Fourth Festivities

We kicked off our festivities for the Fourth of July by going to see the fireworks in Southlake on Sunday evening. Gavin was very excited for the show to begin. We got there about 40 minutes before the fireworks, not knowing how long it would take us to find a good spot. We would have had the perfect spot, but a SUV pulled into our line of vision. Oh well, I'm sure it wasn't intentional.

Gavin sat in his own little chair waiting for the show to begin and even ran around a bit to burn off energy or stay awake.

Finally at 9:25, the show began. Thankfully, Gavin cuddled with me for a bit.

Then he decided he needed to sit in his own chair, so we moved it so he could see.He told us he liked the orange ones best and asked Dave if he liked the green ones. At that point, he decided to go sit with Dave. Once the show was over, he said, "I go home now." We assured him as soon as we packed up our chairs that we would go home. "I go home now." On the short walk to the car, "I go home now." Once in the car, "I go home now." En route, "I go home now." I guess the boy was tired. Once home, we used a wash cloth to remove the Off that we bummed from a nearby family to ward off the mosquitoes. We both mentioned bringing it, but forgot. As we sat there, we talked about the contents of a kit that need to stay in the car; I suppose I need to work on getting that together.

Monday morning, we headed to the north end of Trophy Club for the 4th of July Parade. Again, we waited and waited. Finally the parade came.

Gavin enjoyed the fire trucks.
A red corvette (just for GrandBob).

And, Gavin cleaned up. He got 2 lollipops, a pen, a key chain, and some other candies. He really needed this orange sucker. He said it was "yummy strawberry." After we got home and he finally finished the sucker, Mama declared independence from diapers and potty training began. More on that later. We're still trying to see how it all turns out.

Sunday's Kayaking Adventure

One of the selling points when we read reviews for Shannas Cove was the presence of kayaks. Friday after we got settled, we headed down to the beach for a bit. After sitting for a while, Dave was ready to move. The kayaks were all tandem, so we headed for the Port Royal point of the island to the south of the beach where we were. Gabi told us that you could walk there and back in about 1.5 hours. Dave settled into the front of the kayak, and I matched his paddle strokes as much as possible. We had a nice paddle there and back.

Saturday morning Dave headed fishing, and I enjoyed what we discovered was a traditional Bahamian resort breakfast of:

fresh pineapple, papaya, cantaloupe, oranges, and passion fruit

assorted cheeses, ham, and turkey

thinly sliced tomatoes sprinkled with salt and pepper

fresh bread

And if that wasn't enough, then I could order eggs (scrambled, sunny side up, over easy, omlet), bacon, sausage, and/or pancakes.

After that, I lay on the beach. Dave returned from his fishing trip, and we both laid on the beach.

Sunday, it was time for another kayaking adventure. Another guest at the resort, who will have been there 46 nights at various times over the last two years for scuba diving, recommended snorkeling off of the point we had kayaked to Friday. But Frank recommended paddling up to the north point on the island to snorkel off of the reefs up there.

A short paddle around a couple of bends, brought us to a beautiful beach. There are no houses in view. There is only one house just past Shannas Cove; it belongs to Sidney Poitier's granddaughter. No one lives on the very northern point of the island at this time.

After walking around a bit, we headed out to snorkel. I had to reacquaint myself with the claustrophobic feeling I get when wearing a snorkel and mask. After much reassurance from Dave, I was ready to go. The fish we saw on the reef were beautiful, brightly colored wonders of the sea. We even saw a 2-3 foot barracuda; it was swimming past us and paid us no attention. Occasionally, I would lose focus on the beautiful fish and begin to think about how deep the water was out there. Then I'd look up and notice how far it seemed we were from the shore. So after a bit, I was done. I sat with my toes in the sand while Dave explored some more.

Finally, it was time to bid the beach good-bye and head back to get ready for dinner.

I mentioned breakfast earlier; I'll mention dinner now. Friday evening, we were asked if "7-7:30" would be good for dinner. We arrived a bit after 7; no one was around. So, we had a drink as other diners began to assemble. We ate maybe around 8:15, such was the pattern each evening. The meals were great. Friday night was steak night, so we had a rib-eye and a porter house steak. I'm not sure who ate which. Sunday evening we had red snapper. Monday night was mahi mahi; and Tuesday evening we had duck. Each meal was preceded by a salad with lots of delicious tomatoes--one night a chopped tomato salad with a balsamic vinegar reduction, one night tomato and feta slices, one night a salad with sauteed mushrooms. The desserts were small and perfect: a vanilla parfait, a coconut yummy-something, tasty ice cream, or mousse.

