Trip Report

Posted by Abaco Peach on June 12, 2000 at 07:19:20:

Well, here I am on my deck lying under the Georgia sun. Jerry is at work. I guess life is getting back to “normal.” Just got through reading the journal I kept while in the Abacos and through teary eyes I write.

I am just going to touch on the special moments of our trip. Errrr, let me rephrase that… EVERY MOMENT WAS SPECIAL - I will touch on a few points and hopefully you will understand our experiences.

We had a great trip coming over. Believe it or not our plane was 40 minutes late from Atlanta (Delta) to Ft. Lauderdale and the trip to Marsh Harbour was right on time. Kudos to Gulfstream. Taxi driver took us to Golden Harvest, A & K Liquor and to Rich’s Rentals to get our boat. Rich’s Rental was very accommodating and helpful. Want to personally thank John from Rich’s Rental. We will be back!

1st Adventure - We were to have a “picnic” at Baker’s Bay with Randy and Veola Roberts, the wonderful people and good friends, we stayed with on Guana. Got out in front of the old Disney resort and Randy did some spear fishing and conching. Jerry got into the water to watch and he said it was amazing to see what he can do with a spear! He would go down and I was like when is this man going to come back up! Went to the Atlantic side to do some line fishing. Caught some Trigger fish and yellow tail. On our way to our destination for the roast, the outdrive on Randy’s boat “conched” out. Randy radioed for his brother, Cassidy, and good ole Johnny Roberts found him. Cassidy was there in no time to tow us to Randy’s dock. No picnic, but still great fun!

2nd and 3rd Adventure and 1st Board meeting at Coco Bar on Treasure Cay - AM and I are on our way to Coco Bar and she makes a sharp turn, the cart goes one way and our cooler goes another! We only lost one Kalik! I have a great picture of the survivors. Coco Bar is great and the beach is the most awesome we have ever seen!!! We really enjoyed meeting everyone that was there! The beach party in the water was a great wet adventure in itself. I would name everyone but you know who you are and you are the best! I think it would be a good idea to bring a guest book to each of the Board meetings so we could sign in and know who was there and where they were from. Comments would be welcomed also. We want to personally thank AW and AM for their hospitality and, of course, the Abaco Willy Summer 2000 T-Shirts (Jerry wears his JAX T-shirt all the time!). We had a fantastic meal at Spinnaker’s and a trip of the light fantastic at the Tipsy Seagull. I was dancing with AW and someone stepped on my big toe (3rd Adventure). Didn’t really feel the OUCH until the next morning!

A tribute to Patrick, Dorian, Danielle, Colleen and Bobby for the great feast, fun, friendship and laughs. It was a blast guys! Oh, by the way, “Got anymore of those frozen things?” Also, thanks for the “provisions” when you left. Jerry and I really enjoyed the leftover Key Lime Pie from Vernon’s. Hope you had a good trip home!

2nd Board meeting at Yahoe’s - No pun intended but we went around our “Elbow” to get to our butts. Just want to thank Tim and Buster for the hospitality! Best grouper fingers we’ve eaten and the sauce was even better! Got some great pictures of AW and Gary M. tacking up the New Zealand flag and Georgia flag. Now, how old are you guys again?!! I wish someone would have had a video camera to film the “fleet” going to Marsh Harbour for the Willie Landham Board meeting at Sapodilly’s. Sinclair at the helm and Gary M. on his boat (Jenn-Jenn wish you could have been there!); Jerry and me on our boat; and AW, AM and Barbara on their boat. Met the Stone Brothers who were trying to get to Yahoe’s but they had motor trouble. Great to meet you guys! I would say that under the word “fisherman” in the dictionary is Willie Landham’s picture! Jerry and I have to thank Sinclair for his stories on the making of The Insiders. Kept us in stitches!

I stand corrected! I didn’t think we really needed a boat for a week. Someone slap my hands!!! (Just don’t hit my toe!) On the way back to Guana on the ferry, we met a Bahamian from Freeport. She lives on Man O’ War and takes the ferry from MOW to Marsh Harbour and then the ferry to Guana to work at the Fig Tree. She told Jerry that she thought he was Bahamian. Put that MON to work!!!

4th Adventure - Bahamian Labour Day - We were at Coco Paradise around 5:00 p.m. and the power went off on just the northern end of Guana. When we got back to the apartment, the generators were running like crazy. Veola was worried that it would keep us up. I told her that we had been to car races and we would just pretend that we were at the Guana Cay 500! The power finally came on about 3:15 p.m. the next day. Had an impromptu Board meeting at Coco Paradise for Ken and Carol Parrott and Flying Dogs. Really enjoyed meeting Bubba, Josh and Frannie, and Janet and David are special too! I missed most of the fun and food because I went back to the apartment to cut Pat’s hair. She is from Florida and is married to a local, Leroy. She is a hard worker, good person and great friend! Thank you, Pat!

OH, NO! Last Board meeting at Coco Paradise and our last night in the Abacos! - We went over to Dolphin Beach dock to help Maria bring back AW/AM’s party. (Wondering why there were six people). Lo and behold, Gary and Jenn were there. We thought they had left on Saturday! Glad you two could be there for the last Board meeting! Thanks to Barbara for our tete-a-tete, please feel free to email me. For us, it was as much fun as the other Board meetings! I think Tommy and Maria enjoyed it as much as we (and others, we hope) did! Many thanks to Tommy and Maria for being such a great host and hostess!

In closing, we want to thank all the owners and employees of all the establishments who accommodated the Board meetings. And, to all the wonderful people we met, old and new Board members, it will be an experience we will not ever forget!!! We want you to know that the friendship, conversation and laughs were a major contribution in making it one of our best vacations ever!!! Thank you so much for that!!

Hopefully, we will be able to come back in November. If not, we hope that you will join with us in renewing our vows on June 6, 2001 under the Fig Tree on Guana Cay!!!

AbacoPeach and Jerry S.

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