber

We went to the Hopetown Light House.

Amber and Emma climbing the stairs.
Amber at the top of Hopetown Light House.
The View from Hopetown Light House.

Emma blowing the conch horn at Sunset.

Amber enjoys Grandpa's Double Stuff Oreo's.

Wilma and Sara enjoy the Sun.

Amber and Emma enjoy a snack at the swim up Pool Bar.

Sara, Toni and Wink - Poolside

January - Marsh Harbour - Bahamas

2010-05-06T16:55:00.020-04:00

Every January the Royal Marsh Harbour Yacht Club has a Chili Cookoff. The chili is cooked only by Men - the chili comes in many flavors - really good.Chef Wink and Chef Brian

Chef's: Jim, Wink, Brian, Andrew, Karl and Paul

One of the land members has a catered party

for the yacht club memberevery January.

Wink and Wilma start the afternoon dancing.

MV John Henry goes out fishing with 22 guest.

Doug waiting for the fish to bite.

Jim caught one right after this photo.

Robert fished and Carolyn had a great time - Best Day Ever, she said.The whole gang and their catches.

Ocean Trigger Fish, Queen Trigger Fish, Heinz Grouper,

Strawberry Grouper, Snappers, Mackerel

Mary and Wilma were two of the cooks at the Fish

Fry held on the next night.

Wink and the guys played Monoply

about three times a week.

Paradise

Amber - 6th Grade

Emma - 4th Grade

Sunrise in the Boat Harbour

Abaco Beach Resort - Marsh Harbour - Bahamas

Wink and Wilma - Boaters Garden

March 2010 - Marsh Harbour - Bahamas

2010-05-06T16:10:00.019-04:00

Forgive the order. Looks like the website has changed some software rules. I'll do each month separately. I had already started with March - so it goes first.

Howdy everyone, the Royal Marsh Harbour Yacht Club had a Hoe-Down in March. We had a belt buckle contest to see which table eats first. From the left:
Fred from Amarse (center) won. Wilma and Wink sat at his table so we ate first. Yeah!

Fred and Judy from MV Amarse - Wilma and Wink from MV John Henry 2010 Hoe Down

Sue and Ray from MV Last Dance - supplied the music - Above

Jane and George from MV Time Out - those are his real whiskers - Above

Judy and Jim from MV Silver Foxes. Above

Sharon and Bob from MV CatchmeifUcan

Mary, Wink and Jan

Wink and the Indian Maidens

Gene and Judy from MV LoQueSeA - Above

Sidonia and Fred from MV Shearwater - Above

Leslie and Doug - MV Happy Clamz

They were the co-chairpersons for the Hoe Down. They did a Great Job.

Ed & Shirley - MV Tally Ho - Above

They were having a great time.

Jan and Brian from MV Roving Seas - Above

A taste of the old west.

December 2009 in the Abaco's

2010-02-06T09:16:00.029-05:00

Shortly after arriving in Marsh Harbour, Wink and Paul went out lobster hunting. They were lucky enough to get a few for dinner. Although there were a lot less lobsters this winter. A few days later, Vanessa asked Wink to help her learn how to hunt & more importantly to catch lobsters.

Wink was able to demonstrate the hunt and catch for one lobster. That's the only one that was in available for shooting. Others were too small. But since they were out, why not get a couple of fish for dinner. Wink was able to catch a large Black Grouper which was delicious.

Shade-Mor took a group over to Guana Cay to enjoy a day at Nippers either having lunch or walking their huge beach or both. The beach had almost no shells on that visit.The top picture is of a group of boaters on the fly bridge of Shade-Mor as we leave the marina for Nippers & more Fun. The middle picture is of John Henry in it's regular slip #413. The 3rd picture just above this description is Wilma and Judy washing off the sand from their feet before enjoying a nice lunch and a little dancing.

14 kt Gold Filled wrapped Red Sea Glass
Wink and Wilma will be participating in the Man-O-Way Cay flea market in February. We both took wire wrapping jewelry classes in the summer in Jacksonville, FL. Wink is creating wire wrapped works of art while Wilma is crocheting necklaces and creating earrings.

14 kt Gold Filled wrapped Ancient Sea Coral
Wink traded one of the green recliners for a bigger, softer recliner from the condo. Everyone know that Wink ONLY sits in that chair, but Sherry was caught relaxing and given a warning.
The Royal Marsh Harbour Yacht Club (RMHYC) held their annual Christmas Party. Rita wore the above mentioned and shown Red Sea Glass Pendant. Wink and Wilma had a great night.
Wink with Rita who is enjoying her new piece of jewelry that Wink made.
Wilma and Wink at Christmas Party for RMHYC at Abaco Beach Resort. Wilma enjoys her own Wink made jewelry. On Christmas Eve, Wink and Wilma held and Open House on John Henry welcoming all RMHYC members to attend and enjoy Holiday Snacks and enjoy a social atmosphere. Wilma made 20 dozen of cookies and 4 gallons of punch.
Wink, Wilma and Chris Higgs (Boat Harbour - Harbour Master).
There were people in the Pilot House (upstairs).

There were People on the Fly Bridge (top of the boat).

We even had a giant ELF drop in. Brian on Roving Seas wore his festive elf outfit.
Carl and Mike waved a Merry Christmas to All.
Tonia Van Mill and John Mitchell pose for the camera while enjoying good conversation.

Ron and Mike enjoying the treats. That Mike really gets around.

The food was fabulous at the Christmas Open house. The party was hearty and the crowd didn't want to go home. Our 1-4 pm party went until 7:30 pm. Now that's a party.....
It was just a week until New Year Eve. Our dock, Dock 4, had organized a New Years Eve party. The boaters have new picnic tables courtesy of Abaco Beach Resort. Our party was scheduled to be held at those tables but just as we started setting out the food, it starting raining. The party was moved to John Henry within minutes.

Lesley and Judy were wearing feathered hats and somehow the discussion centered on how they looked like a couple of birds. So they did their bird impressions.

Since we had 20 people planned for dinner, some of us had to eat in the Pilot House. (upstairs) The dinner was planned as a progressive dinner so each course was brought in separately. Below Wilma brings in the ham that Sue and Paul cooked.Wilma always gets comments about the Flintstones. It was pretty funny when both Fred and Fred wanted a picture with Wilma. For the record, there are at least 4 Fred's in Boat Harbour with only 1 Wilma. After Dinner we cleared the floor and made room for 3 couples to dance. Before the dancing was over, Wink and Sara took a musical Stroll.
Mary brought some horns for blowing at midnight. We decided to have a practice session so we'd be ready at Midnight. The tunes were so melodious that Sara joined in with a howl.
For Dessert, Wilma bought out a Chocolate Cake and Hiupia (Hawaiian Coconut Candy) while George and Jane brought down some Cheesecake. January 1st is Jane's birthday so we sang Happy Birthday and presented her with a crown.

Within about 15 midnight, the group moved up to the Fly Bridge. The rain had stopped and we had a beautiful Blue Moon (2nd full moon of the month). Blue Moons are rare, about every 24 months. We were able to view 4 different firework displays which were Hopetown, Sea Spray, Regattas and someplace in front of the resort. We were the loudest group in the Harbour on New Years Eve.

Wink, Wilma and Sara the sea dog wish you all the happiness, health and good tidings for a spectacular new year in 2010.

The Cursed Crossing- Break, Break, Break

2009-12-01T21:37:00.022-05:00

We spoke with our good friend Andy Allen, owner of MV seeDee. He agreed to go with us on the crossing to the Abacos. We picked him up on Thursday night, had a great dinner at a Dominican Republic restaurant in Jacksonville, FL. Christie Comrie drove our car to the condo after we left (Thank you, Christie). Tim Popp from Cloud X also helped us out with getting the car prepared for the winter storage at the condo. (Thanks Tim).

After a good night sleep, we left the dock by 6:30 a.m. and had a great cruise up the St. John's River to Jacksonville. As we passed the Navy base in Jacksonville, we enjoyed a flyby show of Navy planes.

As we approached the Intercoastal Waterway, we were able to clearly see where the salt water began and the fresh water ends.

We started seeing a little white spoke from our Starboard (Right) Engine. Wink had changed the oil and filters and felt he had overfilled the engine. After a short while, Wink decided to consult a Yanmar repair expert. The expert was concerned that the fuel injectors were having a problem and suggested we keep a watch on them. We anchored our first night north of St. Augustine. When we awoke in the morning, the batteries were lower voltage than they should have been.

As we continued on our cruise, we continued to monitor the engines and we kept a closer watch on the batteries and when we awoke on the third morning, indeed the batteries were again not where they should be. We continued on our trip with the plan to stop near Andy's home and have the engines and the batteries checked. Andy directed us to Telemar Bay Marina in Indian Harbor Beach. It's a great place and Sara really liked it because she was only 10 feet from the grass.

Wilma spent some of her time in front of the sewing machine making 10 new fender covers. These covers keep the fenders from squeaking when rubbed against the dock and boat. They also look a lot better and keep the boat nice and clean.

Wink dived on the boat to check out the shaft seals and discovered that one of the zincs was loose and pretty well used up. He replaced the zinc with a new one.

After the Marine Pro expert came and looked over the engines, it was decided that we did need to have all eight fuel injectors cleaned and reworked. We also determined that our house bank of batteries needed to be replaced. The picture below shows the batteries removed and the area cleaned and ready for new batteries.We decided to also have our battery for the generator replaced as well. Thirteen batteries total. We were going to be taking a break from the crossing because the repairs would take two weeks. Andy was near his home now and his window of opportunity to cross had closed. We rented a car for the week and did some errands. Our coffee pot even decided to break. We have a spare purculator on board, but if we used it we wouldn't have a spare so we just bought another one.

Wilma called her family to let them know that we would not be crossing for another two weeks. Wilma's family decided to have an early Thanksgiving with all of her siblings coming in from various locations for a family reunion. Wilma's parents are on the loveseat above. They have been married for over 63 years. Their children from left: Billy, Betty, Timmy, Geraldine, Mickey, Wilma and Hardy. Wilma's family also had a celebration of their fathers 84th birthday.

Once Wilma returned, we decided to get underway on Tuesday, November 25th so Wilma rode her new bicycle to Publix for fresh vegetable and milk. We left early at 6:30 a.m. and cruised to Ft. Pierce, FL. We arrived at the Ft. Pierce inlet around 1:00 p.m. and kept going as we knew this was our only chance as the weather was due to deteriorate in the evening.

The crossing went well with 3-4 ft swells. Wink had driven during the morning until we got to the ICW and into the ocean for a couple of hours then Wilma took over and drove until about 9:00 p.m. We reached the Little Bahama Bank about 10:00 p.m.

Our intention was to anchor anywhere on the bank and get some rest, but the winds and waves were too rough to anchor. We had to keep going. We drove as if in the ocean, radar was on, the chart was plotted, the navigation screens covered to keep out the light. We checked the radar, the navigation, and checked for lights in the dark night every few minutes. Wink and Wilma both took turns and tried to rest some in between. We set our course and speed to arrive at Great Sale Cay (a good anchorage) about daylight Wednesday. We were so happy to finally see day light and have a chance to rest. We anchored on the west side of Great Sale Cay for protection from the east winds. We attempted to turn on the generator to cool the boat down for better sleeping - keyword "attempted". After a short time diagnosing the problem, we decided it couldn't be repaired quickly so we pulled up anchor and headed to Spanish Cay. In route to Spanish, we decided to dump our holding tank. Guess What? You got it, the macerator wouldn't work. Just one more thing to repair at Spanish Cay.

We arrived at Spanish Cay and cleared customs 32 hours after we left our dock on Tuesday morning. By now we were so wired by the coffee and the excitement of actually arriving that we couldn't sleep. Wink was able to replace the impeller on the generator and luckily we had bought a spare macerateor so he changed that out also. The rain came about 5:00 p.m. and continued all night. Thank you, God for washing the boat down for us. Finally around 11:00 p.m. we enjoyed a nice, relaxing sleep.

Spanish Cay put a nice Thanksgiving Dinner together for about 9 boaters. It was very nice to meet some new people and have a great dinner and to give thanks for a safe - yet long crossing to the Abacos. On Friday, we decided to go lobster hunting. We prepared the skiff and when we tried to start it, it wouldn't work (what else is new?) After examination, Wink discovered that the cable to the motor from the shifter was broken into. This must have happen on the transient as the skiff was working fine in Florida. This repair will have to wait until we get to Marsh Harbour. On Saturday Wink needed a little more light in the Saloon, but the light switch wouldn't work - luckily this only took a few minutes to repair. We stayed at Spanish Cay for several days and then headed south on a calm day to make the Whale Cay crossing. As we approached Green Turtle Cay, we passed Ken Fickett (Builder of our boat). He was the Captain for a charter group on Spoonbill. The water was so clear and we had dolphins under our bow twice on the course to Marsh Harbour. A special thanks to David from Tar Heel for coming out to take our Skiff into Boat Harbour so we could back into our slip. He also brought Fred from Chippka Fire III (thank you Fred) to help out with the lines since Wilma is steal healing from her dual arm surgeries.

All our friends at Boat Harbour were there to greet us and catch our lines and once more we were home. After a day, a night, and a happy hour, it seems as if we never left........

Getting Ready to Go to Abaco, Bahamas

2009-12-01T20:52:00.008-05:00

John Henry was pulled for a new paint bottom job and the running gear cleaned by Holland Marine. While on the hard, Wink and Wilma did a lot of cleaning. All the portholes had their screens removed, cleaned and replaced along with the stainless ports polished. The rub rail was cleaned and treated with F21 cleaner and protectorant. The alleyways were cleaned and all their trim work painted inside the hatch covers. All the teak and holly floors were cleaned and oiled.

We also went to Sarasota to deal with a few medical appointments. While we were there, Wink’s cousin Rudy came for a visit.
This is the view from our Pent House Condo. Upon closer inspection, you will see that the kayak is being paddled by Wink. Wink also has started a new hobby of making jewelry.
Above: Some of the pendants that Wink has created.

