Sunday, July 22, 2007

Finally starting to get structured, not organized, but structured..

Oh there are several good docs here. Couple decent dentists, too. I had my knee "aspirated" locally last year, and pumped full of steroids so I could go on a cruise to Alaska..he did a great job.

Wouldn't have any kind of surgery done here, but GP stuff certainly.

Riding the rip out from the beach...like flying over the bottom..zipping along at about 2-3 kts. Feels fast with mask and flippers, anyhow.



First year we were here we used a "loaner" boat. 17 ft. Boston Montauk, with a 96 Evinrude 70, a three cylinder two stroke. I seemed to work on it about as much as we used it the first couple months, it had been pretty neglected. After putting a threaded sleeve in a stripped spark plug hole, and replacing the fuel/oil pump with a leak in the diaphragm, she ran pretty good. The bimini ripped at the seams during a squall, and I re-sewed it with 30 lb. nylon kite string. Few other things. Great boat. We had her outside the reef in solid 6-7 ft. swells, several times. Sailed her into a marina one time out of gas with La Gringa standing on the bow holding a sweatshirt up, steering with just the skeg in the water. We sold it a few months ago to a local who bought it for his son's first boat. Still running strong, now on North Caicos.



A Hole. (I don't know WHY people keep calling me that???)



Have gotten used to diving with barracuda now. At first, they kinda made me nervous, but they are always around. This one followed me around for hours while I was searching a wreck site. I would glance over my shoulder and he would be a foot from my face. But every time I turned around to face him and try to get a photo, he would scoot off fifteen or twenty feet. Then I would turn around, and a few minutes later, there he was right behind me again. I think he wanted me to take him home or something.



Sail Provo:



Picnic spot steps from the water:



If ya fly into Pine Cay, be prepared for lengthy lines at the Arrival/Departure lounge:



And please pay attention to the airport advisory signs...



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It changes from day to day. Some of it is weather dependent, of course. Some of it is dependent on what else is going on. Right now its slow season and I am mostly involved in maintenance and modifications to three properties, while building a fourth, and looking for another property to build on. I do a lot of the work myself. Things just take a lot longer to accomplish here, too.

This week, I have about 300 or so 16 year old redwood louvers to remove, sand smooth, and re-install. I do a few, take a break, write something obnoxious THT...do a few more... fix a window crank, replace screens as needed etc.

Fortunately, all this is spread over two or more islands and we have to boat between them. We have slips for the boat on two islands we travel between the most, and we can grab our fishing rods and be outside the reef in literally minutes. Its pretty busy for being "retired".

The gaff-rigged schooner “Atabeyra" and her crew waiting for their charter to arrive:



Towing the hookah..


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Something wicked this way comes...



From first time we tried butterfly jigs. The part of the Jack the shark let us keep was still 18" long. Got a couple decent meals out of it..

View from Sapodilla Hill, which is littered with blocks of rock where sailors carved graffiti and their names and dates in the rocks while keeping lookouts.



Like this:





Lots of opinions here:



Haitian sloop impounded at South Dock. This is where all the freight comes into Providenciales:



The little critter right on the beach, close to the water, is a rock iguana. they swallow air, and basically inflate themselves, and swim from island to island.



Hang 40?



Later after a lot of whispering and arguing, these kids sent one of their braver ones up to me and asked me if I was "Goldberg". I didn't know who they were talking about, til I looked it up on the internet later. Goldberg is a wrestler, a white guy with a shaved head and a goatee. My wife still kids me about it.

I guess it’s true.....we DO all look alike...

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