Yes, I am still alive. Exhausted but recovering. For a homebody such as myself, February was extremely tiring.
You probably won’t feel too sorry for me when I show you where I began the month.

Yep, I was in The Abacos, Bahamas. Its a dirty job…etc.
I am lucky enough to have in-laws that like to spend their winter in the Bahamas and take their boat over every year to do so. For the last couple of years they have chosen Hope Town as their homeport. We pretty much just set out from there for short cruises up and down the chain.

We arrived a couple of days before the Super Bowl and, therefore, had been invited to a Super Bowl Party being thrown by some of the local yacht club people. Not being a football fan, I just enjoyed the people and the food! I did try to do a bit of knitting but found that even I got a little caught up in the last inning…I mean, quarter (hee! I KNEW that!).
Our first cruise out of the harbour (formerly a British colony) was to Great Gauna Cay. There we began our quest for the best rum drinks in the Abacos with a Grabbers (very tasty–lots of grapefruit juice–and very potent!) and we experienced our first unobstructed sunset.

From there we ventured south making our way to Little Harbour. On the way, we visited an old friend of the family’s that resides on Tilloo Cay (if I remember that correctly). He is an artist that built his own house on the island. I found some of his work featured here (click on the gallery button). We had a great visit and we bought a couple of his pieces.

I have a habit of “collecting” cats on my journeys and Frenchie nearly ended up in my bag on the way off the island. Isn’t she beautiful! Bill said she adopted him shortly after one of the hurricanes that came through. She had me at “meow.”
Onto Little Harbour where we visited Pete’s Pub and sampled another rum drink. Another potent drink. After only ONE my world looked like this:

…disturbing in so many ways!
Oh! You probably want to see the boat we were cruising around in, right?

Its the Kadey Krogen 42 trawler which, btw, is on the market so you can see inside since I didn’t take any pictures. Its a very roomy and comfortable boat, should anyone be looking for their next boat.
Oh, but I do have one picture. I like to take pictures of my gifts in their native environment once they are given. Take a look:

And didn’t she just give it the loveliest view, too! I can’t believe how well it goes with the curtains!
Must show you a picture of my sweetie having a good time:

Our little dinghy doesn’t go this fast so he enjoys it while he can!
So, next we decided to stop off at Tahiti Beach at the southern end of Elbow Cay. On the plane on the way over while filling out the entry forms, we suddenly realize that the last time we were in the Abacos was a little over 10 years ago! And what happened 10 years ago? We got engaged! And where did he pop the question? On Tahiti Beach! Well, you can see why we stopped off there.

We were dinghied ashore by our Captain and photographer (father-in-law). I just think that is such a beautiful picture! Very little had changed about the beach but, to be honest, I don’t remember a whole lot about the beach itself, you know!

It was very special to visit that place again…and on such an accidentally significant time!
On the evening he proposed, right after I said yes, a little octopus (I kid you not!) was on the edge of the water and squirted water into the air! Well, we didn’t spot an octopuses (I looked that up) but we did spot this on the way back to the dinghy:

It didn’t comment on our celebration.
I did get a little knitting done there…very little. But I’m sure you understand why. Anyway, here is proof that not only did I take my knitting…I even picked the needles up once or twice!

Note the sun poison. Me, sun, saltwater and sunscreen just don’t play well together. This is why I like sailing in the Northeast better.
This is what I woke to the last morning that we were in Hope Town:

AH!
So we get back home and ….
ugh! This took me a lot longer than I expected and you are probably tired of it all (if you are even still reading this). I have more to share and it was fun and important so I don’t want to just tack it on at the end. Stay tuned.