The British are coming, the British are coming!

                                                                Okay, so it's only one, but Ian was coming to visit! 

On an island, far, far away it was a nasty, windy, rainy day.  The weather was so bad that we were getting 35+kt winds and rain so hard that you could barely see much past the back of the boat.  Ian had flown all the way from London only to arrive in weather worse than the UK, not an easy feat to be sure.  Now, the funny part here is that we actually were supposed to pick Ian up in Nassau, however, the weather report earlier in the week said that the weather was coming from the north, so DiveAdx headed south and flew Ian into Georgetown to avoid bad weather and get on with the vacation.  Once again, you gotta love those weather guys.  I have two words for them and they're not "good job".

Stuck at Georgetown, in a marina (and I use that term VERY loosely), unable to leave dock, we spend the first two days of Ian's vacation trapped inside.  Fun, huh?

Not to be daunted by a bit of weather ruining our time together , we put on our happy faces with the prezzies Ian brought along by popping some bubbly and bustin' out the "Scene It" game.  Hey, things could always get worse, right?

The weather finally clears enough for us to pull out of the Marina from Hell and head north as there is more weather coming in from the south and it might actually get worse, so back we go north to try and outrun the weather, which it should be noted, never works.  Lesson to learn here, under no circumstances should you plan vacation time to be used in any particular manner you might enjoy when people come to visit, it just doesn't work.

No longer able to go with the original plan to travel to Cat Island for diving and fishing, we stay in the Exumas and hope for the best.  We have to depart Georgetown on the Sound side, so exposure to the weather is inevitable.  After six hours in 6-8 ft rollers, (welcome Ian, to the wonderful world of cruising) we arrive at Farmer's Cay for the night.  As with boats, we encounter a problem.  Remember how I said things could always get worse?  I mean why not?  The weather hasn't cooperated, there is nowhere to dive after Ian hauled all his gear here and you can forget about trying to fish with the current sea conditions.  We'd have more luck with them falling into the boat from the waves crashing into us then actually hooking anything and landing it onboard.  So far the vacation has been a complete and total bust...why not have something go wrong with the boat?  Hell, why not sink the damn thing, call it a day and move on?  But fortunately, it's nothing that tragic, just the generator going out so no more A/C.   We remind Ian that he should lodge a complaint with whatever travel agent he used to book this cruise and personally, wouldn't recommend it to anyone else.  They'll be no stars awarded from Fodor's for DiveAdx Cruises.

With no generator, we're no longer able to anchor out overnight so next morning, northward on we push and arrive at Staniel Cay Yacht Club so that we at least have power. We spend the rest of the afternoon relaxing, enjoying the local hospitality and finish it off with a beautiful sunset.  The picture here, btw, is compliments of Ian.  The next morning Fred heads to the engine room and after a few hours of magic spells, incantations, sticking pins in voodoo dolls or whatever the hell he does down there, he gets the generator running again.  It's all a mystery to me, but as usual, McGyver pulls us through.

With generator fixed and weather actually holding, we set off just north to Big Major's for an evening anchorage.  Thor, as well as the rest of us, finally get some much needed beach time.

Speaking of Thor, it should be noted that he was loving having his buddy Ian onboard.  He was now getting double the amount of attention for everything from playing toy on the boat, to having his butt hauled in and out of his "chariot" (our new name for the dingy for HRH),  to ball on the beach, to being washed, dried and fluffed upon return.  How spoiled IS this dog?  Given that Ian pretty much refuses him nothing in way of requested attention, Thor makes himself a permanent fixture next to Ian for the entire trip.

With time running out on Ian's vacation, we continue north and take a mooring at Warderick Wells.   This proves to be a wonderful anchorage and we spend the next two days lounging around, reading, chatting, celebrating birthdays and enjoying the scenery.  Some of us lounged a bit more comfortably than others.  First one to claim the deck chair wins!

Our last stop before getting Ian back to Nassau was Highborne Cay.  We arrive early and spend the afternoon sunning and relaxing on the beach.  Finally, the sky was clear, the sun was shining, the wind had died off...all in all a picture perfect day.  But of course, it was Ian's last day of vacation.  But always remember, not rain, nor wind, nor stormy seas can damper the fun when you're with friends!