October - Returning South - Part 2

2009-11-12T17:43:00.012-05:00

As we headed south, we stopped and visited our friends Jan and Vinny Gaglioni, owners of Crystal Bee Supply, Peabody, MA. We use to keep Honey Bees in our early days. Jan and Vinny were our teachers and mentors when we first started the Hobby.

Heading south, we decided to go back to Ogdensburg, NJ for another visit to Sterling Hill Mining Museum. Due to the power outage on our first visit, we weren’t able to take the tour of the mine or see the mineral museum. We took lots of great pictures and here is a little sampling of what you can see – we do recommend you go if you’re in the area.

The Oreck Family (Vacuum cleaner Oreck’s) has a mineral exhibit in the museum that’s amazingly cool and extremely large. It’s the best exhibit that we’ve ever seen. (Above)
The Sterling Hill Mine is famous for the flourescent minerals show above. Sterling Hill and the Franklin Mines are now both educational based museums and the the main sources for flouresecent mineral mines in the USA . The mine is extremely deep (I think it is about 8 levels deep), but since it’s not a working mine, the mine has filled with water to within 50 feet below the main level. The water is extremely clear and the flooded passages can be seen clearly for a long way down. It’s strange to see a row boat tied on the second level (especially in a tunnel). After we left New Jersey, we went west to New York City. Yes, we have friends everywhere. Fred and Sherry Sztul invited us over for a couple of night to visit. Fred and Sherry are fellow RMHYC members and they dock their boat near us in Marsh Harbour, Bahamas. They treated us like royalty. We had a huge lunch the day we arrived and then we all went out to China Town for dinner and then over to Little Italy for dessert. The next day we went to Boynton Beach for Russian lunch to be followed by dinner cooked by Sherry. Everything was great and we look forward to seeing them in Marsh Harbour. As we headed south again, we remembered the great time we had at Cotton Patch Gold Mine so we stopped for another visit with our niece Lee Ann and of course, she was very interested in going back to mine with us. Another great day – and highly recommended good fun.
Returning to Green Cove Springs, FL in time for a Jacksonville Gem & Minerals Club Picnic and Tailgate Swap. Wilma and Dianna know the true meaning of Tailgate Party.

September - Road Trip North Part 1

2009-11-12T14:37:00.018-05:00

In early September, Wink, Wilma and Sara the Boat Dog took a road trip north. Our first stop was Charlotte, NC where we visited with our good friend Nancy Burns. Nancy use to be Wink’s Assistant when we lived in Hernando, Mississippi and they both worked for Arkwright Mutual Insurance. Sara the boat dog enjoyed the green luscious grass on her small lake.

After saying farewell to Nancy, we went to our niece Lee Ann’s home for a few days. Lee Ann went with us the Cotton Patch Gold Mine east of Charlotte and we had a great day panning for Gold.

After leaving Charlotte, we traveled west into the Appalachian Mountains to hunt for Garnet, Rubies, and Sapphires. We accomplished our finds by digging piles of dirt and then sluicing the dirt leaving only the good stuff. We found a few gems that look interesting, but their quality cannot be confirms at this time.

From North Carolina, we traveled north to Ogdensburg, NJ to visit the Sterling Hill Mining Museum. We arrived on Wilma’s birthday, September 11th. The day was cold and rainy, but our silver lining was that we had the place all to ourselves. As we were working outside collecting rocks from the mining piles we would go inside to view them in a dark room since we were looking for fluorescent minerals. Due to the rain, the power transformer exploded so we didn’t have electric power to view our finds. Not to worry, those guys had battery operated equipment that we could use. The colors were incredible and the experience is unforgettable. Hey Girls, I asked for a big rock for my birthday and got about 150 lbs. worth. (Check out October’s Blog for more NJ pictures).
When we arrived in Derry, New Hampshire to visit the grandchildren, they had a cake and presents ready for a party.

Wilma traveled down to Massachusetts to visit with previous co-workers. In Waltham, she met up with Elaine Schoener (they use to work together at Arkwright Mutual Insurance Company). Wilma also met up with Christine and Jim Grinnell. (Wilma and Chris use to work together at Belmont Animal Hospital). Wilma also caught up with Therese and John McGuire but didn’t get a photo – sorry guys.

It was Apple picking time in New Hampshire, so we picked bushel of great tasting apples. We made Apple Crumb Pie, Apple Crisp, Apple Brownies, and more Apple Crumb Pies not to mention eating Apples.

Wink designed and built our grandchildren a new bed-bookshelf-desk combination where each child has their own desk and bookshelves on each side of the bed. Amber demonstrates her side of the bed. She calls her desk area her office, while Emma calls her area “the Fort”. Toni wasn’t left out; Wink designed and built her a desk to accommodate her needs for completing her college studies. Wilma was able to get the girls furniture painted, but was unable to get Toni’s painted.
Since we were in New Hampshire for early October, we decided to take a little trip into the White Mountains to enjoy the foliage. Toni’s father has a cabin up there and we were able to stay a couple of days touring and enjoying the colors. Wilma and Emma enjoy a Pajama night in the White Mountains. While site seeing, Wilma, Toni and Amber enjoyed an art festival; and Wink found an interesting Train Museum. The colors were brilliant and beautiful, but alas the cold weather told us to head south.

August - Green Cove Activities

2009-11-12T10:29:00.013-05:00

Wilma spent the first week back from Texas cleaning the left over dregs from the Blind Mosquitoes infestation that started in June and lasted until after we left for Texas. Luckily, our friend Tim from Cloud X, hosed off the boat once the mosquitoes left the area.

Wink and Wilma took Country Western dance lessons for the Two Step as well as learning a few advanced moves we hope to show off at the Western Dance in Marsh Harbour in March. We also joined the Jacksonville Gem and Mineral Club. The club sponsors activities every week for Rock Hounding, Rock Swaps, Club Picnics and lots of Jewelry making classes. We enjoyed attending a series of fine metals wire wrapping classes.

Several Royal March Harbour Yacht Club members were docked in Brunswick, Georgia so we made several trips to the Marina to see Sue and Paul Graham and other RMHYC members. Sara the Boat Dog (her knew name as it was pointed out to us that she really doesn't like the sea) really likes Sue's new sofas pillows. Robert Wilson and Dave Bluto enjoy the evening.

We took John Henry out for a shake-down as well as to have a bit of fun in the middle of the month. We invited some of the neighboring boaters to join us. From right to left, Tim from Cloud X along with Frank and Frank, Jr. from the end of the dock. We anchored John Henry and took a swim.
As you may remember, John Henry sports a 6’ bathtub. Last year, we had the bathtub modified for easier drainage – unfortunately, it was not a good idea. Wink spent about three days redoing the Fiberglass to get it back to the way it was. We’re much happier with the original design.

Wink and Wilma cleaned out alleyways, drawers, and clutter though-out the boat. We took a car load of stuff out of the boat and stored it at our condo which is still FOR SALE in Sarasota. Wink and Wilma also had their annual medical appointments. We’re both in great health. – Yeah.

We stopped in to check on Wink’s mom. She is about the same – we believe she is well cared for in the Alzheimer’s Unit and seems happy.

We also made a trip to Live Oak, FL to see Wink’s Aunt Ella Mae who was having her 94th birthday. She says, “Getting old aint for sissies”.

July 2009 - Car Trip Southeast USA

2009-11-08T14:57:00.021-05:00

During the last week of June, Sara and Wilma went to Dallas by car. Wink took a flight to New Hampshire to spend a few days with the grandchildren (Amber and Emma). Wilma stopped by Yazoo City, MS to visit with family before heading on to Dallas. After several days, Wink and the girls flew to Dallas where Wilma met them at the airport. Wilma’s son, William lives in Dallas and enjoys time with us and his children every summer.

William enjoys Steam Punk, a new attire and music fad. He works with models and participates in coordinating photo shoots.

He also designs and creates accessories such as jewelry, goggles, angel wings and other interesting creations. Search Steamline Gear to see some of his work. Wilma models a new creation.
Sara fell in love with William’s couch cushion.

We also went to Keller, TX to visit with Wilma’s brother Charles Timmy who took the girls horseback riding. His ranch/boarding facility is doing well.

We also went to Ladonia, TX to hunt for Fossils in Pete Patterson Fossil Park. It’s a dry river bed called the North Sulphur River Fossil Haven. Wink and Wilma did find many fossils while Amber and Emma found tadpoles. The temperature was 103 degrees. We drank lots of water and took lots of breaks. It’s too hot for the summer.

Our friends Kevin and Lisa invited us over for a swim and dinner. The girls enjoyed laying out to dry before dinner.

We also traveled to Arkansas to visit Wilma’s sister, Betty and family. Betty’s grandson Jax was excited to see Amber and Emma. Then we went down to Yazoo City, MS to see Wilma’s parents and family. On the way, we rescued a water turtle and relocated it to a safe water environment. We also went to Vicksburg, MS to tour the Civil War National Memorial Park. The statues and memorials were amazing.

Upon returning to Dallas, we went to the Museum of Natural History and the girls really liked the Mammoth at the entrance as well as seeing the many gems, minerals and fossils. We also went to the local swimming pool to cool off. After three weeks, Wilma helped the girls get their hair neat and to make a few faces for the camera before catching their plane back New Hampshire with Wink.

Sara and Wilma drove back to Green Cove Springs, FL where John Henry sits for the summer. Wilma stopped in Yazoo City, MS one more time to visit with her aging parents.
Emma in the front yard and Amber in the side yard of their home saying goodbye to Grandpa as he leaves for the airport. Wilma picked up Wink at the Jacksonville airport as the month of July came to a close.

Where Has Two Months Gone?

2009-06-24T17:08:00.019-04:00

Two months ago - the last week of May - we were traveling north in the ICW. We stopped and enjoyed Cocoa Village - anchoring out just northeast of the Bridge.

We were traveling with Pat and Pat from Salty Dawg. Pat and Wilma enjoyed shopping in the village. Wilma bought a new straw hat.

Wink, Wilma and Ms. Pat posing in Cocoa Village for Mr. Pat. Our travels took 5 days from Ft. Pierce to Green Cove Springs, FL.

John Henry docked on Pier 2 across from Cloud X. It's great to be back at Reynolds Park Marina in Green Cove Springs, FL. We'll stay here for hurricane season. The Pat's will be staying a month in the Jacksonville area. They had a car stored there, so they drove us to Sarasota, FL to get our car and stayed a few days in the condo.

Wink, Wilma, Pat and Pat began to work on a small business venture. We donned our business outfits and hit the road. After several frustrating weeks & medicals problems - the venture is placed on hold.

However, Wink did get some photo enhancing software and decided to try it out. If only getting fit was so easy - Wilma thinks.

Patrick (the worker) and Wink (the supervisor) work on re-organizing the vent line to the holding tank, changed all of the duck bill values for each of the three vacu-flush units, worked on the windlass, and installed a new intake vent for the master stateroom a/c unit.

Wilma also helped with each of the projects - cleaning the alley ways and reorganizing stores. This photo also serves as a before photo because Wilma decided to cut her hair.

Wilma does like it, but looks forward to it growing out a little bit.

We had a short visit from Neil Ingram and Jerry Ohlman. They stopped by to say hi before moving Shalala to Brunswick, GA.

We went out touring the St. Johns River tributaries one Sunday with Christy and George Comrie in their large Carolina Skiff. What a peaceful afternoon.

Wilma invited crews of Christina Seas and Esmarelda over for Happy Hour after the skiff exploration afternoon. Wilma shows off her jewelry that she learned to make in the Bahamas and ended up selling 6 necklace/bracelet's.

On one of our trips to Sarasota, FL - we discovered that the high school that Wink attended had been rebuilt and the school was holding a social to come see the old school before it was torn down. The school is 50 years old. Wink graduated 40 years ago. His cousin, Linda (on left) was in the first graduating class. The school is Riverview High School.

Wink graduated Riverview High School in Sarasota, FL in 1969. He could not afford his high school senior yearbook. The school did have several yearbooks from years past on display. Wilma couldn't help but take a picture of Wink's senior glory.

Wink Thornton, 1969 - Riverview High School, Sarasota, FL - Senior Year

Destruction of the old Riverview School - 2009

Cape Cod Light - sister ship Cape May Light left port in early June headed to dry dock. (Read the club blog: www.ghtacruising.com )

Cape May Light returns after dry dock with a new name: Sea Voyager

See club website - blog for more details. www.ghtacruising.com

Wink, Wilma and Sara the sea dog went to Sarasota last week for medical test and appts. Wink is now on new meds for his RA which will hopefully help with moving around better. The dentist was happy to see him also.

Wilma has a clear bill of health. Sara unfortunately, slipped jumping off the bed onto the tile floors and hurt two disc in her back. She's on bed rest for two weeks.

We returned to the boat on Monday - June 22nd. Apparently while we were away, the Blind Mosquito's decided to raid the boat. There were million, may billions of them dead all around the boat. Wink started to hose down the cockpit, because for a while this is Sara's new poop deck.

The bugs ran green goo - oouuuh. It was all over the boat. After 5 minutes, Wink had itchy swollen hands - he's allergic. Wilma took over the spraying. It took two hours to hose off the boat. The bugs flew from one side of the boat to the other as Wilma hosed the dead bugs off.

On Tuesday, Wilma washed the entire boat top to bottom. It took 8 hours. On Wednesday morning, Wilma again got up and hosed the boat for about an hour and then repeating the process throughout the day. The boat isn't clean anymore, but just keeping the bugs hosed seems to keep the green goo from building up. These bug problems happen in burst and there hasn't been a bad one like this for two years.

Blind Mosquito's oozing green goo - about three days of bugs we're told.

Manjack Cay, Abaco to Ft Pierce, FL

2009-05-17T14:49:00.028-04:00

As our last posting stated, we left Boat Harbour in Marsh Harbour, Abaco, Bahamas on Thursday, April 10th, 2009.

We crossed through the Whale Cay cut without any problems. We traveled with our good friends Pat & Pat Dwyer on Salty Dawg.

After our brief stay anchored at Manjack Cay and no additional Internet available - our spare time was spent enjoying our hobbies. Wilma worked on jewelry making and painting. Wink enjoyed his computer game.

