Sunday, October 4, 2015

New Providence: Shonaray and Baha Man

Leroy Butler and Shonaray Johnson join us in Nassau

 We stop in Nassau to see our friend Shonaray.  She moved from Andros.

She shows us the island!  She drives us for 2 days and we cover the whole island, 20 by 7 miles, several times.  We do our errands and she includes us in her daily rounds.  We pickup her girls from school, her fiancé back and forth to work, visit her son Nickolas and wife, Linnette. She shows us her home on Mollie Street.  A fish pond, bird perch and lots of plants – healing cactus, avocadoes, mangoes, and bananas. We meet Leroy Butler her fiancé. She is a force. She knows almost everyone, and everywhere we go, everyone knows her. We are happy to find her doing well and happy.

We anchored in West Bay by Lyford Cay. Lyford Cay is most famous for the residence of Sean Connery.  We are the only boat in the harbor and when we sailed in from Andros we had a west wind so we anchored close to the north shore behind a point of land called Nygarts Cay, named after Peter Nygart the designer who owns the point and has whimsical structures built on it.  The water is beautiful and totally clear.  The beach, Jaw’s Beach, named after the famous movie that had parts of it filmed here, has beautiful pale tan fine sand.  There is an island, Goulding Cay, off in the distance that has reefs, coral, and a solitary palm tree and a white flashing marker light at night.  When we sailed in we hoped to anchor around Goulding Cay but we couldn’t find calm water.  The water was the crystal Bahamian blue and amazing to see. 

Dinghy at the dock with Fly Away in background


Jaw's Beach

The good news is that being so close to shore we found accessible wi fi and we were able to use computer, Skype video and calling!  What a treat!  We called and talked to our friends each day.  We thanked Sean Connery for wi fi. 

One night we hosted a hot dog grill out on the boat for Shonoray, her daughter Esther, 11 years old, Leroy, and his daughter, Leah, 16 years old.  We dinghy them out, they climb aboard.  D does hot dogs and we have baked mac’n’cheese, baked beans, all the hot dog fixings and Goombay Smash.  Leroy and D get along great both share a boyish sense of humor that the girls find hilarious. Leroy is a performer and entertainer.  He is a musician and vocalist in the Baha Men and has his own group Leroy and the Energizers.  He is also a world class champion limbo dancer!!  We watch a video of him going under a very low limbo stick that is on fire.  He even does it with a young child laying on his chest. He attributes his talent to leg strength and flexibility, but I also think it takes a lot of mental strength and concentration.  The Baha Men are famous for the 2000 remake of “Who let the dogs out?” music video that won many awards that year.  He has traveled internationally with the group and is preparing for the Newport Jazz Fest this year.  

D takes Leah and Esther to the boat
     
It was worth the trip to Nassau to see Shonaray.  Next is Chub Cay and the Berry Islands.   


A fabulous sunset 

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