Monday December 13th
Unable to sleep I get up at 04:30 after a restless night and dreams about my father. At the same time 2500 miles away my father is also having a restless night, his final one before he passes away later that morning. The storm continues to surge and roll us in our anchorage. We remain on the boat and wait out the storm. Because the boat is rolling we do not have satellite phone coverage and we can not get internet access. At this time my family tries to reach me to tell me the news of my father without success. We remain on board for the day on watch as the winds continue to howl. Our neighbour at the resort at Fowl Cay comes by the boat twice in his tender to check on us. The island behind us is named Big Majors Spot and is inhabited by goats, cats and pigs. We spot the pigs coming down to the beach for food. We hear the baby goats crying for their mother. With the large zoom lens on my camera I am able to capture them coming in and out of their cave. We spot them numerous times as we sit and wait out the storm. In the evening we teach Paul to play some new card and dice games to distract us from the rolly motion of the boat. We had not chosen our location well but at this point we just sit tight and ride out the remainder of the storm.
Tuesday December 14th through Tuesday December 20th
Another rolly night but as dawn breaks the winds start to decrease and more to north bringing a calmer sea state. We dinghy into Staniel Cay for a walk about town, lunch at the Yacht Club and internet access. What awaits me is 20 messages from my family that say “call me”. Within minutes I am making plans to fly home and tend to funeral arrangement for my dad. Our friend Paul agreed to travel with Ted to George Town, Great Exuma and fly out of there on Friday allowing me to fly home, for which I was extremely grateful. I make arrangements with Watermaker Air to get the last seat from Staniel Cay to Fort Lauderdale the next day. From Fort Lauderdale to Charlotte, NC to Boston, MA to Presque Isle Maine where someone will pick me up to drive to Grand Falls, New Brunswick. I missed my connection in Fort Lauderdale because the Watermaker Air flight lands at 1:05pm rather than 11:30 am. When I questioned our pilot as to why I was told an 11:00 or 11:30 arrival, he simply said “not sure why they told you that”. This is after all their daily flight why couldn’t they get the details right? Their mistake caused me to miss my first flight which through off all the other connections and I had to spend the night in Boston with the final flight on Thursday. While waiting for my flight to Charlotte I discovered that the arrangement had been already made and that I would be arriving the day of the funeral. It was wonderful to see my family and especially nice to spend time with my niece who I had not seen in about 12 years. As difficult as funerals may be, they do bring families together.
Tuesday December 21st
Winter Solstice marks my arrival back to the Bahamas on the day the days start to get longer. I left Presque Isle Maine the day before and landed in Boston in a snow storm but manage to catch my next flight to Pittsburg, PA that night. After a layover in Pittsburg I catch the next flight to Nassau, clear customs in the Bahamas and wait three hours for my final flight to GeorgeTown. Ted greeted me at the dinghy dock. I shed my sweater, socks and shoes and enjoyed my first dinghy ride across the harbour to the Boatel at anchor just off Sand Dollar Beach. After a world-wind trip to New Brunswick and back it felt great to be home!
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