Lionfish painted with acrylics - still working on this project. Wilma painted a Junkanoo bean with a picture of our boat John Henry. Wilma also learned how to crochet necklaces at Boat Harbour. The best part is that Wink and Wilma collected the shells themselves for these necklaces and matching earrings.

We've enjoyed walking the beaches and collecting lots of shells, fans, driftwood and sea glass. Of course, all these had to be cleaned - another part-time job. Wink also took lots of underwater photos.

Sara Sota the sea dog adapted well to living on board John Henry full time. She has a favorite area for doing her business and she always is a lady about it.

On Allan-Pensacola Cay, Pat, Pat, Wilma and Wink explore the beaches and the abandon ruins of a old radar station. On this cay we found a great hanging tree of ornaments left by other travelers and explorers.

Mr. Pat found a couple of buoys on the beach and had a great idea of putting our names on them and then placing them on the hanging tree.

He painted them and on our last morning in Allans-Pensicola Cay, we had a hanging party.

Wilma and Wink on our 2008 Mirage Skiff with our John Henry Buoy for the Allans-Pensicola Cay Hanging Tree.

A group photo of the explorers and their buoys. Wilma, Wink and the Pats.

Wink and Wilma pose under the John Henry & Salty Dawg buoys.

Mr. Pat climbed the tree, did all the work and should receive all the credit for the fun. We all had lots of fun.

Pat and Pat's turn under the buoys. Enjoying the day before head north to Double Breasted Cay.

Double Breasted Cay has a large sandbar area where we found a conch.
The water here is emerald green with the sky a royal blue while fluffy white clouds dance across. Wilma would like to paint like this.

Wilma on the bow of the skiff and Wink driving - we spent the day diving, and exploring.With Grand Cay only a couple of miles away, we skiffed over and had a look around.

We bought fresh bread at one of the local bakeries. We walked the entire town, bought souvenirs and had lunch in a one table cafe in less than two hours. This is an extremely friendly small town.

The winds changed so we moved from Double Breasted Cay on the south side of Grand Cay to the north side of Grand Cay. We tried to explore Walkers Cay but due to hurricane damage, the cay was off limits.

The weather on the ocean side was calm so we went diving and beach combing.

Wilma photographed from the surface while Wink dived the 15-20 feet hunting fish.

He caught a grouper and a mutton snapper. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner that evening.

We are thankful that Wink is a strong and steady swimmer.

As Wink was swimming back to the skiff to put the first fish in the boat, the skiff was missing. With fish in hand, he swam faster as the skiff was drifting quickly into the ocean. Wilma couldn't keep up and had to stop and wait. Another few minutes and we would not have been able to retrieve the skiff by swimming. (Luckily the Pat's were with us and could have taken us out by boat to retrieve the skiff). At first, we thought the anchor had dragged, but as it turns out, the anchor line loosen and slipped away from the boat. The anchor was still firmly on the bottom.

This was truly one of the scariest moments in our lives while living on the boat. Now we double check the anchor line - maybe even triple check.

WE were looking for a weather window to return to the USA. The winds were about 20-25 mph for days. We checked the weather on WeatherWorks for a Gulf Stream crossing. There was a possible weather window on Thursday, April 22nd. On Wednesday, the weather window seemed to have closed. So Thursday about 8:00 a.m. we were preparing to go ashore with Sara when we checked in with Salty Dawg. They had just received an update and the day was perfect to cross. We agreed and within 30 minutes both boats had aweighed anchor and we started making our way across the sea of Abaco from Grand Cay towards the Gulf Stream

About noon, we received a call from Salty Dawg, they were having a problem and needed to stop for a short time. Wilma decided that water was too beautiful to pass up the opportunity of fishing. Within 15 minutes, Wilma had caught 5 small fish for dinner. Salty Dawg called and said they had made their repair so away we went.

We left the Sea of Abaco about 4:00 pm and traveled through the evening crossing the Gulf Stream with no incidents. The water was beautiful, the sunset wonderful and all was good.

With Wilma on the bow of the boat using her night vision, and Wink in the pilot house utilizing electronic charts, we made our way into the Ft. Pierce Inlet about 12:30 pm and anchored south of the ICW bridge in front of the condo's on the west side.

Salty Dawg on the bank in the sea of Abaco.
John Henry in the sea of Abaco.

The Gulf Stream as we crossed back to Ft. Pierce, FL.

When we awoke on Friday morning late - the Pat's moved to the city marina for repairs while we stayed in the anchorage. When we anchored at 1:00 a.m. there were many boats in the anchorage. There were so many boats and so little light, that Wink and Wilma went into the shallow water to set the hook as we were exhausted. It was dead low tide and we had less than a foot under the boat, but that was enough. However, after we set the hook, the wind changed a little and we ended up on the bottom. It wasn't a firm hard aground, only a soft hard aground. With a rising tide, we were floating free within a few minutes. So early in the morning during high tide, we moved our location to a deeper spot as many of the boats had left.

Later in the day, it was old home days in Marsh Harbour. Puffin, LoQueSeA and Tally Ho trawler made their way to the anchorage. They had arrived the day before also entering at Lake Worth.

On Saturday, we went to the city marina to visit the Pat's and also visited with Indemity and Terralee who were in the same marina. We also spoke with Tim of Pokey. He said Pokey was at a Harbortown Marina while they were at home. We also learned that Jim on Christine was in Harbortown also. He had sold his boat and was spending time with the new owners getting ready for them to take possession.

On Sunday, Our Time and Silver Foxes came by and hailed us on the VHF to say hi as they continued up the ICW toward Cocoa Village. We left Ft. Pierce on Monday morning and anchored north of the bridge at Cocoa Village.

Getting Ready to Leave Bahamas

2009-04-11T09:45:00.019-04:00

It's the beginning of April and it's time to start packing up all our treasures and putting them away for the voyage back to the USA in the middle of the month.

Wink and Wilma have collected lots more sea shells than shown here. But here are some of the largest collected. Conch is also a island local food attraction. We find the conch out in the Sea of Abaco and place it in a zip lock bag and freeze it. Then we thaw the conch for a few hours, take a pair of plyers and remove the creature from inside. Wink cleans the creature and we usually give it to Sue Graham who makes us all fantastic conch fritters. Wilma then soaks the conch shell in bleach water for a couple of days at which time she cleans it with a small toothbrush.
Our friend Bettie on Tar Heel made spectatular artwork on giant junkanoo beans. She was going to help Wilma paint her own bean, but alas time ran out. After several repainting of the John Henry - Wilma finally began to get the idea. Also above the John Henry bean is the beginning of a Pine Cone Basket that Sidonia on Double Trouble starting teaching Wilma. Wilma plans to work on the basket during the cruising time to the USA

Vanessa on Tally Ho saw my John Henry bean and really wanted one so she came over with a picture and we created it together. She painted the bean brown and Wilma did the artwork. Wilma has several other art projects that shed didn't complete. Wilma ran out of fabric paint and will wait until the USA to get more. Those projects will be displayed later. The projects include a self expression art work on an Apron from the Art Teacher (Tonia) in Abaco and a Lion Fish throwdown which needs more work.

Man-O-War Cay had their first ever Heritage Day (Sojer Day) is their name. Wink and Wilma went over to the island by ferry along with about 8 other RMHYC members. Wilma got a T-Shirt for future memories.

This baseball field is right on the ocean. The above picture of Wilma was taken just below on the beach. These island are a great place to raise families. Everything here seems so safe.

There were several small booth exhibits of local art and treasures to be purchased at the event.

The next few slides are of wonderful flowers that Wink enjoyed taking pictures of and we hope you enjoy them as well. We don't know the names of many of these plants.

Sue Graham has a GH37 Trawler and had left Abaco Beach Resort on April 1 tomoved their boat to Man-O-War where they will stay until at least June (or if her refrigerator breaks). The refrigerator is making a noise occasionally. Here, Wilma and Sue pose for a last goodbye until we meet again in the USA.

This is an Allamanda Plant. Wilma had never seen a pink one and thought that they only came in Yellow. Growing side by side were Yellow and Pink.

It's wonderful living where the coconuts are usually free for the picking up off the ground. We had lots of wonder fresh coconut this year.

The day after the Sojer Day at Man-O-War, our friends Bob and Judy on Shade-Mor invited 39 of their closest friends to go on a short trip over to Nippers on Guana Cay. As we left at 11:00 a.m. Wink took this very nice photo of John Henry sitting very lonely at the end of the dock.

Wilma stands on the dock in front of Shade-Mor in Guana.

After our visit to Nippers, we stopped by Grabbers and had a visit with a few dogs. My most favorite boy in Abaco is Sebastian. He's really beginning to like dogs. He likes small dogs.

He likes big dogs. Especially if they are calm and submissive getting affection. (Ceasar Milan's plan on The Dog Whisperer).

His birthday is tomorrow and I didn't get a chance to say goodbye because he was in Florida when I left. Happy Birthday Sebastian. But his most favorite dog in the world is::::::::

Sara the sea dog...........He loves her best and she loves him too.

On Monday, we went diving and went took some spectatular underwater pictures. Wilma was going to put a couple in, but time is running out for this anchorage. Wink's pictures are so good that Wilma is going to do an entire posting of underwater shots - Wink's Waterworld - look for it at our blog in the future.

On Tuesday, Wink and Wilma got out the Hooka system (compressed air by compressor on the surface) doned their dive gear and set out to clean the bottom of the boat. Our friends Andrew and Dick kept and eye on us and the machine for safety. It took us about 2 hours to clean the bottom of John Henry and get him ready for cruising. Wink then went down to Andrews boat bottom and spiffed it up as a thank you for watching us.

On Wednesday, our friends Pat & Pat on Salty Dawg called us on VHF and said they needed to leave the islands and head home. They had a generator problem and couldn't continue cruising without one. Wink offered them our spare generator - Honda 2000. They were amazed that we had one and accepted graciously so they could stay in the Bahamas longer.

We were planning to leave Marsh Harbour on Sunday (Easter), but then changed to Saturday for better weather, then Friday because Pat & Pat really need to get moving, but.......

on Thursday, we woke up and the weather was beautiful - very beautiful. In fact it was so beautiful that we couldn't miss this opportunity to get out of our slip with no wind, glass like water and wonderful sunshine. So we left Marsh Harbour on Thursday, April 9th about Noon. Andrew on Tally Ho sent us this picture via email.

It was a quick get away and we decided it was so wonderful that we went into the Atlantic Ocean just north of Man-O-War Cay and had less than 1 foot swells. Wilma fished and fished, but no fish were hungry. We re-enter the Abaco bank at Whale Cay (a very dangerous area if it's bad weather). We anchored about 4:40 pm at Manjack Cay. Our friends Kathy and Milt on LO KEE were already there so we skiffed over and had a soda with them.

After leaving LO KEE, we stopped by Salty Dawg as they had invited us to dinner. It was fabulous, steaks on the grill, bean salad, sweet potatoes and white potatoes on the grill. A lovely evening.

On Saturday, we (Salty Dawg and John Henry) dones our skiffs and went beach combing. The weather was still nice so we drove our skiffs into the Atlantic Ocean side of Manjack Cay and enjoyed the amazing day. Later we drove our skiffs to Green Turtle Cay to fill our skiff up with gasoline. This is the only thing we forgot to do with our hasty departure.

One of the marinas in Green Turtle had purchased gas a long while back when it was expensive and was still charging the expensive rate of $6.18 gallon. We said no thanks - we could get gas later. Just for curiousity, we went across to the other marina and did buy gasoline there for $3.82 a gallon (it was in the same area) crazy!!!!!

Gotta go for now. We're moving away from internet until we get to USA. We're also going to check out Allen's-Pensacola Cay (should be very secluded).

Getting Ready to Leave Bahamas

2009-04-11T09:45:00.000-04:00

Lee & Crystal Visit plus Mermaid Reef Trip

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Our niece Lee and her high school friend, Crystal came for a visit. When they arrived, our dock was having a happy hour. Somebody was having a birthday and we all decided to have a party. Lee and Crystal quickly put their luggage on board John Henry and joined the party.
From Left: Our friend Rita, Wilma, (sporting her shell necklace and matching ear rings.) Lee and Crystal. There were lots of fine jewelry being made this year on the docks. Wilma learned how to make crocheted shell necklaces and to make Sea Glass Jewelry.Their second day was our best outdoor water day. We took the girls out snorkeling and while we were out, Wink picked up some dinner. We came home with 9 lobsters. Lee and Crystal were very excited.

Wilma and the girls went to Hope Town during their visit. Here Crystal and Lee pose in front of the Hope Town light house.

This is Lizard Lodge were a very famous group of Curly Tail Lizards live. The day was so cold that the lizards were not available for photographs. We did see a couple of lizards later, but they were not in a posing mood.

Hope Town has one small road that leads to nowhere. It ends at the waterfront with a love seat (shown in the back of picture). Wilma and Lee pose on water's edge.

Crystal decides to have her picture taken from the Love Seat - just relaxing away.
After our trip to Hope Town, Lee and Crystal sort through many shells and sea glass for souvenirs to take back home. Lee had noticed that Sea Glass jewelry wasn't cheap in Hope Town. As I had collected lots of sea glass, Lee and Crystal were thrilled to learn how to make the Sea Glass Jewelry.

From Left: (White Shirt) Judy, Lee Crystal, Wilma (Green Shirt - Haldine Baxter and her granddaughter - orange with her granddaughters friend - black). I'm very sorry, but I have forgotten both of the girls names. If Haldine sees this and sends me their names, I'll edit this posting and include them.

My very good friend, Judy Law from Amarse (white shirt) teaches the girls how to make sea glass jewelry and help make shell necklaces.

Judy and Fred (Amarse) have to say goodbye. They left the same day as my niece Lee and her friend Crystal.

A pincushion starfish. They come in many colors and sizes. Wilma lead a Royal Marsh Harbour Yacht Club outing to Mermaid Reef which is about 1 mile by land from Abaco Beach Resort. It is a protected reef and a no take zone.

