Frank & Pantsy Feeling Sad | Green Turtle Cay & Powell Cay, Bahamas

Evy the Sailing Cat

It had to happen sooner or later. Our buddy boat, S/V Wild Blue, abandoned us to make their way back to the States. They originally tried to abandon us at Marsh Harbour, but we tracked them down at Green Turtle Cay. Like mosquitoes and noseeums swarming around you and leaving you with nasty, itchy bites, we can't be gotten rid of that easily. 

We didn't expect to see Charlie and Jane again, so imagine our surprise when we took our dinghy to the Green Turtle Club marina to get some diesel and water and there they were, hanging out with their cats. Their cats are adorable. Sugar, Smokey and Evy are their names, just in case you ever run across S/V Wild Blue and want to say hi to them. Sugar and Smokey will probably ignore you, but Evy will happily come over to your boat, make herself at home and take a nap in the v-berth.

Okay, that's probably enough about cats. Scott gets a little tired of me yammering on incessantly about how cute cats are and how we need one for out boat. He likes to remind me that Charlie and Jane's cats sometimes puke on rough passages and how would I like to clean something like that up. That's usually enough to get me off the whole boat cat idea, at least for a little while.

We got our diesel and water and made plans to meet up with Charlie and Jane at the Wrecking Tree for a bite to eat. Apparently, we had missed all the excitement a couple of days prior when Nicole Kidman, Keith Urban and their kids were visiting Green Turtle Cay and had lunch at the Wrecking Tree. Jane said that everyone left them in peace to enjoy their meal, but as they left Jane tried to snap a sneaky photo of Nicole. All she ended up capturing was a picture of her handbag. I don't think she's going to get a job as a paparazzi anytime soon. Jane showed me the photo and, I have to say, it was a swanky handbag, especially in comparison to the tattered dry bag backpack thing I cart all my stuff around in.

At lunch, we sat in the very same seats that Nicole and Keith occupied previously. I kept hoping that some sort of pixie dust residue was left on the chair and that I would miraculously get long legs and pretty hair. I looked down to see if the magical transformation was happening. Nope. Same short, pudgy legs covered in bruises. I checked my hair to see if I had smooth, shiny curls. Nope. Same frizzy mess as always. 

To console myself, I had some mac n'cheese. You might be aware of my current obsession with Bahamian mac n'cheese. If not, trust me, it's delicious. And it's also a frugal lunch option. They serve it as a side dish, but one square was enough to fill me up (along with some fries I pinched from Scott's plate). Scott got a conch burger and we resisted the lure of Kalik beers and just drank water. Between the two of us, we had a great lunch for $16, which is fairly reasonable for the Bahamas. Better yet, we had the company of good friends.

Eventually, it was time to say goodbye - to Green Turtle Cay and to the crew of S/V Wild Blue. Tears were shed as we all dinghied off to our boats. We heard Charlie and Jane yell out, "Bye Frank and Pantsy! We'll see you back at Indiantown!"

Now, you may be asking yourself, "Who the heck are Frank and Pantsy? Did I miss something? Did they get a couple of kittens and name them Frank and Pantsy?"

No, we didn't get any kittens (see, I couldn't help myself with talking about cats again). Scott and I changed our names to Frank and Pantsy. Or rather, Jane and Charlie renamed us Frank and Pantsy. I'm pretty sure it happened that night I wore a toaster on my head.

Turns out, Jane and Charlie give everyone nicknames. Especially people they haven't met yet and don't know what their names are. Before we got to know them back at Indiantown Marina, Jane and Charlie would talk about this crazy lady who wore pants around the marina. They thought it was a bit odd that someone would wear pants in the intense Florida heat. So they called me "Pants Lady". Personally, my legs are the last part of me to get hot and I find loose pants comfortable, even in the heat. And keep in mind I have short, pudgy legs. They look better covered in pants.

{Note to our British readers - pants in this context means trousers, not underwear. Please don't worry that I was walking around the marina in my pants. I mean I was, but the type of pants you wear over your pants. And I had pants on under my pants. Make sense? I hope so, because both Scott and I have had some very embarrassing moments when we lived in Scotland talking about pants.}

The night of the toaster wearing, they told us about my alter ego - Pants Lady. Somehow, it got shortened up to Pantsy and, somewhere along the line, Scott acquired the name Frank. We even signed our new names on some wooden clothespins that Charlie and Jane had hanging up on their lifelines. Now they can always remember us when they hang their pants up to dry.

I actually think signing clothespins is a pretty neat idea. Every time you have friends over to visit your boat, have them sign and decorate a wooden clothespin as a little souvenir. Then whenever you're doing the wash, you can remember the fun times you had with them. I'm sure Martha Stewart has already thought this one up and is making millions selling clothespin decorating kits. Oh well, another money making opportunity lost.

After saying goodbye, Frank and Pantsy headed off to Powell Cay. It was one of the places we had missed when on our way down to the southern Abacos. We had a nice little sail, found ourselves at a pretty anchorage and managed to snug ourselves up close to shore without grounding ourselves. The perfect place for Frank and Pantsy to get over their buddy boat blues.
 
LOGBOOK NOTES | Saturday, 30 May - Sunday, 31 May 2015

• Total Nautical Miles - 12
• Anchor Up - Green Turtle Cay
• Anchor Down - Powell Cay
• Water & Diesel - Bought 5 gallons of drinking water and 6.2 gallons of diesel at the Green Turtle Club marina 

Next time on the blog...we meet some new folks at Powell Cay and Scott turns into a boy racer as we make our way to Allans-Pensacola Cay. Tune in to see if he won or lost.

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