Glory Days: Suddenly....

"All good things are wild and free."

Henry David Thoreau

Suddenly, I find myself getting on another jet plane.

Today I am headed back to the Abacos . (… One deep breath here.)

I am now headed back to retrieve Glory Days since leaving her there 26 days ago…. Suddenly, things can change so fast...

The new International airport Terminal in Atlanta was awing... Wow.. What a place….

Passport in hand, bags in tow, I wait for flight 437 to take me back ... Back home... I feel most at home when I'm on my boat.... There, everything is so concise, organized, and limitless.

Here we go again..

The new Atlanta international Terminal is ... Well speechless ...

In flight... I love going places... Take me someplace I can love.

COMMENTARY...

Being back in Atlanta for nearly a month was somewhat difficult for me... But I had a feeling that it would be....

Still, there are times when you must simply put the needs of others ahead of your own. As a parent and a son, I realize more than ever that others depend on me, and it is a good feeling to be needed, even if under less than desirable conditions for your loved ones.

I was glad that I could be there, even if it meant leaving Glory Days behind in an unsure location. It didn't take long to start missing the big blue sky, the expansive water line, the full uncluttered horizon, and the daily freedom one enjoys while living aboard a sail boat taking in the sites at your own personal pace and free will.

God, I missed this sailing life so much.... Each day is too short here… thankfully, there's always tomorrow…

However, In just two days tomorrow will be yesterday...

A walk in the woods offered some solace while I was back as an earth dweller...

Suddenly I found myself operating lawn mowers, weed eaters, and power blowers to win the battle over grass, weeds and leaves.

Suddenly things like vacuum cleaners, tvs,and automobiles were commonplace in my life again…

Suddenly, I'm staring into a closet that has 25 choices of shirts I could wear today. Suddenly, I see the need to downsize more than ever... I've been a pack rat too much of my life and hard choices will soon face me as I willing think smaller.

Suddenly, the sea is a distant memory hundreds of miles away... Patience grasshopper.

When home, It was good to see my mom, daughter, and my old friends at Unity again ... and to play some music with the Thursday night gang again.... all good stuff.

An addition to all this relative chaos, I turned 60 years young on May 15 while home, tho it was an uneventful day, spent clearing out weeds and lots of spring growth from around Moms property... I did enjoy a great Japanese take out dinner tho... Is there really a more perfect food than that of a grilled shrimp?

Happy Birthday to Mom and to Me!
May 14 and May 15. She's the best.

I did a lot of soul searching before taking this window of opportunity to make a dash back to the islands and start bringing the boat home... The only problem is that I don't wanna leave once I get back here... It's a consciousness that's hard to explain.

Back in Marsh Harbour just in time for the sunset

Arriving in Marsh Harbour, things worked out well. I met 3 young guys from Boston on the flight who were down for a fishing trip... They had a car waiting at the airport and gave me lift into town, thus saving me a $20 cab fare... Karma in action… Suddenly, I'm 20 bucks richer.

Once In Marsh Harbour, I heard music pouring out of a waterfront hangout called Snappas... enter me. Let me tell you, The most amazing horn band was playing an endless version of Don't Worry Every Little Thing Is Gonna Be Alright ... tubas, trumpets, bugles, congas, bongos all somehow in unison as the 15-20 musicians danced about sweating for a welcoming crowd of onlookers... I'm sure this little video below will not do it justice, but it was just too much of a Real Bahamian moment not to record it…

The return trip to marsh Harbour had taken forever it seems... 24 hours in fact if you count the extended layover times between flights and the night I had to sleep outside the ferry terminal because there was no 9pm ferry running….Yep…. I will explain below...

First tho, It's no easy task to get to Hopetown in one day from Atlanta. It requires a flight to Nassau, and a 2nd commuter flight to Marsh Harbour on a small airline with very limited flight times. On top of that you have to then catch a ferry boat to travel the final 10 miles to Hopetown….

I was counting on a 9 p.m. ferry which turned out to be non existent... After hitchhiking to the ferry terminal, I suddenly found myself clutching my 2 bags and with no place to go... And the sun was setting so beautifully ... At least the sun was chhillin and a stronger than average breeze was blowing hard on my brow... hmmm... what to do?

So I scouted the area, and decided that slipping around the locked gates and onto the ferry boat would be my best bet for the night... after all, the boat is open to the sea air, and they have seat cushions I could place on the floor for a bed and life jackets I could use for a pillow... So here I am illegally horizontal on the floor of the ferry boat called Donnie 2….

Here's a photo of my makeshift bed on the floor of the ferry bed... it reminded me of my old days where I had slept in some far stranger places than this when in a pinch…. (shhhhhh! don't tell anybody.)

hee hee… suddenly, problem solved...

I laid down at 8:30, but had a hard time drifting off to sleep that early... It was not a good nights sleep at all .... tossing, turning all night wondering if someone might board the ferry or try to bust me...there was a full moon staring me down... it was so bright... But never curse the moon... Or the sun for that matter no matter how much it gets in your eyes... What's the point?

A night of cryptic sleep ended at 4:30 a.m. as I packed my gear and slid around the locked fence one more time... I wanted to be sure I was off the boat before dawn, plus I was suddenly wide awake anyway ..... I read my e-book on the Ipad while lounging on a picnic table just outside the ferry terminal... at least THIS is legal... Not sure why I chose to read Into The Wild this week, but for some reason it jumped out at me...

After the 7 a.m. ferry ride back to Hope Town, Suddenly I'm back on glory days... It seems so ordinary to pick up where I left off.

In Hopetown, this building is the office of the Bahama Telephone Co., BTC… I love their hours of operation… Closed every single day except for Tuesdays, approximate hours 10-2 usually... It's hit or miss in de island mon... I got my SIM card topped off here.

It's hard to leave Hope Town... It's just a perfect little town.

If I could afford it, I'd take my new bride to the Hope Town Habor Lodge... if I had a bride… I met a newlywed couple here that was also from Georgia.

Tiki bar with a tiki bar view...

This view is 17 steps looking south from the tiki bar at the Hope Town Harbour Lodge...

... And now looking north

...little boats linger for their moment in the sun... I've seen lots of sexy small wooden boats here.

....she knows…
She knows just about everything that is coming before I do.

317 pounds of essential fluids from the Lighthouse Marina... . Diesel, water, and gasoline… good to go now

So long Hopetown… I'll be doing a short day sail today to Great Guyana Cay.

Here I am in the photo below working on this blog while parked underneath the deck of Capt. Jack's Restaurant using their wifi connection… notice the fishes keeping me company…