Karla from S/V Isla Rika was the brightest of all the swimmers (humans that is).

Parrot Fish in center and Blue Tang below with Yellow Tail Snapper at the top.

A very happy Parrot Fish comes for a look at the camera.

From Right: Vanessa (Tally Ho - Sailboat), Jim (Silver Foxes), Karla (Isla Rika), Wilma (John Henry), Ed (Harbour Reach), Diane (Lady Di), Ellen (Double SS), Tall Guy in the back with hat on is Ed (Tally Ho - Trawler) - Left (Green Shirt - Haldine (Darlin) and her two guest.

Pirates Party - March 2009

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Sara the sea dog enjoys dinner in her chair as she prepares to stay home alone for the night.
It's Pirate Party Time........

Wink and Wilma donned their Pirate Outfits and enjoyed a Pirates Ball on March 10th.

The fun was enjoyed by all ages from babies to little kids to big kids. Wink posing with some of the powder monkeys.

Our friend Vanessa poses with the Powder Monkeys who seem to be the highlight of the party.

Dave Bluto had an amazing transformation. He was mild mannered in the afternoon and quiet gruff in the evening. Watch that 5:00 shadow.

Rita and Robert were the happiest Pirates out in the evening.

While Vanessa and Andrew were the scariest couple on the floor or maybe Andrew just realized that he was married to a Ghost.

William, Amber, Emma & Toni Visit

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Wilma's son, William arrived on Thursday, February 19th. Amber, Emma and Toni arrived on Friday evening.
Saturday, February 21st is William's Birthday so we had a big party on the dock at Happy Hour.

Emma and Amber enjoy some Angel Food Cake with fresh Strawberries and whip cream. The girls enjoyed spending the day with their dad on his Birthday.

On Sunday, we rented a car and drove to Crossing Rock Beach - Wink taking the picture and from the right: Toni, Emma, Wilma(Grandma), William and Amber.

After stopping at Crossing Rock, we stopped by Cassarina Beach where we enjoyed the large beach. From right: Amber, Wilma(Grandma), Emma , Bill and Sara the sea dog. The brown dog on the left lives nearby and enjoys walks in the water.

The weather was not the nicest for enjoying the Abaco Bank, so Wilma (above) and the grandchildren (below) enjoyed the pool. Emma in the back and Amber in the front.

We had one reasonably nice day to enjoy the water on the Bank of Abaco. Below is a group picture with Grandpa (Wink). Stopping by Salty Dawg to visit with Mr. & Ms. Pat, Toni, Emma, Amber and Wink.

Emma and Grandma enjoy a snorkel with matching yellow mask. Grandpa takes a picture under the water.

Amber waves to Grandpa in the distance as she enjoys the water.

Sara, the sea dog enjoys the attention of having all the family on board.

Emma is giving Grandma some physical therapy on her legs. Wilma's watercolor of a blue bottle sits in the background.

Dock 3 had a nice happy hour while the family was visiting.

Mirage-Mfg owner Ken Fickett flew in on Wednesday to get the Charters arranged for their two Great Harbours. N37 - Semper Fi and N47 - Spoonbill are available for charter in the Abaco until June or July 2009. For more details please google - www.mirage-mfg.com

Wilma and Ken at the Jib Room in Marsh Harbour. The kids stayed home while Wink and Wilma went out with the builder.

Our neighbor and great friends Sherry & Fred (Chipka Fire III) left for destinations in the states. We will miss them dearly, but will see them again, I'm sure.

From right: Buck, Haldine, Wilma, Sadonia & Fred.

Also Fred and Sadonia (Double Trouble) left and returned to the states. All is well and we hope to them again next year.

The day the children went home, we had a great full moon and Wink was able to capture it's beauty.

To celebrate Sunset and the Full Moon, Wilma and Sue blow conch horns that tell the world we've had another good day. Beautiful Sunset.

Andy & Annie Visit

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Before I start, let me suggest to anyone truly interested in our life in the Bahamas to also connect to any of the blog links to the right of this posting. Our friends Andrew and Vanessa on Tally Ho (the sailboat) have a fabulous map/chart of the Abaco's where we are staying on their blog. Another set of friends, Pat and Ray on Reflections have a great day to day commentary of our lives in the Abaco's. Our good friends Judy & Fred on Amarse and Sue & Paul G. of Odyssey have great photo's and commentary on the fun events that we attend. Also, there is a link to the Royal Marsh Harbour Yacht Club newsletter. It's located under NEWS. Please feel free to enjoy all aspects of this blog. We encourage you to leave comments or send us email (just say in the subject line - Enjoyed your Blog) or something like that.

So Far This Month.

Our friends Annie and Andy came for a visit. Annie can only stay until Sunday morning. We've wasted no time in getting on the water. A small group of Royal Marsh Harbour Yacht Club RMHYC members went to Great Guana Cay aboard the Sea Ray "Double Trouble" owned by Fred and Sidonia. Andy and Annie on "Double Trouble" heading for Grabbers to have lunch and spend the day.
Kent, Gretchen, Fred R., Judy & Wink (red) enjoy the ride as Fred S. pilots us to our location for the day. Wilma went shelling at the beach side of Grabbers Restaurant while lunch was being ordered. Wink spread out the shells and started checking out the shells and Sea Glass finds while we wait for lunch at Grabbers.

Wink, Wilma, Judy and Fred R. enjoy the beach at Grabbers. After lunch, the group walked over to Nippers for an afternoon beverage and breath taking views. (Check out Amarse's link for Great Guiana Photos). Wilma also collected a few shells.

On Saturday, Annie and Andy went to Elbow Cay (Hopetown) for the day. In the evening, Andy treated all of us to dinner at Wally's - a very nice restaurant in Marsh Harbour. Wink, Andy and Annie at the entrance to Wally's. On Sunday morning, Annie returns to Florida.

Our dear friend Sherry has been staying in Boat Harbour most of the time this winter while her beloved Fred remodels their home in New York City. Together, Fred and Sherry host a Pot Luck for Dock 4 for noon on Sunday. They served Hot Dogs and Beverages while other dock residents brought the side dishes and desserts.

Fred and Sherry on Chipka Fire III preparing Hot Dogs for a Sunday Pot Luck. Wink and Wilma also prepared hot dogs on John Henry. Andy is in the red shirt below. Feeling a little under the weather, he stayed inside except for this appearance.

Ann from Raggedy Ann also prepared hot dogs for the crowd.

Everyone on the dock brought delightful foods and great conversation. From Left to Right: Tony, Ann (foreground), Lois (background), Judy L. (Pink), Sue G. (Blue), Paul G. & Wilma.The docks were so crowded that many offered their boat bows as dining rooms.

Ed (sitting near) with his mate Shirley (standing blue) enjoyed their lunch aboard Gene & Judy K. boat (seated on starboard).
Lois & Carl L. shared their boat Puffin with Gail & Jim E. from m/v Christine.

We had baked beans, potato salad, mac n cheese, cole slaw, brownies, key lime pie, blueberry sour cream cake and lots more wonderful things. After many days of cold temperatures, the day was wonderfully warm. A good time was had by all. Thank you - Sherry & Fred.

The Royal Marsh Harbour Yacht Club (RMHYC) held their annual meeting on Tuesday, February 10th and Wilma was elected Secretary of the club.

Andy was here for the meeting and won the drawing offer by the Abaco Beach Resort. The drawing was dinner for two at the Valentines Day Ball. Unfortunately for Andy and fortunately for Wink and Wilma - Andy wasn't going to be available as he returns to Florida before Saturday, Valentine's Day. He graciously gave the tickets to us.

Another group of RMHYC members got together and rented a car and drove to Crossing Rocks - a great beach with lots of shells. Wink is in the foreground looking for interesting shells while Wilma is in the background picking just the right shells for a new future necklace.

Below, the car group poses on the beach for a group picture. Sidonia is taking the photo. Many pictures for this blog are generously provided by Sidonia of Double Trouble.

From the left: Judy, Wink, Wilma, Andy and Vanessa in front right at Crossing Rocks Beach.
Traveling by car on the only road south we encountered a brush fire that the Bahamians just leave to resolve on it's own. It had jumped the road as we returned, but danger was clearly not present to the road. On the way back, we also stopped at Pete's Pub for a snack and something to drink.

We were able to get the bartender to take a group snapshot. From the left, Vanessa, Sidonia, Wink, Wilma, Andy and Judy.
We also stopped at Snake Cay and collected a few minerals and then we stopped for one last adventure for Wilma to collect pine needles. Sidonia is teaching several small groups how to make pine needle baskets. Hopefully, we can show the final product in the next blog.

January 2009 - Abaco, Bahamas

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HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009! Wink and Wilma stayed awake on John Henry until midnight. They went upstairs to the Boat Deck and watched fireworks in two different locations. The nearest being the Abaco Beach Resort Fireworks display and the other far away out in the Bahama Bank.

Within the next day or so, Wink, Wilma and Josh (Sherry and Fred Sztul's son) went out lobstering. This was Josh's first lobster experience.
with spear in hand, he poses for the historic photo of this event. Josh did not get a lobster on this trip. Josh did see many exciting things under the water including a 5' shark under a rock ledge - shown below.

Wink and Josh hold up the bounty of their predatory day. Five lobsters - what a day! Wink wasted no time getting those delightful creatures cooked and served for dinner.

Later in the week, Motor Vessel Tally Ho, a trawler, sponsored a fishing trip with nine friends.

Ed & Shirley (Tally Ho -Trawler), Wink & Wilma (John Henry - Trawler), Andrew & Vanessa (Tally Ho - Sailboat), Jim & Joan (Christine -Trawler ) and Frank (Sea Smoke - Trawler). We traveled off the bank and into the Atlantic about 2 miles to a depth of 160 feet and drifted, bottom fishing. Wink and Wilma caught five fish and Vanessa caught one (the largest one). The fishing was great, but the seas were rolling and several members of the crew grew sea-sick and we decided to call it a day.

Wink, Vanessa and Wilma caught six fish - Red Heinz Grouper or Strawberry Grouper as some call them.

Vanessa, Frank, Shirley, Wink, Joan, Jim and Ed - cleaning our catch and dividing the goods.

Wink and Wilma dancing the afternoon away (pink shirt - Wilma with Wink).

On January 7th, all the members of the Royal Marsh Harbour Yacht Club were invited to Eastern Shore to Doug Fay's open house. Doug had just purchased this wonderful home in 2008 and generously threw the yacht club a catered celebration. It appeared that no expense was spared. We enjoyed Fresh Fruit, Cheese & Cracker, Conch Salad, Chicken & Beef Kabobs, Stone Crab Claws, Conch Fritters, Shrimp Cocktail, a variety of Desserts including a birthday cake for Paul Graham (39 one more time). He also had three different bars set up, a one man keyboard singer and dancing. The new home consist of one waterfront guest house on the left of the road and another waterfront guest house next to the main house, also waterfront on the right side of the road all having wonderful views. The main house also has a swimming pool, sun deck and boat dock. If you have ever had a waterfront property dream in the Bahamas, you're dreaming about Doug Fay's home.

Wilma (pink shirt) leading the Electric Slide - Wink (black & grey shirt) keep up with the music.
On Thursday, January 9th, we welcome John and Stephanie Thornton (Winks brother and sister-in-law). They live in San Diego, CA. This is their first visit with us in the Bahamas.They arrived at 1:30 pm and we were in the skiff by 2:00 pm - We off to go lobstering.By 4:30 Wink, John and Wilma are holding up the catch of the day - 5 more lobster. You can tell Wink and John are brothers by the way the communicate. Wink told John once how to use the spear and where to shoot and John brought home a lobster on his first try. John also found the beautiful conch that Wilma is holding below. Stephanie is taking all the pictures so far, but you will see her soon.

It doesn't take long before we're dining in style. Wink, John and Wilma pose once again for Stephanie as she documents her exciting Bahamas vacation.

Finally, a picture of Stephanie who's enjoying LOBSTER! This is the way she'd want to be introduced.

Wilma does a lot of walking. Every day Monday-Saturday she walks at least 3 miles and 3 days a week, she walks 8 miles. All of this before 10:00 am. Mondays - Wednesdays - Fridays, she also likes to participate in Water Aerobics. Once or twice a week, she rides her bike to the store and carries back the groceries in her bike box and on her back. It's about a mile to the store. Wilma's working hard to get in shape - good shape that is.

Wilma takes a picture of Steph enjoying the calm waters of Eastern Shore. Steph has as much energy, probably more than Wilma. One day, they walked 11 miles just because they could.

Eastern Shore is a peninsula in Marsh Harbour. Water runs on both sides with houses dotted along both shores. This is one of the routes that the Royal Marsh Harbour Yacht Club walkers enjoy several times a week.

These wrought iron double gates where Wilma and Sue are standing lets you know you've reach the turn around point (2-1/4 miles from Boat Harbour = 4-1/2 miles per trip. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturdays Wilma and Sue jog the route and then walk it with the walkers. Weather permitting. Wink walks every morning also, but not the same route as Wilma so there's no photographic proof that he walks.

On Saturday night, the Yacht Club sponsored a Full Moon Party. Yes, that's the full moon in the picture at Boat Harbour. We celebrated the full moon at the Tiki Hut on Dock 7 (ocean view). The hut was decorated with party lights and set up with great music and dancing combined with pot luck food made the night rememberable.

Wink and Wilma (red) enjoying the evening along with Steph and John to the right talking with Jim Fenn about the upcoming fishing trip on Sunday morning.

On Sunday, Arise and Shine at Boat Harbour 0600 hours. Today, Jim & Kathy Fenn take us fishing on their boat "Fennders". We're going out 2-5 miles looking for Wahoo, Tuna, Mahi, and whatever will bite our baits.Steph takes a Dreamy photo of John Henry from across the dock before setting out for fishing.

On Motor Vessel Fennders, Front-Red is Judy (a Wahoo woman), left-red is Kathy Fenn, Wink, John, Wilma and Jim Fenn is piloting the vessel. Steph is once again behind the camera.

