Spring 2009 Exumas

Monday, 3/30/09

Hello friends and family! Join us as we set out for the Bahamas after a great ski season in Frisco. We've heard from many of you that you live vicariously through our blog and we're delighted to have you along!!

But first, we were invited by Andy to Cleveland 3/19 for the weekend to meet then girlfriend Jessica

McClellan's parents and help celebrate an impending engagement to Jess. We stole into town and met Cheech and Janet for dinner, feeling like we had been life-long frinds (whew), while Andy took Jess to dinner to pop the question. I received a text message after dinner saying "She said YES!".

Then, by pre-arrangment with Andy, the four parents surprised the newly

engaged couple at an upscale bar for champaigne. This was a complete surprise to Jessica and we all shared in their excitement. Andy, Jessica and her parents and large family entertained us royally for the weekend and we had a wonderful, memorable time. No, no wedding plans have been set

yet.

On Monday Jan returned to Frisco to finish up on numerous volunteer responsibilities (Copper Mountain, CASA and church) while I flew down to Bradenton, FL to spend the week with my parents. It was a special treat to have them to myself for 5 days and we had a great time together. Dad is still taking his daily walk at 91 and mom is still driving and organizing their schedule as she prepares for her 90th birthday April 28. What a blessing!

Last weekend I drove east across state to Jupiter to help Bob Bruce (with whom we sailed in tandem a year ago to the Abacos, you might recall) finish preparing his Island Packet 40 sailboat for a trip to George Town, Exuma where our Mystique has been sitting on a mooring all winter since we left her Dec. 10. I get a free passage plus avoid paying 40% duty on several hundred dollars worth of boat supplies. Plus the opportunity to sail again with our friend who I first met working at Holubar Mountaineering in Boulder in 1971. Bob was a partner with Jan and me on our first 15' C-15 sailboat way back when Andy was one year old!

Jan will be flying down to George Town on April 14 with Samantha the Cat. I should arrive a number (unspecified) of days prior to that in order to put Mystique in order for the Admiral's arrival! Mechanical opportunities, varnishing, waxing, cleaning, stocking and launching the dinghy & outboard will all receive my attention.

We head out of Bob's snug little harbor in Jupiter tomorrow morning - the same place we left for the Abacos a year ago(with Andy as crew) and where we left for the Exumas last November (with Swabby Jim as crew). Our planned itinerary this week: Tue, Boca Raton; Wed, Ft. Lauderdale; Thr, Miami/Key Biscayne; Friday, Bimini; Sat - Sun, a two-day overnight trip across the Bahama Banks, down the Tongue of the Ocean and across the Decca Channel to the middle of the Exuma chain. The weather forecast looks perfect at this point with southerly winds to get us across the Gulf Stream and Bahama Banks.