Boom De Yada: Visitors and the 35th Annual Cruisers Regatta

The 35th Annual Cruiser's Regatta was a ton of funny. We had events like blind dinghy races, coconut challenges, regulation and fun volleyball, bocce ball, scavenger hunt, Hold'em tournament, softball game against the local Bahamian team (lots of fun with stands full of spectators), 9 holes of beach golf and two sail boat races in the harbour and around Stocking Island. Our team won fun volleyball and I won at Bocce ball - a bottle of rum for each win...does it get any better?

Sailing dinghy race

Our friends from Guelph, Scott and Joanne, came for a 5 day visit. (Again, disappointed that we lost all pictures from this time) This was our 4th four night vacation with them and as usual we had a great time! We made a foursome for the beach golf...nine holes along the beach on the ocean side...just like playing Pebble Beach. The Regatta supplied the one iron, balls and tees. We walked in the water to cool off when needed.

Dwayne going up to bat

Robert at the Rake & Scrape with the large hat having fun

Our son, Robert, flew in on Tuesday for a week and Neil flew in on Wednesday for 4 nights. They made friends quickly and we had a great time at the Wednesday dinner and dance at Chat & Chill (that has been given the nickname - 'Chat & Spill'). Outside of the Regatta, every Tuesday and Thursday night at the local St. Francis Resort & Marina they hold a Hold'em Tournament for the cruisers. It's a $5 buy in for about 50 players and all money goes back to the players. Previously, I won twice and came in second once. Then Robert came first and won $100. Then Julie won as well. I was getting quite a reputation at the poker table. It was great to see two of our boys and we were sorry to see them go...of course they wanted to stay longer.

Since the Regatta has ended the winds have been blowing strong. People are starting to leave and with the first weather window coming this Saturday we had a fire on the beach and a pot-luck BBQ to say goodbye to a few. There must have been about 50 boats that left that day going North (to go back home) or South to continue their cruising life-style. It was sad saying good-bye to many new friends we had made...reminded me of grade school when summer would come and you wouldn't see your friends until September. The anchorage just wasn't the same. It became difficult to round up enou

gh players for our daily 14:00 volleyball game. We decided to move from VolleyBall Beach to Monument Beach...it was nice to be in a quieter anchorage; no water taxi passing every 30 minutes.