After baiting and deploying the fishing lines and several fish chants, we finally got a bite. Wilma was the first up for handling the rod. Wilma held the rod and watched as the line continued to go out until she thought it was going to come off the reel. Finally, time to reel in. Wilma reels until her arms are killing her, Wink jumps in and reels while Wilma holds the rod, after another minute or two or three or four, we decide that Steph should have reel it in for us, but after another 5-6 minutes it's decided that John would have the honor of bring that big fish in.

John reels it in right up to the swim platform where Jim gaffs it - Hooray it's a yellow fin tuna.

Once again the baits are set, the fish is hooked and it's Wahoo Judy's turn. This lady knows how to fish. She brings in a wonderful Wahoo! Wink also get a turn and brings in a black tip tuna.

Six person crew: Left front - Judy, Jim, Wink, Wilma, John, Steph & Kathy

Catch: Black Fin Tuna, Yellow Tail Tuna, Wahoo!!!!

Thornton Clan: Wilma with Black Fin Tuna, Steph with Yellow Fin Tuna, John and Wink with Wahoo! Steph and Wilma are more like sisters than In-laws.

This is just a beautiful picture that Steph took while she was here. It just doesn't get better than this. Taken from Dock 7 sea wall looking onto the Bahama Bank. Some people may wonder what is the Bahama Bank. The answer is all the water surrounding the islands that make up the Bahamas. Most of it is under 20 feet deep. Once you leave the bank, you're in the deep, deep ocean.

All the days that Steph and John visited were great. We did have one spectacular day where you could see every detail of the water without a look down bucket. Wilma and Steph were in heaven. We lay on the bow of the skiff just looking down and giggling.
The water was so clear that we saw a turtle sitting on the bottom just enjoying himself. Unfortunately we didn't have an underwater camera that worked with us. We took a picture from on top of the water and it came out foggy. However, a friend of ours went out on the same day snorkeling and they had their underwater camera and they took this picture and have graciously allowed me to use it.

After enjoying the sight seeing for a while, the boys decided it was time to check out the LOBSTERS..... Yes, we did find them. We can't tell you where, but we call it John's Lobster Hole now as he's the one who found them. He got a couple, but Wink with his infinite experience leaped to the rescue and helped capture them. Wilma relayed caught lobsters to the boat and Steph spent her time photographing them before finger printing them (oh sorry) putting them in the cooler.

Wink and John Thornton (brothers) sons of John Henry Thornton who our boat is named after.

Can you guess what we're having for dinner?With all those lobsters, we called in reinforcements for eating. It was tough, but we finally found a few people who were willing to eat LOBSTER! From Left - Paul, Wink, John, Sue, Sherry, Judy,Wilma and Fred.
Of course, this is the same shot, but Steph and Fred changed places behind the camera. In the afternoon, after lobstering and before dinner, Wilma and Steph went to town in their rain coats to do some sourvineer shopping. Suddenly, the heavens opened and we ran into a shop, The Monkey's Uncle. We stayed for an hours while it poured outside. The shop keeper was a treasure and we had lots of fun. Wilma found a Mask and tried it out. What do you think?

Afer a while the rain stopped or slowed down - we continued our walk. We had lots of fun, walking in the rain, playing and just laughing at all the fun stuff. John soon came to find us and make sure we had not drowned. He was just in time to take our photo.

Wilma and Steph walking in the rain in Marsh Harbour, Bahamas.

From left - Wink, Ms. Pat, Steph, John & Wilma. This time Mr. Pat is behind the camera.

The days were busy and fun, but soon our friends Pat & Pat arrived in their boat Salty Dawg. We agreed to meet at Matilda's (the best hamburger joint in town).

From Matilda's we walked over for a visit on Salty Dawg. Pat & Pat on their Pilgrim "Salty Dawg". What a classic boat. Beautiful.

That same evening, Royal Marsh Harbour Yacht Club sponsed an event called: The Chili Cook Off. All the chefs had to be men. Wink had agreed to be a chef and cooked his special chili.

All the chefs were given wonder hats. Wink and Jim had a good laugh and enjoyed the evening.

Wink (now a chinese cook) Judy and her chef Fred share a cold drink in the warm tent. Judy has been teaching Wilma how to make Jewelry. Judy wearing the latest necklace in her collection.

The chili is very tasty, but didn't win the prize. Wink and John don't seem to mind.

Wink is posing with Wilma and Sherry. He's definitely Chinese now. I think he said he had changed his name to Hop-Sing. Sherry is teaching Wilma watercolor painting and Wilma is teaching Sherry (who's from New York, New York) how to be southern. Bless her little ole heart!

The following day was John and Steph last day with us. They went over to Hopetown on the ferry. It was hard to believe that their time was up. We only ate 17 Lobsters while they were here. I didn't even get a photo of the great Wahoo dinner. There are no photo's of the fantastic suzi that Steph prepared several times with the Tuna. We also made Lobster rolls, which didn't last long enough to photograph. Many of our friends knew that Winks brother was here, but many more were delighted to see that my sister came. We are like peas in a pod.

The Sunday after John and Steph left us, it was a great day for going fishing. Wilma convince Wink that we should take the Big Boat - John Henry out for the day. As long as we're going out, let's take a few friends with us. We sent out the word and here they came two by two...

For the record (not in order and you have to find them) Wink & Wilma, John & Gail, Jim E & Joan, Jim & Judy, Ed & Shirley, Paul & Mary, Fred & Sherry, Pat & Pat, Vanessa (Andrew stayed home).

We left the dock approximately at 8:00 a.m. Everyone posing for the camera being handled by Sue Graham.

As we passed Motor Vessel Tourelou's flag, Sherry was inspired and sang America's National Anthem. Wilma felted honored that her boat could be help up as a National Sporting Event.

Sherry singing the National Anthem. Oh say can you see!!!

John Henry pulls out of Boat Harbour with an enthusatic crew of fishing people.

Once again, we're headed through the bank for the Atlantic Ocean hoping to catch Grouper in 150 feet of water - drift fishing on the bottom.

What vessel would dream of going out with it's sun beauties. From left - Judy, Gail, Sherry and Joan (stripes) enjoy the flybridge on the way out to the ocean. Wilma provided coffee, homemade banana bread and homemade fruitcake for the voyage out.

It was a great day, some people caught a lot of fish, some caught no fish, but Wilma caught baby fish. Wilma had to throw hers back. We had 17 friends go fishing with us, 18 if Andrew had gone. We caught 18 fish - Shirley caught the most 6-8, I never did hear the final count.

All the fish caught were Strawberrry Grouper or Red Heinz except one - it was a Queen Trigger Fish. They are hard to clean, but the best of lot. Upon suggestion from Shirley who caught the most, every person took home a fish for dinner. They were delicious. Pan fried, served with grits and corn kisses. Hummmm!

We had a weather forecast that it was turning cold - well cold enough not to go lobstering. Wilma encouraged Wink to get Paul and go out before the cold spell. While they were gone, Wilma was able to do some housekeeping. Just as Wilma finished up the cleaning, the boys came home with THE LIMIT ON LOBSTER. 10, TEN, YES TEN!!!

This was the first time Wink (whether alone or with a friend) every got the limit. He was excited. Wink also had a special surprise for Wilma. Wink spotted and was able to spear a Hogfish! Hogfish is Wilma's most favorite fish.....

1 little, 2 little, 3 little lobsters, 4 little, 5 little, 6 little lobsters, 7 little, 8 little, 9 little lobsters, 10 little lobster and a Hogfish, too. Now, January is over and where did it go?

Wilma has been having internet problems - or computer interfacing with internet problems to be more specific. We think this has been corrected and hopefully it won't take an entire month before she can post again. The real problem is that we're having so much fun, we can't figure out where the time is going.

The weather here has been great, BUT for some unknown reason, it's gotten cold - yes, cold. It's only in the 60's but when you're use to wearing swimsuits, shorts and t-shirts, digging out the long pants, sweaters and jackets is just unheard of. So bye for now.......

December 15 - December 31 New Years Eve

2009-01-11T20:58:00.026-05:00

Wilma and Wink Thornton in the Abaco's, Bahamas - December 2008

It was a great day in the Abaco's. Wink and Wilma went out in their skiff, but first they had to stop and fill the tank. Luckily it has great fuel economy. Wilma hold the boat close to a piling while Wink pumps the fuel.

At the end of the day, we have happy hour (not every day but often). The boaters from Docks 3 & 4 gather at the end of Dock 4 for good conversation and some snacks. Fred Reed from Amarse usually climbs on tops of M/V John Henry for a group snapshot.

On Christmas Day, we held a Noon - happy hour to get meet, greet, and wish everyone well.

The big group broke into many small groups for the evening meal. M/V John Henry hosted the Christmas meal for Sue & Paul Graham, Fred Reed & Judy Law, and Sherry & Fred Sztul. Wink is in the navy blue and Wilma is taking the photo from the stairs.

Wink and Wilma did have some small decorations on the outside of the boat and a small tree on the inside with lights surrounding it. The presents stack was bigger than expected.

Judy brought over a rum cake for dessert and it was beautiful and delicious.

All the boaters were generous to each other sharing small treasures and edible delights.

Wink and Wilma started enjoying geology this past summer. we brought that interest of exploring rocks with us to the Bahamas. Wink has found many interesting rocks with crystals and calcite in them.

A beautiful example of calcite in a local rock - found near the water.

Speaking of water, we went out with Paul Graham looking for a little dinner and that's what we found - they call them "Bugs" over here, but Wilma prefers their nickname "Lobsters".

Wink sitting with Judy Law on our skiff as we enjoy the Tahiti Beach area. Wink and Fred hung out and Wilma and Judy snorkeled together. While Wink and Fred were hanging out, one of Fred's flippers flipped off the boat and was lost. We spent quiet awhile snorkeling around looking for it. At one point, we performed a tripod snorkel tow. Wink held on to a line tied to the back of the skiff. Wilma and Judy held onto each of his feet. It was fun.

We did not find the fin. Fred had to buy a new pair of fins.

But we did find a nice queen helmet. There were several helmets in the area. We also found a tulip shell and some sand dollars.

Just for fun, we brought an aquarium with us to put small creatures in for a few days at a time. After a few days we release the creatures and hut for different ones to enjoy. Fred Reed and Wink collaborated on an electrical problem for M/V Amarse. Once they were at a good point, Fred continued working on the problem since it was his boat. Fred also found these disposal coasters that summed up the events. "Wink, I'll do the rest" is just what Fred was thinking.

Fred and Sherry Sztul's family came for a visit during the holidays. While they were out cruising around in their sailboat, Josh caught a mackerel. The family brought it over to Wink so that he could teach Josh and his brother Henry how to fillet it. Rachel (Henry's wife), Fred and Sherry watch Wink as the boys received their fish cleaning lesson.

After the lesson, many of the Dock 4 neighbors of Sherry and Fred were invited for a New Years Eve cruise on their sailboat. Fred even let Wink get a picture pretending to steer.

Josh and Henry were trolling a line when their father suggested that they stop and help him with the sails. Wilma gladly donned the fishing pole while they were busy.

It didn't take too long before Wilma had a fish on the line. It was a good fight and the fishing rod was a little quirky with very light line.

Wink couldn't believe it. He had to go and see for himself (red coat). Wilma caught the fish just off of the Hope Town light house.

Wink was a great help in getting the fish lure out of the fishes mouth. The fish was about 4 lbs, commonly known as a mutton snapper or candy snapper. Wink cleaned it and we gave it to our host for their dinner.

We returned to the docks about 7:30 pm and everyone went to their own New Years Eve plans.

Most of us just went inside and went to bed, but Wink and Wilma stayed up for the New Year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009 TO ALL OUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY!!!!

December 1-14, 2008

2008-12-14T19:44:00.029-05:00

As we left our story two weeks ago, we had a great Thanksgiving on the fly-bridge of our trawler, John Henry.

From Left around to Right: Janet & Ken (daughter and son-in-law of Sue & Paul),

Judy & Fred R from Amarse, Wink, Sherry & Fred S from Chipka Fire III, Sue & Paul from Odessey.

Wilma is taking the picture.

Tim and Becky on M/V Pokey needed their zincs replaced - Wink and Paul volunteered to help.

They donned their wetsuits and masks. Move John Henry's tender over near Pokey and made the dive.

Once the zincs were on, Paul noticed that a propeller was loose so he brought Wink a large tool to tighten it up.

Now Wink has a lot of large tools, but now he's interested in acquiring more - these were neat.

Another boater dropped a valuable boat part overboard and Wink also found it.

Wilma has been walking 4+ miles a day with the RMHYC (Royal Marsh Harbour Yacht Club) and encouraging Wink to join them. Effective December 1, Wink has joined the Walk & Talk Group. Wink and a few other beginner walkers have came up with a new approach to keeping the walking interesting.

They not only walk and talk, but they are scavengers. They look for interesting items that have been dropped on the streets or washed up on the shore. There seems to be a race on who can find what first.

Wilma's very happy and Wink is walking daily.

Speaking of walking daily, so many walkers and so many blisters.

The blister owners will remain anonymous and not all blisters are included in the photo.

Luckily we have lots of band-aids, antibiotics and
friends to sympathize with.

Wink brought back an aquarium from storage in Texas to our boat.

Since we have arrived in Marsh Harbour, we set the salt water aquarium up. Wink and Wilma set out to the waters of Abaco and caught some star fish, and a coral banded shirmp. We named the shrimp - Peppermint. The shrimp molted a couple of days ago. It's so cool.

We plan to release the little guys back after a few days of enjoyment & find other interesting things.

A couple of times a week, we have happy hour to enjoy fellowship and a good time with snacks and beverages.

You can really tell why it's called "Happy Hour" by the picture - Everybody looks happy to me.

I can't name everybody, but Wilma is far right and Wink is the first red coat on left rear waving.

Wink brings his recliner out for happy hour and socializing.

Wink has many man-servants delivering snacks at happy hour.

Wink and Wilma Thornton

Abaco Beach Resort

Boat Harbour

Bahamas

December 3, 2008

15 years ago, they met.

Coconuts grow here year round and they fall here quiet often this time of year.

