Lala woke up early because of some banging on the boat. The main sheet had come loose, and the boom was banging back and forth as we rolled in the anchorage. She was like a walking zombie barely able to keep her balance or think a thought other than “stop the banging!” Turns out that the swinging boom broke our anchor light cord. Bummer. We’ll have to fix that too. She came back to bed and we went back to sleep.

A while later I woke to my watch alarm which goes off early in the morning. The sun was just rising I blew the conch shell out over the waters to greet the coming day, and I turned on the SSB radio and brought it to bed. We listened to Chris Parker’s weather forecast while still half asleep. Everything sounds good for staying in this anchorage for the next few days. There is no protection here for winds from the west to north, so this is not a place to stay if a front comes through.

Fell back asleep again. Damn we were tired. Didn’t really regain consciousness until 11:00 or so. Then I spoke these sacred words: “coffee” and “banana pancakes.” That magically roused Lala from some deep otherwordly place, and without opening her eyes, she repeated the mantra: “banana pancakes” with a big ass smile on her face.

I did up the Wee Happy coffee double strong with a double dose of condensed milk. That really got us going!

We struggled to assemble and inflate our dinghy from the land of giants on the Albin Vega’s wee foredeck so that we could get ashore today. That almost brought us to tears with frustration because we still haven’t recovered from our exhausting passages. Nevermind that though! One jump into the crystal clear waters from the deck and all troubles were washed away.

The water here is clean and perfect. It’s just the right temperature to stay in all day long. It just brings a smile to all the sad places inside of you. You cant help but become one big smile. While we were lingering in the water, soaking in its healing powers, over came a couple from the next boat over in the anchorage, s.v Gitana Del Mar. Michael and Jennifer introduced themselves and told us all the benefits of this sweet little spot.

Here there are deep Blue Holes, unlimited delicious fresh water, a produce market, a woman who does laundry, gasoline, $5 lunches and dinners, and Captain Morgan’s treasure cave. Yeah, for real! Captain Morgan (the pirate, you know) stashed his booty in a cave just a ¼ mile from here. You can just go explore it. It’s not a business or anything. There’s great fishing and snorkeling just across the bay too. Not only that, but Jennifer hit us with the fatal blow after that. “Do you want to do yoga in the yurt over there on the beach?”

That’s really going for the jugular. I haven’t been able to stand up in six months now. Yoga? DAMN STRAIGHT! In a yurt too! Over a beautiful beach in the Bahamas with nothing but a few sailboats around! DAMN! We hit the jackpot here. It can really pay off to follow your intuition and go off the beaten path!

Turns out that Michael and Jennifer are from Connecticut, although you couldn’t tell from their tan skin. They are traveling on their nice sloop with their two children, Moriah and James. They came to do yoga too, along with an Irishman named Allen who is also anchored here.

The yurt has two floors and no walls. We did yoga on the second floor overlooking the water from up above it all with a delicious warm breeze blowing over our bodies. Is this for real?!?!

We rowed back our Albin Vega sailboat any made dinner in the tiny little kitchen with our beautiful new stove. Played with the kitties. Still tired, but relaxed and full of wonder and gratitude now. Blew the conch at sunset four times. Once when it just touched the horizon line, twice while it was setting, and once when it was fully gone. Seeing the sun rise and set every day is becoming a spiritual practice of sorts. It helps to connect me to the cycles of this beautiful world that give us life and meaning.

Breathe deep and rejoice. You are alive.

Much love,
Wee Happy.