Now, to continue the kayaking pictures. We saw this cave in the limestone cliff as we paddled up. So, I got the camera out of the wet bag as we passed it on the paddle back. I think Dave was apprehensive about the tandem kayak because he's heard so much bad info from die-hard kayakers. However, I think he realized a leisurely paddle with me following his paddling lead was not that bad after all ;)

Shannas Cove, Orange Creek, Cat Island, The Bahamas

At the airport in Nassau, we went not to the big, new International terminal we arrived to, but instead to the domestic terminal. There was one security line. We didn't have to take our shoes off. There were about 6 gates and one waiting area. When our flight was called, all of the passengers (15-20) headed outside and walked across the tarmac to a Saab jet-propeller plane. We've flown on small planes like this in Minnesota, so we knew what to expect.

A short 35 minute flight had us landing in Arthur's Town on Cat Island.
Here's the terminal in Arthur's Town.
We waited for a few minutes for luggage to be brought over. Meanwhile, our hostess, Gabi, found us an introduced herself. You can actually see her and a couple that she was bringing to the airport for their return to Houston to the right of the terminal.

After we got our bags, we headed to Shannas Cove after first stopping for gas for the compressor for the dive equipment at the resort. (Gas was $6.25 a gallon.) Gabi was also gracious enough to stop at the Orange Creek Grocery store (think really small convenience store-really small), where we picked up a few Diet Cokes, a box of Triscuits ($5.45), gallons of water, and a few other items. Then, we took the one road on the island to where the pavement ended, then to where the dirt road ended, then up a rocky, washed-out driveway to Shannas Cove.

Here is a view of the resort from the beach. There are 5 bungalows, plus the main house with the private residence, kitchen, dining room, and bar.
The beach was beautiful and empty!


The bungalows are well-constructed with concrete interiors filled with lots of cushions. The sofa offered a comfortable reading spot. At the end of the season, all of the furnishings will be removed and the rooms will be pressure washed and painted for the upcoming season. And, in case of hurricane, the interiors can be quickly stripped and replaced.
A view of our sun porch:
A better picture from the beach. Our bungalow is the one pretty much in the center of the picture below.
The stairs up from the beach were steep.

A better shot of our bungalow.

The view we woke up to each morning.

And, beach pictures. (Not really sure what happened to the formatting, but enjoy the pictures.)

Ten Year Anniversary Trip: Nassau

Last week, Dave and I took off to the Bahamas to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. Not long after Gavin was born, we put the Grandmas on alert that we were planning a get-away and asked them to come take care of Gavin. Little did we know then just how much we needed to get away to recharge.

Thursday morning, we left DFW headed to Nassau. Since our ultimate destination is on Cat Island, and there are only two flights daily from Nassau to Cat Island, we spent our first night in Nassau at a bed and breakfast. It was in an old three story home high on a hill overlooking the ocean. The porch offered comfortable seating and amazing views.


Check out the limestone hill out of which a road was carved.
This offers another view.

Dave enjoyed the beer of the Bahamas, Kalik. I have to admit, for beer it wasn't bad.

A bit later, we decided to walk along the shore to dinner. There wasn't a lot of beach, but lots of beautiful rocks.

We had dinner and then headed back to that great deck. We were up early to get to the airport for our 9am flight to Cat Island.

Bahamas Fishing Report

The Orange Creek flats at low tide.

I can't really say that I have a whole lot of experience fishing in saltwater. But if you fly fishing and you are in the Bahamas, you have to try to catch some bonefish. Bonefish are very popular to fly fishers because they are really strong and fast, and you pretty much have to sightfish for them to have any amount of success. While they are really fun to catch, they are also very difficult to catch. Wind, tides, and cloud cover all are things that you have to deal with to be in the right place at the right time just to have the opportunity to place your fly ever so delicately in front of a feeding fish without spooking it. Not an easy task I learned.....

I jumped some barracuda here and also got a follow by a 2' shark from this cut. Unfortunatly I didn't bring along any wire for a bite tippet or it would have been alot more fun and less bite offs.

The first "bonefish" that I cast to ended up being a larger puffer(?) fish. He was fun to look at, but fought like a napkin.

One windy afternoon I saw a stingray who was fishing too.

Everyone that I have ever talked to about bonefishing said that you have to get a guide when you first go so that you can learn to see the fish in the water, and just shorten the learning curve. But, I'm not one to listen to everyone else. I set out to catch a bonefish on my own without the help of a guide, and ended up with some success. One fish landed and three other hook ups with fish that broke be off on mangroves or popped a knot.

Conditions were never ideal for flats fishing. Strong winds, clouds (can't see down in the water) and fishing at low tide all contributed to lack of success at different times. But, I was super happy that everything seemed to come together on the last day that I was fishing. He wasn't a huge fish, but he fought as hard as a 5-6lb bass and with alot more endurance. With a little more practice and a bit more experience, I think that turning a one fish trip into a 10+ fish trip is a definite possibility.