Wink has the most experience on the dock with opening coconuts since he's been doing it all his life.

John from M/V Our Time is having a lesson on coconut opening from Wink and a crowd gathers.

Everyone is excited to watch and learn.

Lots of coconuts are now being gathered.

Wink and Wilma share a coconut milk drink from one of the opened coconuts.

A bad day in the Bahamas is better than a cold winter day somewhere else.

Speaking of weather, we will be having winds 20-25 mph for the next 4-5 days.

It's sweatshirt weather in the evenings, but warm during the day.

Last weekend, several of us Dinghyed over to Hope Town for lunch.

We took three boats. Our boat had Wink, Sherry and Wilma.

Our boat is the biggest boat and we had the most horse power so it wasn't much of a surprise that we were the fastest.

The sun was gleaming and the water was calm and nice. The boat drivers focused on just who was going to arrive first. Even though our boat was fasters, we waited for boat #3 because they knew where we were going.

Boat 2: Fred Reed & Judy Law of Amarse.

Boat 3: Dave & Barbara Bluto from Chablis

and Rita Wieczorek from Magnum Opus

Fred (right) and Wink (left) decided to fish from the dock and catch enough for dinner.

Fishing turned into another dock participation project.

Everyone standing around watching and amazed at how many fish were being chummed to the area.

AN AMAZING WHOPPER - AND I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT HAMBURGERS........

Wink and Fred Reed went out fishing. Fred came along to manage the boat because Wink wanted to spear fish and we believe in the buddy system. No one goes in the water without a buddy watching.

Once they arrived at the diving area, Wink discoved that he forgot to bring his mask. Since he gave Wilma such greif for forgetting her fins last week, he really didn't want to come back to the boat and say he had forgotten his mask & snorkel.

He came back to the boat and said that he'd like to try out the other mask. Wilma confirmed that he wanted his spare back up mask & snorkel. No, No, he said he wanted the regular mask that he normally uses. Oh, Wilma finally got the idea that he had forgotten his mask, but just didn't want to say it out loud in front of Fred. Wilma was a good doobie and quietly retrieved the forgotten mask. Away they went.

Once they arrived at the dive site again, there was no mask & snorkel. It had fallen over board somewhere before arriving at the dive site. They guys arrived back at the boat, now requesting the spare back up mask & snorkel. These mask are vision correcting and are quiet expensive somewhere around $250 a set. Wink also rigged up the tender with a rope for drag snorkeling. Fred drove and Wink drag snorkeled along looking for the mask & snorkel. The sea of Abaco is only about 10 feet deep and it's also very clear, but the chances of finding a small mask seemed overwhelming to me.

But the guys had been using a gps track and low and behold, suddenly Wink let go of the drag line and dived down - when he came up he had his other mask & snorkel.

The guys were so happy that they continued on to the dive site.

Wink - prepared for snokeling and fish spearing.

In the Bahamas, you can only catch lobster with a Hawaiian Sling or Pole Spear.

You must be free diving or snorkeling - no tanks.

Wink is ready for the challenge and Fred is managing the boat and being look out.

After a few minutes, Wink returns to the boat with his first snapper. Fred takes the fish and washes up the boat, Wink returns, Fred takes the fish and washes up the boat, Wink returns, etc. etc. etc.

Wink was able to catch three lobsters as well.

Wink and Fred had a rough start and thought they would never get to the diving and fishing, but their luck changed.

We had 6 snappers, 3 lobsters and 2 very happy men.

Left: Wink showing off his catch to the neighbors with Wilma in the back ground. Wilma stayed home on the boat to wax all the floors and barely finished before they returned.

A CLOSE UP OF ONE OF THE LOBSTERS.

Wilma thinks that this is a great picture and had to include it.

We had enough food to feed 7 people.

Lobster sauteed in garlic and butter.

Pan fried Mangrove Snapper.

Pan fried Hush Puppies.

Fresh Garden Salad.

Wilma, Wink, Paul, Sue, Sherry, Judy and Fred is taking the picture from the stair well.

A Happy Ending.

NOW A CHRISTMAS STORY!

On December 9, 2008

RMHYC Christmas Party

Wilma and Wink posing in front of the Christmas Tree.

Okay, I had to throw this one in.

Wink kissing Wilma in front of the Christmas Tree!

Sherry, Judy and Wink

You got it, In front of the Christmas Tree!

Judy Law and Wilma at dinner.

Wink was talking to our Bahamas Santa Clause.

Santa asked me if he'd been naughty or nice.

After that kiss a couple of photo's up, I had to say.

N I C E, REAL N I C E!

So here's what Santa gave Wink.

Those eyes look like Antonio Banderas playing Puss N Boots in the Shrek movie.

It's a gift and a curse.

I'll try to update every weekend. Last weekend, we didn't have internet, but it looks like that has been repaired.

Trip to Great Guana Cay

2008-11-30T14:37:00.025-05:00

GREAT GUANA CAY
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Happy Birthday to Wilma's Dad - he's 83!

Judy & Bob Williams of Shade-Mor
graciously took 33 Royal Marsh Harbour Yacht Club (RMHYC)
members over to Great Gauna Cay for an excursion.

Bob (to the left) at the Wheel.

Few Pictures and a few words to give you an idea of the wonderful day.

It was a beautiful day. The winds were less than 5 mph, the seas calm and sun was wonderful.

Matlock Cay to the left.

Janet & Ken Phillips enjoy the ride over. They are here visiting Janet's parents - Sue & Paul Graham.

Janet & Ken were married over here several years ago.

Steve from "Christmas" (to the left)
was celebrating his 29 birthday "so he says"!

Wink (to the right) having a great time socializing.

There aren't that many houses on Guana Cay, but some of them are hugh.

We docked at the end of this new dock on Guana Cay

As we walked toward Nippers, a local and infamous pub and resturant, we passed a work of art. This front end loader was decorated many years ago as it's no longer moveable.

Fred & Judy posing by the colorful fence and umbrella's at Nippers.

Wink and Wilma enjoying the colorful umbrellas and pool view at Nippers Pub.

On the ocean side of Great Guana Cay, the waves are spectacular.

Nippers!

Janet & Ken embrace and enjoy the view.

Little People feet heading to the salt water pool by the rocks.

Three Babes on a Beach!

Wilma, Judy & Sue

Wilma on the Rocks!

No it's not a new drink!

Wilma and some Waves!

Fred Reed from Amarse

Wink Thornton from John Henry

Front View

Rear View - Buds!

Wilma and Judy playing on the beach in the waves.

Having a snack at Nippers Pub & Resturant!

From Left:

Wink, Tim, Henry, Lilly, Becki

On the way back to the boat, we passed Ann & Dick having ice cream cones. What a refreshing idea - two ice creams please.

Boat Harbour, Abaco Beach Resort, Bahamas

2008-11-30T13:00:00.016-05:00

Our friends Sue & Paul Graham gave us this photo taken on their way out of Spanish Cay showing that we had the marina to ourselves. A lovely memory of a great week.

Once we were settled into Boat Harbour, we hired Vincent, a great local boat cleaner, to wash and wax John Henry. Wink and Wilma collected the floating platform that he needed for washing the bottom half of the boat. Wilma said that it was the easy water skiing she had done in years.
While we were settling into Boat Harbour, a young couple came by to check out John Henry. They had seen us coming in dock up the day before. Their names David and Denise Brook from Vancouver. They're on the look out for a live aboard boat of their own. They are renting a house here in Marsh Harbour for a few more months and we've become great friends.

Above: David and Denise Brook - At Nippers "I think". Below: Denise and their baby "Stella".

The Brook's came for dinner and brought the lovely flowers to her right.

Earlier in the day Wink and Wilma went fishing so that we could have fresh fish for dinner. We

had two mangrove snappers in the freezer and we added our three yellow tail snapper, one grunt and the large Queen Trigger Fish, dinner was smash.

Wilma and Sara, the sea dog, went to bed early - apparently very early and Wink captured this very snuggled moment.

Wilma is attending Arts and Crafts on Mondays. Her first accomplishment, this silk Lilly painting.

On Wednesday before Thanksgiving, Fred & Judy on Amarse (above boat) arrived first and then Fred & Sherrie on Chipka Fire III (bottom boat with Sherrie on it) arrived shortly after.

It is great to see both couples. Sherrie was so excited when she received the Lobster Thank You payments for swapping boat slips. We're currently in what would have been Chipka Fire's boat slip, but the kind and generous Fred & Sherrie are helping poor Sara the sea dog out.

Wink and Wilma went out snorkeling and lobster hunting several times since arriving at Boat Harbour. Wink has seen lots of Lobsters - he's starting to get the hang of hunting again. He's so agile in the water and he's a great hunter/gatherer. We are eating a lot more fish and lobster than red meat.

John Henry looks amazingly shiney with her new wax job. Vincent has done a great job.

The coconuts are plentiful at Abaco Beach Resort. Everyday, Wilma goes for a walk with Sara, the sea dog, she brings one back to the boat. Suddenly, there were nine coconuts hanging out in the cockpit. Wink was a treasure and cleaned the the husk from the nuts and drained the coconut milk while Wilma cleaned the meat from some of the coconuts. Sue Graham made us a loaf of Coconut Bread as we shared our harvest.

With a clean and shiney boat, our harvest of coconuts gathered, we celebrate Thanksgiving with our friends who have just returned back to our Winter Family. From the left going around the table - Sherrie & Fred from Chipka Fire III, Sue & Paul from Odyssey, Wilma at the end, Janet & Ken (Sue's daughter and son-in-law) and Judy and Fred from Amarse. Wink sits at the head of the table and is the official photographer.

We served:

Turkey

Two Dressings

Mashed Potato's with Gravy

Green Beans

Deviled Eggs

Sweet Potatoes

Baked Beans

Rolls

Biscuits

Apple/Coconut Salad

Brownies

Chocolate Pecan Pie

Pumpkin Pie

Bahamas Crossing to Marsh Harbour

2008-11-18T20:12:00.032-05:00

November 8, 2008 (Friday)
GH47 John Henry, GH47 Pokey and GH37 Odyssey all got up very early in the morning.

How early, 3:00 am, Wink and Wilma on GH47 Trawler John Henry rigged for "silent running" that means stowing away the last of the loose items in the master stateroom, and had a cup of coffee. At 3:30, all boat owners reviewed the weather and didn't really like it. Wink hailed a local fisherman via the VHF for weather conditions in the Gulf Stream. Local Fisherman said that there were 2 to 3 ft swells - everything looked good to him. Everyone weighed anchor at 4:00 a.m. (pitch black). John Henry travel out the Lake Worth inlet first with Wilma on the bow to ensure good night vision. Pokey followed with Odyssey following last.

The local fisherman was a little bit off on the size of the swells. They were more like 4-6 ft swells. The good news is that they were swells not white caps. The sun rose about 6:00 am with this fantastic sunrise view.
By 6:30 am our sunrise started showing the clouds on the horizon.

About 10:00 a.m.. we were about an hour from the Bahamas Bank.The water depth was over 2100 feet and the water was deep blue.

We entered the Bank just south of Memory Rock and continued our journey passed Mangrove Cay and on to Great Sail where we anchored on the west side of the Cay to protest us from east winds. The evening was extremely calm and beautiful. John Henry anchored first and Pokey anchored to the North while Odyssey anchored to the South.

Pokey at Great Sail Cay, Abaco, Bahamas - First trip to the Bahamas! Wink on John Henry's fly bridge watching Odyssey anchor to the South. What a great day to be in the Bahamas.

Odyssey, anchoring in Great Sail Cay, Bahamas - this is their 7th year to spend the winter at Marsh Harbour.

This is our Sea Chest. In the St. Johns River, where the water is dark, we could never see all the way through the chest. This picture is taken on the Bahamas Bank where it shows how clear the water really is.

After a good night sleep, the trawler convoy headed for Spanish Cay where we would all clear customs.

Paul & Sue on Odyssey continued on to Man-O-War Cay to drop their crewman, Charlie at his home. They stayed there until Thursday.

Tim & Becki on Pokey followed Odyssey through Don't Rock and continued on to Treasure Cay where they stayed the night. On Sunday morning, they continued in to Marsh Harbour where they settled into their dock.

Wink and Wilma on John Henry decided to stay at Spanish Cay for a few days. They have a friend, Richard who works there. This year is very slow for Spanish Cay so we were the only boat there for most of the time. We had the marina to ourselves and most of the island to ourselves. Below: John Henry at Spanish Cay Marina in Abaco, Bahamas.

The first night, we caught nearly a dozen little snappers and had a great fish dinner. The sunset for the evening was amazing in the middle of nowhere. This is a picture of the sunset from the dock under John Henry's bow.

This is the same sunset from the port (left) side of the boat looking out over the breakfront of the marina.

Just after sunset, Wink went fishing for Shark bait. There are lots of sharks in this area. They are fun to hook, but not bring in.

The second day, we went snorkeling and found a bounty of food and shells. This conch is not only really pretty, but has a good supply of conch meat in it. To retrieve the meat, place the entire shell into a plastic bag and freeze thoroughly. Remove from freezer, let stand over night to thaw, immerse in water and pull out the conch. Clean and remove all dark parts of the conch keeping only the solid white piece for cooking. Rinse out conch shell and scrub clean. Add a small amount of bleach to the water to sanitize shell.

Wink also caught three lobsters and speared a nice candy snapper. The lobster was prepared two different ways for dinner. The first way was cubed with butter and garlic. The second way was baked at 450 degrees for 20 minutes with Paprika & dipped in butter.

During our snorkeling adventure, we met the owner of the marina who pointed out an shallow airplane crash near us to dive on. Apparently, this airplane has been there for over 20 years just a few feet from shore. Very interesting to see all the fish living inside, but eerie.

Sara the sea dog was extremely happy on Spanish Cay. She was the only dog on the island most of the time and was allow free run - no leash required. I think you can even see her smiling. Wilma and Sara went for many long walks, with Wink joining them on the short walks.

The next day, our snorkeling - lobster hunting yielded 6 lobsters. Wink was excited and happy about hunting lobster and he really enjoyed the vigorous swimming.

