We left.. With heavy hearts

But, we left... More later.
Dinner tonight was culture shock.
Highborne Cay is not Compass!

A Lot of Nothing

And we've been busy at it.
That's what happens here at Compass Cay, you get caught up in the islandness of the place and you don't do anything in particular, but a lot of things in general. In general we've been enjoying our island paradise and it's inhabitants.
It's always good hanging out with Tucker and his boys. We've become family over the years and they treat as such. Our boys, Radar and Mud, really love it here, they are treated as humans by everyone on the island. Everybody knows their names and watches after them. They have their favorite peeps and they tend to hang with them from time to time. Tucker has become enamored with Muddy and I've never seen him pay any attention to a dog. So Mud, the name Tuck calls him, sits at his feet when Tucker takes his afternoon siesta when a nice breeze is blowing.

Our friends from last year's stay were here when we arrived. Bart and Natalia were our dock neighbors for 2 months last summer. Nice folks on "Dusty Seas" a Viking Sport Fish.
They are leaving today, heading to the Abacos before heading home to Jupiter, FL. They're trying to talk us into doing the same and I must admit it does sound fun, We haven't been to the Abacos in a few years and we've been missing our friends there.
So we're torn... Home versus our former favorite place in the world. Hmmmm....

Tuck and I took the Kabota around the island to his Rental Houses. He's really fixed them up nicely and wanted me to do some promo shots for brochures.

 The Beach House

 The Beach House View of Crescent Beach

Mango House that overlooks Bonefish Creek

These are just proofs, I will process them later for the brochures when I have fast internet.

Speaking of internet... Word got out that I was the provider of internet service here on Compass so someone was always knocking on the boat with questions. It's not bad, I like to help out when I can.

One fellow who was Captain on a 102' Ocean Alexander, "Julia", sought me out when his boss couldn't get online. So I walked over and helped him tap into the net via his Ship Router. His boss was now happy. His mate, Carlos, was desperately trying to get online so he could Skype home. Seems he has a 2 month old child that he hasn't seen in a month. He doesn't speak English very well and I don't speak much Spanish, but we managed to get his iPod to hook up and he had Video Skype. He was so happy to see his baby. It was touching even to an old asshole such as me. Glad I could help.

That's how it is over here in the land of little. Everyone has something they bring to the island that's valuable. Mine is the internet. 

A day after I helped out the Captain and Mate of Julia the A/C on my boat died. I worked all morning trying to clean out the waterlines, but came up short. Only had one A/C that would work which was the stateroom A/C so we would be able to sleep anyway. 

I needed a circulating pump and some descaler to clean the lines. A friend suggested I ask one of the big boat guys. So I asked Joe, the Captain of Julia. He said he did have all that stuff and when he got back from taking his boss to another island he would come over and give me a hand.

A few hours later there he was with a pump, hoses, and Barnicle Buster. He and Carlos moved me out of the way and they went to work. 2 hours later all 4 units were flushed and working better than before. They wouldn't take money and said it was payback for my help getting his boss off his back about the internet. So, out of gratitude, I spent the next day making them some extra fine Memphis Style Ribs. They were ecstatic.

Julia on her way out of Compass. Hope to see them again.

I'm On A Boat

Never Say Never

We met these folks last year. Very nice people from Miami. Those who've read this blog for a while will remember the post I did last year. This is the boat that was used on a Saturday Night Live skit with Andy Samberg. If not you can see it here http://youtu.be/R7yfISlGLNU

The Owner/Captain gave Mel and me T-Shirts with the boat drawing on the back and on the front was a line from the rap song. Mel's said "With my swim trunks... and my flippie floppies. Mine said, Ridin on the backs of Dolphin doin jumps and shit." We will wear them with pride.

A new critter on Compass

Never had chickens before, but now there are several. Tuck doesn't like them, says they poop everywhere. Not sure if they're for eggs or eating... or like the goats, just there.

I know, I know... I've been remiss with the blog thing, but doing a lot of nothing is time consuming.

Not sure about the near future yet. May do the Abaco thing, but I hate to tell Tuck and the boys we're leaving so abruptly, I'm afraid it may hurt their feelings.

We'll see.

Adios,

Istaboa