Just —Crew Istaboa— again

It was nice having Karen over for a few days... Gets us up and doing stuff. We had a lot of fun (sometimes too much) running around in the Albury, snorkling, harvesting conch, and other island type things. (Rum)

The first day we rode over to one of the many deserted beaches and dropped anchor. Got a nice shot of the Albury. The color of the water matches the hull color. That's Lily's Villa on Compass in the background.

The girls wanted to do some shelling and Radar was up for a swim. The wind was blowin pretty good so I stuck around the boat just in case the anchor pulled.

Later that night we  prepared the Spider Crab that Jamal had kindly given us. They're really good. We've never had Spider Crab before; very sweet and tender and big. Look at that claw.
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The next day we ran over to the Land and Sea Park and Sandy Cay. This little island was used in the Pirates of the Caribbean films.
Beautiful little island that's rocky on one end and sandy on the other, with a spattering of Casuarina Pines in the middle.

Then later we grilled out chicken that we served with Mel's version of peas and rice and a side of fresh conch salad. Very tasty, very much an island dinner.

Then the "Toxic Twins" went about doing what they do when they have a chance to get together. (These girls have been close friends for 30+ years, they went to flight attendant school together) I'm way too old to stay up that late so I went to bed... even Radar had to throw in the towel and come down to join me.
The next day was Karen's last so on the way to Staniel to drop her at the airport we stopped at Sampson Cay for lunch.

Then it was on to Staniel and Watermakers Air. The end was officially here.

But before leaving, Karen had a nice surprise... There at Watermakers lounge was someone she had met years before while cruising this area. Joan Mann an expatriot artist living here on Staniel. She is a very interesting lady who, when hearing we were tied up at Compass, told us stories about meeting Tucker when he was 16 yrs old. One story we really enjoyed was a first hand version of the infamous automobile accident on Compass Cay involving Hester who lived on the island, the marina, and some Rum involved. Seems there were only two Jeeps on the island (none now) and only one curve, but they both met on that curve one night causing an accident that lead to Hester being badly injured and eventually having to leave her house and the island.

As you can see, weather and time has taken their toll on Hester's house.

Joan said she and her husband had stayed many times in Hester's house; she said it was a beautiful home with a view that would make you cry.

She told Mel and I to call her on the radio, saying "Call Moonglow and come on up". We will before leaving.
It was a perfect ending to Karen's trip, she had just an hour earlier spoken of Joan and their meeting years ago.

 Joan Mann and Karen

Some of Joan's work.

Then she boarded the Watermakers plane and back to Ft. Lauderdale she went, leaving us to once again be just, Crew Istaboa.

It was a fun trip we all enjoyed.

Now back to doing what we do... whatever that is.

Adios,

Istaboa