Another picture of Sara - without a lease, but not following Wilma on the dock. Sara decided to just sit this one out. She doesn't really like walking on the wood docks anyway.

Last year, we borrowed our boat builder's skiff to make sure that we liked it. We did so we had one built for us. They did a great job. They even put the name on it: T/T John Henry - for the non boaters, that means Tender To John Henry. The weather started getting windy and cloudy on the forth day so we stayed another two days.

The shark fishing was fun. Wink fished for sharks about 3 times. He caught a total of 8 sharks during these adventures. Once he had the sharks on the line, they would jump about 3 feet out of the water trying to break free. It took one shark about 4 big jumps before he was free. We're glad that they broke free, we weren't planning to keep them anyway.

We had a beautiful rainbow and full moon on the evening that Double Trouble pulled in. Fred and Sidonia St. Germaine, owners of Double Trouble came in for two nights.

Sidonia and Fred with full moon to the right at Spanish Cay, Bahamas.

We became fast friends with Sidonia and Fred and all of us went snorkeling the last day. Wink was the fabulous hunter/gatherer again. We all tried, but we're inexperienced. Wink caught

4 lobsters, 1 large grouper, 2 large snappers.

On Friday, Wink and Wilma pulled out at 0700 with Fred and Sidonia saying goodbye and helping us with our lines. Fred and Sidonia will leave later today for Green Turtle Cay and hopefully we'll catch up with each other again.

We arrived near the crossing of the Whale and requested local knowledge of Whale conditions.
The Whale is a dangerous area if bad weather conditions exist in the Bahamas that must be crossed or you must go through Don't Rock to move from the North side to the South side of the Abacos. We considered going through Don't Rock, but the sun was in our eyes and we couldn't read the water for shallow areas.

Local knowledge described good conditions in the Whale so we went through without a problem. We had 3-5 ft swells only. We were across in 40 minutes.

We had a nice day right up to the time we decided to dock at Boat Harbour in Marsh Harbour. Paul Graham and a group of other Royal Marsh Harbour Yacht Club members came out to meet us. Paul drove our skiff in so we could dock without it being in the way. An afternoon thunderstorm came in so we waited out on the bank for it to clear and winds to calm.

We were finally settled into our slip about 4:00 pm.

This our dock - Dock 4. There are local dogs that are non-aggressive called "pot cakes". Our marina has a very nice "pot cake" who like to hang around our boat. They are called "pot cakes" because they eat anything for anyone. Wilma has renamed this one to be called "Pot Luck".

The condo complex that they were working on last year is complete. The Tiki Hut that was between dock 4 and 5th ave has been torn down.

Here is a coconut palm in the early stages of growth from a real coconut.

The Abaco Beach Resort at Boat Harbour is where our club RMHYC has negotiated a good rate. We have many nice amenities. Here's the local beach where you can relax in the sun and rent small kayaks.

Below: this is one of the two pools. This pool is close to the restrooms and showers. It has a swim up bar that some people use.

Our neighbor "Tar Heel" with owners David and Bettie arrived yesterday. Today, Wink took a picture of David on the top of his mast. It looks like too much work for me.

St. Augustine to Lake Worth, FL

2008-11-06T19:57:00.021-05:00

Day 3 was November 3rd, 2008 - Here's Pokey as we pass them to regain the lead. After all, their name is "Pokey" they should be last. Actually what happened is our main navigation computer decided to fail - luckily Wink really believes in spares. We also have a small Garmin in the pilot house and a secondary computer we store in the saloon and if necessary, a copy of nobeltec is installed on my xp computer.

Pokey took the lead and made it a lot more comfortable for Wilma to drive (the garmin screen is only about 4 inches big, sorry small). While Wilma drove, Wink swapped out the main nav computer for the secondary computer. Wink thought that the power cable was loose and the problem, so he took extra time and hard wired the secondary nav computer in. This worked out great and soon Wink was back in the drivers seat passing at great speed (8 knots) Pokey allowing Wilma to take pictures.

Wink is the Captain, Wilma is the First Mate and therefore, Wink likes to drive - mostly because he can sit and work. Here's a great shot of the man in action. Driving. Of course, this is only one of his duties. Watch for more details.

As we travel through the ICW (Intercoastal Waterway), we have to go under a great number of bridges. Many of them are shorter than John Henry so they must be opened for us. Only some are taller than our boat. I'll show an open bridge later, here's what they look like closed. Many of the bridges are "opened upon request" but some of them are on schedules. It's good to plan ahead, especially for the scheduled ones because being too close in windy conditions can be dangerous. We like to hold back quiet a distance while waiting even if the weather is great!

The Haul Over Canal. We can lower our anteneas shortening our maximum height of 32' down to 23' which gets us under the Haul Over Canal. This canal is only about one mile long. We drive as slow as possible and what a delight to go through on a weekday when no other boaters are present. This is one of our favorite places to visit and the visit is very short.

Haul Over Canal - Beautiful reflections in the water.

Another Haul Over Canal reflection. I wish I could paint this nice.

Haul Over Canal Resident........

We shorten our towing harness on our new Mirage built skiff during heavy traffic areas or when we have to slow down and wait for bridges. If you remember last year, we backed over the harnesses freeing Ken Fickett's skiff. Wink had to jump in and swim for it. Hopefully, we've learned our lesson. Short harness when backing up or going very slow. Long harness when going faster. (Can't really use the word "Fast" and Trawler in the same sentence.)

We anchored overnight at Statue Mile 938 traveling a total of 76 miles for the day. We've anchored here many times. Winds were predicted at 3-4 mph. Key word - predicted!!!!

WE HAD 25-32 MPH WINDS. IT WAS HORRIBLE - John Henry came through the night wonderfully, but the new skiff, the line chaffed into. It didn't get away because we had three other lines on it, but it banged up the front of the skiff, the swim platform and the propeller of the skiff before we could set it on a longer lead line way behind the boat. The picture below show Wink cleaning up the skiff before the strong winds came in for the night.

Both boats were eager to leave that anchorage the next morning. As there was no immenent crossing to the Bahamas, we unamously decided to travel only 27 miles on Tuesday, November 4th, 2008 - Election Day. We cruised to Statue Mile 965 south of the two Fort Pierce Bridges and anchors in a nice bay on the east side in front of a bunch of condo's. We went to lunch at Harbortown Marina - no charge for the dighy dock if you eat there. We had pretty calm waters and a heavy Horderve night on John Henry instead of dinner.

Tim and Becki tried out their Triumph Dighy - the first time out in it.

You can also see the condo's we anchored in front of- well only one of the buildings in this picture. We also went back to lunch the 2nd day. West Marine and Publix were only 5 blocks away and yes! we went there both days.

Tim & Becki Boehlke - Harbortown Marina Resturant

Wink decided that while the weather was calm, he'd work on the primary nav computer and get it hardwired and functioning properly.

While Wink was working on more technical projects, Wilma tied leaders for the future Bahama fishing. Wink had purchased new hooks, but Wilma picked up some new swivels and a carrying case for better organization at West Marine. The West Marine in Ft. Pierce is amazing. Lots of stuff. We already had the lead weights and the 30 lb. line.

GH47 Trawler John Henry anchored south of Ft. Pierce, FL - November 4th & 5th, 2008.

Port then Starboard.

GH47 Trawler Pokey anchored south of Ft. Pierce, FL next to John Henry.

Jupiter Inlet lighthouse. Jupiter, FL - November 6, 2008

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO MICHAEL AND MARY ANN BAKER, ASSOCIATE MEMBERS OF THE GREAT HARBOUR TRAWLER ASSOCIATION.

If anyone would like to know more about Great Harbour Trawlers, built by Mirage Mfg. check out our association blogsite. www.greatharbour.blogspot.com

GH47 Trawler Pokey going under one of those bridges. Wilma thinks this is the Jupiter Federal Bridge. I'm not sure anymore. We went under 5 bridges today.

This picture seems a little tilted, not a photographers issue, I'm sure the boat was leaning a little, don't you think.

Pokey and John Henry arrived in Lake Worth, FL and anchored about 3:00 pm today. Paul and Sue Graham with GH37 Odessey (blue boat) were anchored in north Lake Worth. They pulled anchor and came down to south of Peanut Island to anchor with us. Photo shows Pokey and Odessey - looks like their coming and going, but Pokey is anchored and Odessey is coming in to anchor.

Paul and Sue on Odessey are anchoring for the night. Paul and Sue have their friend Charlie on board. He's making the crossing with them. He has a house in the Abaco's.

November 7, 2008 THE PLAN

GH47 John Henry, GH47 Pokey and GH37 Odessey will be traveling together.

At 3:00 am, Wink and Wilma on GH47 Trawler John Henry will wake up, rig for "silent running" that means stow away the last of the loose items in the master stateroom, and have a cup of coffee. At 3:30, all boat owners will review the weather. If all agree, we'll anchor aweigh at 4:00 a.m. travel out the inlet and see what the conditions are in the Gulf Stream. By 5:30 a.m. we should know if we want to continue or to come back to Lake Worth. If you don't get a blog posting on Friday, we probably went ahead.

Stay tuned to this blog for the answer to: Did they cross or not?

St Augustine to Mosquito Lagoon

2008-11-02T17:41:00.010-05:00

Yesterday (Saturday) we travel from Green Cove Springs, FL north to Jacksonville and entered the Intercoastal Waterway (ICW) and headed south traveling 71 miles in 9 hours.

If you take a map of Florida and draw a line from Green Cove Springs straight East to the ICW that's about where we ended up. Across land it would have been less than 30 miles and would have only taken half an hour.

We crawled out of bed at 5:30 this morning so that we could have the anchor up and underway by 6:00 so we could catch the 7:00 opening of the Bridge of Lions in St. Augustine. We made it with 5 minutes to spare.

Here is picture of a nice sunrise that we took while waiting for the bridge to open.
I was also able to get a nice sailboat picture near the old fort ruins close to the Bridge of Lions.

Last Friday, the day before we left, Wilma was suppose to clean the outside of the boat, but she ran out of daylight. Wink generously said, "don't worry about it honey, there's plenty of time for you to do it while underway". Yesterday was too cold to work outside - Jacksonville had a cold spell - in the 60 degree range. Much better today down below St. Augustine - 70's.

As Wilma was cleaning the boat some very happy dolphins came and played on the starboard (right) side of the boat, jumping out of the water and couldn't believe it, but Wilma actually got a nice shot of them jumping.

Tim and Becky on GH47 "Pokey" are still hanging out with us. He's a good shot of their boat just before we had a little bit of rain.

Sara, the sea dog, spent the day relaxing in her favorite corner of the pilot house settee. Today she spent the day playing with her twin Sahara. (Sahara is really a stuff animal, but we don't tell that to Sara).

Just shortly before we anchored today, we passed a small spoils island with lots of Pelicans. This is only a small section of the island and the birds are everywhere.

We also passed a long pier that had about 50 crabpots on it. This is not the entire pier, but just a little idea of how interesting our views can be.

You're suppose to be able to double click on pictures to see them larger. Most of the time, if you do enlarge the picture, you have to go back in instead of just moving forward.

Today was a long day - 11 hours of being underway and 91 miles of travel. We'll stay only one night here at Mosquito Lagoon and will be up early for a 6:30 am departure.

Leaving Green Cove Springs, FL

2008-11-01T15:24:00.010-04:00

Last week Wilma Great Nephew "Jax" came for a visit and he enjoyed playing with Sara, the sea dog and her toys. Sara does like little Piggy, and really seemed to enjoy Piggy sitting on her head. Ha! Ha! Ha!
We took our car down to Sarasota, FL to store for the winter at our condo (which is up for sale should anyone have an interest). While we were in Sarasota, our precious sea dog went to the Vet to get her Health Certificate for the voyage to the Bahamas.

Before we left the dock, Eric came and put Vegas Girl's lettering on the boat. Wilma thinks it looks great.

Wilma also prepared the package for SSG Michelle Rotchadl, a US soldier in Iraq, and put it in the mail. If anyone else would like to contribute to the Surprise package for Michelle, you can send your check to Wilma Thornton, PO Box 877, McGehee, AR 71654. Please send Wilma an email with the amount to wilma.thornton@gmail.com If we recieve extra money, we'll send out another package to Michelle.

Annie Smith-Bova and Wilma spent a little time preparing for good future fishing experiences. Annie is just getting into fishing while Wilma's been catching fishing for years so they got together and tied leaders (hook, line, and swivels) for 24 set ups. This saves lots of time when the fishing is HOT!

Today, Saturday, November 1st - we left Green Cove Springs, FL aboard John Henry. Tim from Cloud X came by and wished us well and helped cast off our lines. Tim and Becky Boehike on board another GH47 named Pokey are traveling with us from the docks this morning. They're GH47 is very similar inside to John Henry including green recliners.

A great looking building in Jacksonville, FL.

We will anchor tonight just north of St. Augustine, FL about 10 miles north of the Bridge of Lions at 4:00 PM (Now - so I gotta go).

Supporting One of Our Troops in IRAQ

2008-10-27T09:40:00.003-04:00

Many of us (Americans) no someone who is either serving in Iraq or has a son or daughter serving in Iraq. We have close friends that have a daughter serving in Iraq. Her name is Michelle "Meme" Rotchadl and she could use our support. She's working in a stressful environment and she's undergoing many personal issues at home at the same time. She's also the mother of a very small child and I know she misses him a lot.

I'm sending out a care package to her on Friday and it was suggested by one of our members of the GHTA (Great Harbour Trawler Association) that our club members may want to contribute and show our support for all of those who are away from home protecting our rights.

I have already recieved several contributions and will get the first package mailed as soon as possible. If any GHTA member would like to contribute please give me a call: Wilma 214-883-6649

Michelle Rotchadl
serving in IRAQ

I'd also like to ask that anyone on my mailing list who would like to do something nice for a soldier, here is Meme's picture and her mailing address. Her mother assures me that all packages are wonderful surprises and usually shared with most of the people at the hospital.

