After a summer with 4 weddings and a lot of work we returned to the boat. On the way we stopped off in NYC to spend a week or so with our good friends on their sailboat 2 Audecious. They were docked in Boat Basin Marina at 79 St on the Hudson River in downtown New York. It was amazing. 
As you do in NYC, we walked and walked, ate at some very fine restaurants, (including the Russian Tea Room pictured to the left), saw some wonderful galleries and Broadway shows. We walked the High Line. An old raised railway they converted to a raised walk and park. Sharen had to call home and tell the kids about it.
We rented a car and all drove to the biggest boat show in North America at Annapolis via Washington, DC where we did the quick drive-by of all the biggies. The boats were amazing and we were able to do some dreaming of the next boat and also find out some answers from the experts on some nagging issues on our boat. (Yes. Here we are eating again! We eat a lot!)We left Marianne and Tommy to drive the rental back to NYC and we flew off to Halifax for our close friends Ross and Grace's son's wedding. It truly was great. One of the most energetic weddings ever.
Because we enjoyed Annapolis so much we decided to fly back and see it properly and then drive the US east coast to Miami.
While in Annapolis, we toured the Naval Academy. This picture is of them lining up just to go for lunch. We were fortunate to get a one way drop off rental and had a great time. 
We also decided to enjoy it properly and stay in the nicest hotels we could reasonably afford. It was the end of the tourist season so we got some unbelievable deals. These are some cars parked outside of one of the hotels. (That is our rental on the left.)We drove the Chesapeake Bay dropping into marinas along the way.
Then on to historic Williamsburg where we stayed in an old 17th century house and enjoyed the re-creation of the war of independence. 
We drove the outer islands that protected the Intercoastal Waterways and saw many boats slowly making their way south as the winter cold approached.We stopped in to visit my sister at her daughter's new place in Hilton Head and then on to Charleston where we stayed and dined downtown. We took the bus tour around town as we did in Savannah. Both are very interesting historic cities.
The cap of them all was Saint Augustine. Here we stayed in a historic hotel which was the piste de resistance of our tour. Quite wonderful. This is our tour guide. He was wonderful to listen to.
On our arrival in Miami we stocked up on boat parts, picked up our supplies that we had couriered into a West Marine store and loaded everything on our flight to Freeport. We were picked up by our sailing friend Barry from Figment and off to the boat. It was like seeing an old friend. Great to be back. We stayed in Ocean Reef Marina much longer then we had intended. 
Way too many parties, diving for lobster and fish fries to leave. One special event was the Halloween Party at the resort. Sharen's costume won the prize. 
Another great pass time was discovering where our new friend Steve was playing and following as groupies. He plays great dance music and of course we love to dance.
We were also waiting the arrival of our new dinghy. Our first one seemed to have been made from the wrong material and deteriorated very quickly. After 2 weeks of it sitting in the Miami warehouse of the delivery company, it did not arrive until I told them to cancel it and send it back to the co we bought it from in California. It arrived the next day. Wow!! What service!! 
We toured Grand Bahamas Island and stopped into Old Bahama Bay Resort where John Travolta has a place. (I think his son died there.) 
This is the marina. Few boats stay here as it is over twice the cost of a normal marina. We are all very happy it is there as it is the first spot to come into after doing the run from Florida.
At long last we were sad to say good bye to the group in Ocean Reef. Several had to return to Canada and we were getting ready to depart south.
My sister Sally and husband Bob arrived for the "4th" time (I think they like this life also), and with the new dinghy stowed on deck and the old one given to a neighbour who had looked after our boat over the summer, we were off on a 2 day run to Nassau. 
We overnighted on the Bahama Banks with no sight of land. Really neat. It was a beautiful starlite night. Off early the next morning, we arrived in Nassau harbour and tied up to Harbour Central Marina shortly after midday. 
This is a picture of the dock master D'angelo. He brought his family by bus to meet us. We rented a car and toured the island and of course Atlantis on Paradise Island. 
(We took this picture of Atlantis on the way in). We became intrigued with an area called Lyford Cay. 
It is on the exclusive west end of the island and was developed by a guy by the name of Harold Christie in the early 1940's. It became the home of E.P. Taylor, the Canadian financier, and presently is home to Peter Nygaard, Sean Connery, Sylvester Stallone, etc.etc. Harold became famous as he is the man generally suspected of murdering the richest person in the British Empire at the time, Canadian Sir Harry Oates which spawned several books and local gossip. His involvement with the Nazi loving Duke of Windsor who was shoved out of Britain to become the Bahamian Governor at the time of this murder and the subsequent cover-up is a great tale. 
We also visited Lakeview Memorial Gardens. This is where Anna Nicole Smith is buried as well as the less famous John Templeton.
We welcomed Terry & Neil back to the boat. They had arrived several days early and enjoyed some relaxation at Atlantis as well as some diving.
Neil braved the slide which tunnels thru a shark pool. We toured the beach area with them. 
Here is Sally and Sharen on a walk through the Atlantis Gardens. Sally and Bob departed and when the weather broke a few days later we were off on a wonderful sail down the Exumas. 
We stopped in all the spots we did on our way down last time to show Terry and Neil the iquanas on Allan Cay, the Thunderball Cave etc. 
Neil and I also tried our hand at diving for lobster. A skill we have not fully mastered as yet. Terry had to get back to her medical practice and we had to get back as we learned we lost a dear friend back home. We left the boat with Bob at Kevali House on Stocking Island. He is fantastic.We had a great Christmas with our family. We had a terrific Christmas Carol Sing at our house on Boxing Day and are now enjoying a month in the mountains in a house we were able to rent.
We look forward to returning to the boat and spending the balance of the winter in the Bahamas touring the islands we have not had a chance to see as yet.
