Goodbye Abacos (for now)

We awoke for our return trip with some easy packing (thanks to Brandy doing laundry and packing everyone) and a forecast of the nicest weather of the trip.  We cleared Seaspray Marina at 9:30.

It was a calm crossing... the Bank was like a bathtub.  Even at 45 mph you could see the bottom.

After an hour, we made it to Spanish Cay where we decided to stop for Brunch.  The Grouper sandwiches and grilled cheese are worth the stop!

John and Charles played pool while we waited for the food. 

After lunch we jumped in the pool for a quick cooling off before heading out.

And Gillian and John kept their eyes peeled for their favorite sharks!

The bank remained flat the rest of the trip.  This was the only rain cloud we saw all day.   It was a quick trip home (4.5 hours).

Here is the track of our entire Journey.. we had a blast!

We had a lot of funny phrases during the trip.. we wanted to jot them down.. so here they are..

"Lies!"  (flies, guys, pies, and spies)

"Ruh-ude!"

"you are so disrespectful"

"Put it back on Z100"

"Kitt-anh"

"Cant Stop the Feeling" - Song of the summer

"Cake by the Ocean"- Song to annoy Charles this summer

"Where is my workout gear" - Of course this was only from John

"Golf Cart Adventures with Brandy Brenner"

"Night time adventures with Dad Brenner"

"Jellowtail!"

"Brown is Bad"

"I ont care"

"Your Mom!"

Last Ful Day at Elbow

Our last day, we decided to make a full one.  The intent was some diving near the Pelican Cays followed by our usual and favorite stop at the "Four Seasons" deserted island.

The protected reef is always a great stop for diving.. but no spearing or fishing is allowed.

After hitting the reef, Charles, John and I worked on some deeper dives.  John made it to 18 feet, and Charles, Brandy and I made a couple thirty foot dives for practice.

After diving, some rain kicked up, so we headed back to the house. 

While Brandy went down for a Nap, I took the kids for Ice Cream.  Charles and John hit Red Boy's coconut jelly.

Gillian preferred the Sweet Shop and some "C is For Cookie"!

After Ice cream, the boys and I headed out for one more fishing trip during the break in the rain.  Charles caught one blackfin before the clouds and waterspouts! popped up.

We bolted back to the marina, just before the deluge of rain.  Charles cleaned the tuna under the cover of the fish cleaning station and made John run around for everything else. 

After the rain, we decided our last night would be Pizza from the Pizza Shack and a movie.    We ordered and had a 20 minute wait so Gillian and I did some golf cart adventures for "one more stop".

We hit the Abaco Inn...

And Firefly again!

We collected our pizzas (one of them was a conch pizza.. it was awesome), and settled into the night with another Will Smith movie.

Thurs - Elbow

We started Thursday with an attempt to get everyone up early.  Breakfast at the Hope Town Harbor lodge.  We managed to get there just before they finished serving breakfast!

After breakfast we enhjoyed the HTHL beach and beautiful water.

Then Gillian decided to head back to On-Da-Beach to try the waves again. 

After all the beaching, the girls decided to rest while the boys went out for some evening fishing.  We got some snapper and Charles and John took turns fighting a big shark for a while.

 The evening capped off with a full moon and a Movie.

Wed - Diving/Fishing/Firefly

Wednesday, we started with some Diving off of Man Of War.  We saw a huge parrot fish, a stingray and lots of sea life (and some Groupa).

 

 

 

After diving, the boys attempted some fishing. It was a little bumpy so we tried some deep dropping (only got a silky at our queen spot) and John dropped his grouper jig.. he always scores!

 

 

 

For dinner, we headed to one of our favorite spots.. Firefly.  It was right at sunset.

 

 

 

It's always good food and a wonderful view.  It was the night of the full moon which made the view just a little better than usual.  We finished off the night with some ice cream and a movie.

Tues Elbow- More Hopetown and Marco Polo

Tuesday morning I started the crew off with some Cinnamon Buns from Mackey's.

 

 

Then it was back through town a bit more.  The lizard house is always popular with the kids.

 

 

This cemetery was used when there was a Cholera outbreak in the 1850s.

 

 

We decided to head to CaptJacks for Lunch.

 

 

 

 

It's always fun feeding the fish.

 

Whats that.. a request for the Back St Boys?

 

Next was Gillian's Beach for some Body Surfing.

 

 

 

and relaxing...

We ended the day with another game of Marco Polo at the house pool.  Even Mom played after some tips!

We polished off the night with some awesome Fish Sangwhiches.  Cook some bacon, bread some fish in potato chips and cook in the bacon grease.  After the sangwhich is assembled, toast each side in the bacon grease.. ohh yeah!