SSG Michelle Rotchadl
345th Combat Support Hospital
Unit # 73325
APO, AE 09333-3325

Her mother says that she doesn't eat much candy, but others at the hospital do. They also like magazines, crossword puzzles, trail mix, coffee - ground, lip baum, Sustain Eye Drops, popcorn, etc. etc. I'm sure anything will be of help. Her mother also suggest using a one rate box at the post office that clearly states "Support our Troups". Thanks to all.

Road Trip & Police Chase

2008-10-23T21:44:00.025-04:00

We were scheduled to make a trip to Frankfurt, Germany, but due to extremely long range planning and circumstances beyond our control, the plans have been postponed.

We decided to go on a road trip to Texas to see Wilma's son, her brother and some of our friends.

After Texas went to Mississippi to visit with Wilma's family. Her mom had fallen and broken her leg several weeks, but this didn't keep her down. Wilma and her sister Geraldine took their mom, dad and their mom's brother, Uncle Red to a family reunion . The picture above is Wilma's mom (with broken leg) and her mom's sister (Aunt Lora).

L-R: Kenny, Connie, Imogene, Joan, Aunt Catherine, Geraldine, Uncle Red, Wilma Jean, Aunt Lora & Claudine.

Imogene and Wilma grew up doing all sorts of funny stuff for pictures so Imogene decided to throw a funny in on this family shot. Her brother Kenny & sister Connie posing around Aunt Lora.

I know they look like senior citizens, but Four of the six children pose here.

Aunt Lora, Aunt Catherine, Uncle Red and Wilma's mom, Claudine.

Missing from the picture is the oldest, Aunt Ruby who currently lives in Louisanna and the youngest, Aunt Vivian who was at the reunion, but busy with the auction at the time of the photo.

Uncle Red and Aunt Lora are twins. Uncle Red use to have Red Hair (hence, his nick name being Red). His real name is Lois.

They are 82 years old.

Here's a picture of Aunt Vivian that Wilma was able to collect before they left the reunion.

The Sibley Warnock reunion is held every October, but this is the only one that Wilma has ever been able to attend.

This year it was held on Wilma and Wink's 11th Anniversary. October 11, 2008.

Danny Gordon and his girlfriend were able to make the reunion.

But this photo was taken with the joking statement that if they find our boat somewhere on the seas, they could have a boat ride.

Just keep a look out.

Wilma's dad, Hardy was happy for their visit.

Mama Cat purrs excitedly when you exit the family home.

Yellow, the dog hasn't missed many meals.

She is a pleasant and happy dog who's loyal to Wilma's parents. Someone just dumped her off around their home when she was just a puppy.

Wilma's cousin, Kenneth Owen White and his wife Dale have about 60 acres in Yazoo City, Mississippi. One of Wink and Wilma's new hobbies is walking creek beds looking for Petrified Wood.

We found several nice pieces of petrified wood, but the prettiest piece is the piece they are kneeling on.

This picture is not flattering of the petrified tree trunk, but it's amazing. He also found an entire petrified log which required him to use a tractor to bring it up from the creek.

Here, Wilma and Kenneth pose with the Four Wheeler that Kenneth loaned Wink and Wilma to get way back in the woods to the creek.

Wink and Wilma Thornton, October 11, 2008

Happy 11th Anniversary.

We bought ourselves these handy overalls from a store that Wilma went to as a child "Black & Whites". It was a step back in time. Nothing has changed at all. The store even smelled the same. Amazing - Wilma didn't want to leave the store.

On display at the condo were several pieces of petrified wood and petrified oysters that we found at Wilma's brothers creek.

Mississippi use to be a shallow ocean 40,000 years ago and there are many oysters that were petrified. We also found several sea fossils.

Kenneth found a tooth from a Mammoth. Other interesting fossils like the tooth are on display at the Yazoo City Museum.

Mississippi Petrified Forrest is located in Flora, MS which is just a little south of Yazoo City.

When we returned to the boat, it was time to fill up with Diesel. We only needed about 400 gallons. This is just a top off as we still had about 700 gallons on board.

Diesel was about $3.40 a gallon including tax.

Wilma's good friend Adam hosted a coctail party on Friday, October 17th.

Wilma drove down from Green Cove Springs to Sarasota for the party and to visit with her sister who came in for a seminar in Orlando.

Adam Chicoine and Wilma Thornton

"I told him Mauve, not Orange"

Mary Lynn Desjarlais, Attorney at Law

and Wilma Thornton

This is my friend and my attorney.

Wilma Thornton and Janice Yoder

Janice use to be the office secretary where Wilma worked as a Real Estate Broker Salesperson.

Janice still is the office secretary at a different location. Wilma is still a Real Estate Broker, but currently not working for a living.

Wilma's great nephew Jax hanging out with Sara, the sea dog. Sara was enjoying her shore leave at the condo in Sarasota.

Sara's full name is Sara Sota, wonder where we got that from.

While Wilma's sister, Betty was in Sarasota visiting, they decided to go out for dinner.

Wilma, Betty, Tom (Betty's husband) and Jax (Betty's grandson) went out to The Village on Siesta Key for dinner at To Jo's and had Tappan Yakki.

Our chef really warmed things up for us on this chilly evening.

Now, let's get down to the Police Chase. Here's what the Sarasota Herald-Tribune said in their paper.

SARASOTA, FL -- A man robbed two people Sunday in Sarasota, fled with his girlfriend to Siesta Key and was caught after a police chase, authorities say. The duo, Billy J. Donley and Tammey L. Quinones, first robbed a man Sunday at noon in the 2400 block of Eighth Street, police reports say. Donley then used the man's ATM card and was seen in surveillance footage driving off in a Lincoln Town Car. At 2 p.m., Donley approached a woman riding a bicycle along School Avenue, police say. He shoved a gun in her chest, said "I'm dead (expletive) serious" and demanded money, according to reports. The woman shoved him out of the way and rode away. At 5 p.m., the green Lincoln was seen on Siesta Key. After a short chase, Donley, 49, got out and ran off. He was captured at 6 p.m. and charged with both robberies. Quinones, 40, was accused of driving the getaway car. Both are in jail. Police say woman used a counterfeit $20 bill.

From Wilma, here are the rest of the details. The Green Lincoln sped along Midnight Pass Road crashing through the Gate of our condo, skidding to a halt just before crashing into the condo's swimming pool.

Wilma took a picture of the get away car below.
Her sister Betty, great nephew Jax, and Sara the sea dog were checking out the car's flat tire being careful not to touch any evidence. According to other residents, the woman grabbed her bag and ran while the man jumped into the sea channel and swam. A helicopter and sherriff's boat both responded to assist in the search. The woman was capture trying to get out of our complex. The man hid in the mangrove bushes, but the sherriff search every bush and dock until he was found.

Luckily, Wilma's family had just gone inside from the Pool.

Back at Green Cove Springs, Vegas Girl, a new GH47 was just launched. Her new owners are Heath and Carol Caldwell.

The boat arrived early in the morning and was launch and assemble with flybridge then piloted around to be docked behind Cloud X.

Ryan is doing a great job of cleaning up the outside and Mirage's crews have been over working to get it ready for the owners.

Wink and Wilma along with Sara the sea dog will be leaving Green Cove Springs hopefully on November 1, 2008 heading south and toward the Bahamas.

SEPTEMBER 1 - 13 SARASOTA, FL

2008-09-13T17:31:00.031-04:00

During our time on the Hard, Sara the sea dog kept her mind off the weather by bathing and comforting all of her little babies. Some of her favorite babies are: Heart (pink), Snow Ball (the silver bunny), Hippo (tan) and Alligator (green). She's a gentle and sweet Mommie. As long as we were out of the water, Wilma decided it would be advantageous to touch up the bottom paint, especially around the running gear and the chines.

After 2 gallons of Trinidad paint, Wilma and Frank (you can hire him reasonably) almost completely painted the bottom. This will get us through till next summer. We had just had the entire bottom professionally painted last June. Frank lives on a boat on Pier 2. He's very reasonable, knowledgeable and handy. After the bottom was painted, Wilma decided that perhaps she would work on the port side of the boat - if you remember, this side still needed waxing. It looks like she's working her way to the top.

Wilma's mom had given us some Aloe plantings when we left Mississippi. Wilma finally had time to get them potted. They are temporarily being stored on the back of the bathtub.

The weather was very breezy while we were on the hard, but when Tropical Storm Fay came through, we had to close all the doors and windows because of rain. The first chance that we had, we went to Wal-Mart and purchased a $78 Window Unit that just fit into the Watch Cabin window. It kept us cool and comfy and we enjoyed pleasant sleeping.

On Wednesday, September 3rd, we were lifted from the Hard back into the St. John's River. It was good to be on the move - even if it was just a short trip to the dock. When we arrived at our spot on Pier 2, imagine Wilma's surprise when Wink said that he hit a piling as we left the lift area. Wilma was in the cockpit and never felt a thing. It was only a little scratch and Wink took it well - he has Mirage scheduled to come out and make the repair.

Wilma immediately connected the hose and pressure washer to remove all the dead bugs, dirt and sand that John Henry had collected over the week. She didn't stop with the outside either. The whole boat inside and out had to be scrubbed. Changes have also been made. The twin recliners were refit with special felt bottoms so away went the rugs....

Since Wilma's birthday present (a new saloon table) had come in, out went the old table. This one requires only one hand to raise it and fold up small when not in use as a kitchen table. Wilma's birthday is 9/11. (This year she celebrated on 9/10 because of medical test being done).

She has an ulcer - awaiting other test results.

Part of the clean up around John Henry include restocking the sewing box for the Bahamas. Wilma keeps her sewing machine and sewing goodies in the brown box right of the Entertainment Center.

The Galley has been completely cleaned out and re-organized.

We have reclaimed our Utility Room utilizing our new cabinets we had put in for Christmas last year. We've also reorganized the tools that we kept on the counter.

Our Inverter was giving us problems - so Wink bought a new one. It's identical to the one we had. He sent the old one in to be repaired. The Inverter people found the problem and made the repair. (We keeping the old one as a spare). The old Inverter was damaged when we received it in the mail on Friday. Wink has contacted the Inverter people and discussed the situation. We will drive to Orlando on Monday and they will check it out and mostly like repair it on-site at that time.... We'll see Monday.

During the clean out, we discovered that we have about a dozen or so things that need charging on a regular basis. We collected them together and started the process of charging everything back up. We have hand held walkie talkies, headset walkie talkies, portable VHF's, cell phones, battery chargers, camera chargers and ........ Wink is planning to build a shelf area to keep it all neat and tidy.

Most of this has been cleaned out since this picture and taken to the Condo. It seems to be an ongoing task - constantly cleaning out the boat. It's beginning to become apparent that "Less is Best".

We are just including a picture of our tub, because we have one. I think there are only two tubs in the fleet now - John Henry and Pokey.

Here is our downstairs hallway. It features our pantry on the right and our flag collection on the left. Wilma use to keep the flags in a drawer, but couldn't really remember which draw so now they just hang as decorations until needed. Very easy to find.

We appreciate our Stidd Chair in the Pilot House and very grateful to Ken Fickett for convincing us it was a great decision.

And speaking of appreciation, Bruce Webster made us two binocular holders last year for Christmas and we have so much enjoyed them. They keep the pilot house a lot neater.

Under the Pilot House sofa are two of the a/c units for the boat. The unit to the left was not getting enough air, it air intake is down stairs in the hallway. It freezes up routinely. The unit to the right has plenty of air and it's intake is in the pilot house. There is a wall between the two units under the sofa. We took a leap of faith and cut an air hole between the two units to supplement air intake. So far so good!

We also found some nice coat/hat racks at Wal-Mart that match our furniture. We placed one in the hallway going downstairs from the pilot house. This cabinet is also one of our Christmas presents to ourselves last year. We put two coat/hat racks in the utility room and one in the watch cabin. We also have one in our master stateroom.

Gale Force was taken out and put on the Hard for some repairs and to keep it out of the water while Hurricane Hannah went through and possibly Hurricane Ike.

As Ken and Becky were going out of the country during Hurricane season, both Semper Fi's were removed and put on the Hard to prevent damage. Joining them on the Hard is Avocet.

The Hard around Reynold Park really looked like a showroom for Great Harbour Trawlers.

Wink, Wilma and Sara went to Sarasota on Sunday, September 7th for some medical appointment and procedures. Wink received a great doctor's appointment from Dr. John and says that he's a poster man for improving his life style and surviving to enjoy his retirement.

Wink does have Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), but he's on the right meds to help him enjoy life.

Wilma - has an ulcer! Otherwise, she's in good shape. She's been working out at the local gym in Green Cove Springs and hopes to loose a few more pounds before heading back to the Bahamas.

While in Sarasota, Wilma went shopping for Wink's mom. Every year, we change out her wardrobe at the nursing home. Above, Wilma and Sara laying out the new clothes, matching them up for the nursing staff.

Anna is doing well, she has Alzheimer and can't remember much, but she enjoys singing and smiles all the time. The next picture is of Maria, her day nurse, who really loves taking care of her. She encourages her to sing and speak some Spanish.

We're heading back to Green Cove Springs, FL by car on Monday via Orlando to have the Inverter worked on. We hope the shrimp is running, because we'd like to do some shrimping.

Our other plans - as plans do - have changed.

We are not going to Germany this year. Our friends in Germany are having some medical issues and we have agreed to reschedule. Our trip to Germany included a stop in Texas for a week. As we have cancelled our tickets completely, we'll travel by car back to Texas for the same week as scheduled.

We'll stay a couple of days with Wilma's son and a few days with Lisa & Kevin Bradshaw. Then we'll go back by Wilma's sister Betty in Arkansas and Wilma's parents in Yazoo City, Mississippi. Wink and Wilma plan to hunt for some more petrified wood.

Wink was excited when he found these large pieces of petrified wood and the two petrified oyster shells to the right during the summer.

We'll return to the boat mid October as we have recheck doctor appointments for RA and the Ulcer before we leave for the Bahamas. We're planning to provision before we go to Sarasota for the last doctors visits. This way we can leave the car there with no worries.