The Boat People…
Last night the creatures sat and chatted till late with a group of kids vacationing here on the island from Indiana. From what I understand it’s three or four different families and it’s their family tradition to come here every year to spend some time together. They asked the creatures all sorts of questions about living on a boat and what our lifestyle is like. One of the mothers works for the schools in her area and is interested in having the kids write to the students there in Indiana about their experiences. They want to have the students follow us and do research papers on places we travel. The families have started referring to us as the boat people. That cracked me up.
We met a beautiful local woman who is known by everyone as Big Mama. She has a gorgeous smile, a no nonsense attitude and lots of love and advice. She is respected (and feared) by all and has a giant hearty laugh. I sat talking with her about conch fritters, which is a Bahamian favorite. She told me her recipe, and I am going to try it the next time we free dive for some conch. I asked Big Mama if I can take her photo with the creatures so I can put it on the blog, and she wanted me to make sure that everyone knows that you may have heard of various women named Big Mama in the past, but you must know that she is the original and REAL thing.
We had several errands to run and renting a car for a day ended up being cheaper than taking taxi’s, so Big Mama arranged the rental for us. The island flora is so interesting…tall pine sorta looking things and low lying tropical looking plants are everywhere.
One of our stops was at a marine parts store, and they had a wall full of fishing lures. I was instantly drawn to it and stood studying the beautiful lure for a while. I’m crazy about them! When I see them all I want to do is sit and make them. I know I can, and I will learn and make the best lures ever!
I love the way the Bahamian women have their hair done. Some have many intricate braids, while others have big twists.
We looked at some of the kayaks that will be in the Extreme kayak fishing tournament this weekend. Many of them are Hobies and have thousands of dollars worth of fishing equipment on them.
Danny tried working on the wind indicator for a while today, and by the time he was done, he had somehow managed to cause the autopilot and depth finder to stop working too. We will wait and carry on trying to diagnose the problem tomorrow again, because we had to leave for a fish fry this evening. At this fish fry, they were selling conch fritters, 6 for $2. We enjoyed our time there and the food was really delicious. The creatures new friends noticed that we were there and once again gathered around them to listen to them and ask them questions about life as boat people.
Danny and I sat back, relaxed and enjoyed the music for a while, and will now retire to our beds and rest up for tomorrows projects. Life is good and we are grateful for it.
Adventures of a Tribe 