Tickety Boo, Tickety Boo, Barracuda Bob

Docks at Marsh Harbour.

When you meet fellow cruisers, one of the things you talk about is what kind of boat you have and what it’s name is.

Whenever I tell folks that our boat is named Tickety Boo, the menfolk raise their eyebrows and give Scott a look which means, “Wow, how’d your wife sucker you into giving your boat such a ridiculous name?” The women usually say something like, “Oh, that’s so cute!” Scott just hangs his head in shame.

So imagine how Scott felt when I told him that the name of our dinghy was Boo Boo. Yeah, he wasn’t impressed.

Now imagine how Scott felt when he had dinghied over to shore and had to call me back on the boat using our portable VHF.

“Tickety Boo, Tickety Boo, Boo Boo,” he whispered into the VHF so that no one would overhear him.

“Boo Boo, Tickety Boo. Switch 1-7,” I replied with a smile on my face because it sounded so darn cute when he said “Boo Boo.”

{FYI - That’s how you hail other boats and shore parties on the VHF in the Bahamas. You say the name of the party you’re hailing twice, followed by your name once.}

When Scott got back to the boat, he said that we needed to talk.

“There’s no way that I’m going to say Boo Boo on the VHF again,” he said. “Next time I call you from shore, I’m just going to say, ‘Tickety Boo, Tickety Boo, Shore Party.’”

“But saying 'Shore Party' is so boring, my little Boo Boo,” I said.

He winced. We don’t use pet names for each other and the thought of me calling him ‘my little Boo Boo’ was probably a step too far.

“Fine, let’s go with something else like Barracuda Bob,” he said.

I agreed. After all, marriage is all about compromise. By the way, don’t tell Scott, but I think “Barracuda Bob” is kind of a cute name. Almost as cute as Boo Boo.

So next time you hear someone say on the VHF, “Tickety Boo, Tickety Boo, Barracuda Bob,” you’ll know that’s us.

****

Honestly the whole Boo Boo/Barracuda Bob thing was the biggest highlight of the past several days of our time in Marsh Harbour. We’ve been stuck here forever due to a stationary front. The wind has been ridiculous. Pretty much all we’ve been doing is lazing about and replenishing Tickety Boo’s supplies of groceries, diesel, water and gas, as well as doing a load of laundry and dropping off engine oil to be recycled.

I don’t think we could have stood one more day of such overwhelming excitement, so when the weather finally took a turn for the better, we hightailed it out of here and headed out of the harbor as fast as we could, ending up anchored outside of Hope Town.

Doing laundry at the Classic Coin Wash. Only $2.50 per wash. Dryers were much more expensive, so we hung our clothes up to dry back on the boat.

One of the marinas at Marsh Harbour. We prefer anchoring in the harbour as opposed to paying to stay at marinas, although a hot shower would be nice.

Snappas - a very popular place to eat and drink in Marsh Harbour. We actually haven't eaten out at all since we've been in the Bahamas. We're quite happy cooking and eating aboard Tickety Boo.

Cruising Log | Thursday, 13 April 2017 – Monday, 17 April 2017

13 APRIL
Baked cookies and whole wheat bread. Figure the whole grain in the bread helps balance out the sugar in the cookies. Scott got diesel, water, propane and groceries. Topped up water tanks. Did some tidying up. Small spaces become disorderly quite quickly. Dinghy seems to be holding air. Nautical miles = Nil. Engine hours = Nil. Spending = $113.36 ($83.60 – 19.2 gallons diesel, $4 – 22 gallons water, $13.11 – groceries, $3.65 – pasty brushes, $7 -  propane)

14 APRIL
Not much to report except dinghy still seems to be holding air. Nautical miles = Nil. Engine hours = Nil. Spending = Nil.

15 APRIL
Still not much to report. Nautical miles = Nil. Engine hours = Nil. Spending = Nil.

16 APRIL
Changed the oil. Oil extractor was uncooperative. Made it sit in the corner and think about what it had done. Then it became more cooperative. Nautical miles = Nil. Engine hours = 1 hr 0 mins. Spending = Nil

17 APRIL
Did grocery shopping and laundry. Got gas and water. Turned on the engine at 12:15 PM and motored over to Matt Lowe’s Cay for the night, but too many boats there already and no place left to escape from the wind. Motored over to Hope Town and dropped anchor outside of the harbor at 2:45 PM. Hung laundry up to dray on the lifelines. Went for a quick dip. Dinghy patch not working, but the leak is now a slow leak. {Sigh} Nautical miles = 7. Engine = 2 hrs 30 mins. Spending = $73.78 ($57.28 – groceries, $2.50 – 1 load of laundry, wash only, $14 – 2.8 gallons gas, $0 – water free if buy gas).

Do you call your partner pet names? If so, what are they (G-rated only please)? Have you ever been stuck in a place for days because of the weather? How'd you cope?

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