Doris, Church, Paul Lamont taking Scuba Certification

Doris Hamilton and Me!!!! Check out her great shirt, she batiked the material that she got from her home in Africe and then has seamstresses and tailors to make his clothes. She has started a business batiking materials, making clothing and selling them She has an outlet in New York and and outlet in Nassau. I'm hoping to sell some of them in Toronto and on Amherst Island. I think I could sell some at Kensington Market. Do you have any ideas where I might be able to sell her product.

Sally, Sharon and I went to the Tabernacle Church on Coral Road last Sunday. The music was fabulous but the preaching was toooooooo louuuuuud. The people were very friendly and made us feel very welcome.

This is the side of the church.

The Bahamian Flag.

Melinda Rigger, her and Fred run the Grand Bahama Scuba Store. Her and Fred are awesome as dive instructors and people that look after you when you dive.

This is the first year I dove with friends, Paul and Sally. Paul took his certification here the week he was here. Sally already had her certification so the three of us went diving on Fred and Melinda's Dive Boat on the Wednesday.

Paul Lamont in the pool at Ocean Reef taking his Diving Certification.

Paul practicing in the pool.

Paul and Melinda.

Hawksbill Yacht Club in the Bahamas

From the left to the right, John, Bohdan and Hank. This is our first visit to Hawksbill Yacht Club. Bohdan and Martin got together and planned an East Indian Meal for 35 people followed by music with Bohdan and friends (John, Hank, Diane, Marion, Santy and me). These guys are doing the pre-night warmup on the deck at Hawksbill in proper ... order ...something.

A lovely Hibiscus flower and Asparagus Fern for a centre piece set out by Maryanne the Commodore of the Club.

Chef Santy in the kitchen doing what he does BEST cook FABULOUS food. Santy is a prof at Ross University by the day and is from South Africa. Another wonderful friend that Bohdan introduced us too. He lives in an apartment on the beach close to us.

Santy and me. I was Santy's Little Helper.

OK, this is when I need Santy beside me to name these dishes but he's at work and I'm sitting on my boat in my computer perch....I'll name them and then get Santy to check the names and perhaps correct the names at a later date. This is Vegetable Curry.

This is Chicken Brianne. OK Santy just emailed me with the names of these dishes...so I can edit this posting. This is Chicken Briyani.

Special Potatoes...OK they are special potatoes but the real name is Aloo Fry (Curried Fried Potatoes).

Meat Curry
Indian Rice or Cardamon Pod Rice or .... Bombay Biryani

Pt....something...what is this called....you know, it's hard like chips, hot, very tasty....help me out here.With help from Jim Lewis and Santy I came up with the name of this dish, it is Papadums and they are delici-oso.

And Sally was here too. Now she is nursing in Nunuvet. Miss you Sal.

Bohdan and Friends: from left to right: Hank, me, Bohdan, Marion, Diane and John. We were the entertainment.

Great facility...it turned out that we served 75 people at $15 a head. The food was unbelievably delicious. We had lots of great helpers in the kitchen with Chef Santy. Joe was awesome at putting together the huge salad and putting it on ice in the fridge, which I thought would be a great idea for Stella's Cafe' back home....all that chopping. Diane, Hank, Martin, Marion, Joe, Maryanne, Rita and others all helped in the kitchen. If I forgot anyone let me know and I'll add them. Sorry my memory isn't the best. It gives your heart and soul a good feeling when you have worked hard at something and all are enjoying.

Marion and Diane are singing harmony. Both of them have wonderful voices. Remember Yellow Bird?

Hank, me and Boh. Hank was one of the Lead Singers and Guitarist's. These pictures are compliments of Paul and Sharon Lamont who were visiting from Lakeshore Yacht Club and staying on the boat with us. Anthony is still up in Canada waiting to hear about what could or might be done for his back to make it feel better.

Another one of our lead singers and guitarists, John Lodge, a friend of Bohdan's from Toronto who was staying at his unit in Darshana. Hank the other Lead Singer/Guitarist is on his Catamaran, Adanac, with his wife Diane and this is their 4th year here at Ocean Reef. They have sailed around the Bahamas and settled back here for awhile. They are both great musical people, lots of great harmonies and a lot of fun at Karaoke and the Singalongs.

The girls, Me, Marion and Diane.

Boh and me.
Me.
The Hawksbill Yacht Club Burgee. Anthony and I are going to join this week and we can get a burgee to fly too. It's been a fun place to go for Happy Hour on Friday's 6 to 7 and we continued to play there often on Friday nights. Thanks to the people at Hawksbill for welcoming us to their club.

Bahamas: Murilla, Glenys, Joe, Bohdan, Marion and Me

Bohdan took all of us to Banana Bay. It was a cool and windy day.

Marion's friends are visiting from England, this is Glenys, Marion and Joe. Joe is on a power boat from the US. He came down with Liz and Mike.

Bohdan and Murilla. Murrilla is Marion's friend visiting from England. It was great having Murilla and Glenys in the Bahamas with us to go to the beaches and around with us.

The Mongold, mongoose, I can't think of the name ... at the east end of the Island near the caves. It's the Mangroves. A lot of the baby fish grow up in here where it is more protected.

A picture showing perspective and Joe at the side. Joe was a good sport and went around with us too, to the beaches, and bars, etc.

Gold Beach. This is where Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed.

This is a huge tree root. The trees were blown over in the hurricane in 2004 and 2005. The beach is littered with them. They look amazing.

The tide is going out. Patterns.

Bohdan and Glenys walking on the beach.

Low tide. Aren't the patterns just beautiful.

Sunset.

Bahamas: Doris', Making Music, The Swan...

These are two huge avocados from Doris and Chris' backyard at the Studio where Doris makes her dresses, tops, shirts, hip bags, etc. for her business. She brings the material from her home in Africa and batiks it here in the Bahamas and hires two tailors and two seamstresses to make the material into clothing and then sells to a place in Nassau, one in New York and I'm not sure where else. I'm hoping to sell some at the Cafe this summer and take the wears around Toronto to try and get her some places to sell the clothing. It is beautiful clothing and amazing material. I'll be showing more on my blog later.

The avocado tree. See the avocados in it. They were delicious.

This is the guest house in the backyard where Doris' Studio is. She rents it out.

This gorgeous tree is in the backyard of the guest house.

This is a wooden pattern Doris' used for batiking, I think. I'll have to ask her the next time I see her.

Diane and Marion singing, over at Marion's condo at Darshana. She is renting it to Bohdan right now, for the next 3 months.

John and Hank making music.

Bohdan on the mandolin. I'm on the mandolin too but it's hard to take a picture of myself while playing. I should have asked someone to take the picture...but I didn't.

Santy on his guitar. He bought Hazel's 12 string guitar last year. Hazel was a cruiser who was here last year with her husband Bill. She was a really good Scottish performer and I have a CD of hers.

My bicycle here in the Bahamas. I don't have a car so I can get to Freeport in a half hour from Ocean Reef and to Port Lucaya in half an hour from Ocean Reef on my bicycle. Bohdan has been most generous with driving us around to Gold Beach, High Rock Beach, West End, East End, grocery shopping and picking up friends at the Airport. Thank you so very much Bohdan.

This is the dock that the Swan is at this year. It's a lot quieter here but I don't get to see the yard staff as much. The tennis courts are right beside us and Ester's is close. I like the new place.

The tennis courts. I'm not playing as much as I did last year but I have played 6 or so times so far.

Gabe and Anna live right across from our boat. Gabe, Anna, Hank and I played tennis a few times.

Marion and I bicycled through Williamstown to the Haitian Cemetary at the end of the road. 36 Haitians drowned trying to get to Grand Bahama Island from Haiti in 1976.

I think it was really nice of the Bahamians to make a special monument for the Haitians that died and made a small cemetery for them.

This is the beautiful beach at the end of the road. It was a great bicycle ride. Thanks for coming with me Marion.

Looks like I might have been swimming.

Santy and Bo in the kitchen again. Both of them are great cooks and I'm learning lots for the opening of the Cafe next summer.

Marion and me. Marion is from England we met last year. Unfortunately she's heading back to England next Tuesday. She has already been here for 3 months. Marion I will really miss you.