SAILING IN THE SKY...............................

The sail fom Eleuthera to the Abacos was great................. Wind, 6-7 knots from the SE, wind on the quarter, sea swell about 6 feet in slow curves............... very, very nice......... and we made Hope Town by the late afternoon. By the next day, the grey and gloom was back again, and the wind had increased to 25 knots from the west. The plan to pick up a mooring buoy in Hope Town turned out to be a bad plan....... There was not a mooring to be had in the whole harbour....... The place was 'chock-a-block' full with boats of all shapes and sizes.......We had left our run too late, and on top of that, we were due to fly out to Florida, the next day, as a surprise visit for Lauren's daughter's bridal shower. By 5pm we had finally scored a mooring, and by 7.30am the next morning, we were on our way to Marsh Harbour. The strength of the wind should have told us that this was no day to fly. This was no day to do "sailing in the sky". .....Even the birds were "hunkered down" in the bushes like this one below, and if we were going to end up in a funeral plot, then at least we hoped it would be one without trees growing in it.............



At the airport near MARSH HARBOUR sat our personal yellow twin-engined Canary...............Somewhat protected from the winds prevailing on the seaward side of the island, and the "Queen of Florida" all worked up and very excited about the planned surprise................. The pilot, whose name was Che Chang (you can call me Darren for short), offered Laurie the co-pilot seat................. This could be fun......... " Maybe he could teach me to fly while we go across the Gulf Stream "



By the time we are half-way across the water, the passengers, all six of us, are having second and third thoughts about this 'Yellow Air Taxi' flight, because the pilot has one hand on the ceiling and his other elbow braced against his side window, while trying to keep the plane level...... We do some incredible contortions in the near darkness at two in the afternoon, with a radar screen that looks like a smudged 'Van Gogh' painting, done in limp green............ "ARE WE HAVING FUN YET?"................


WOW.....................



I have never seen "that" particular look on Laurie's face, and the Pilot isn't exactly smiling either................ and after crossing the Gulf Stream and some pretty wild gyrations, we drop down to 800 feet as we approach the Florida Coastline, and out of the rain we see the runway lights......... The pilot does a great job in trying to bring this 'Baby bright Canary' down, but halfway down the runway he has to abort and go around once more, .....................and then on the second go, touches down to a roaring applause from all of us.........An hour and a half flight that's taken three hours to complete.................and then things really get interesting, as we enter the airport building.... Security rushes up to us with " What are you doing here, and where did you come from?". "Every aircraft has been grounded and all incoming flights have been diverted to Miami... and there is extreme, extreme turbulence up there, and we are under a tornado watch" ............Dah!!!... as if we didn't know that....... They quickly organise airport TSA, Customs and Immigration and we are released.........into the pouring rain, the concrete jungle and traffic at Ft. Lauderdale International Airport............ The ultimate culture shock for sailors......... But in the end, every bit of it is worth the look of " TOTAL SURPRISE " on the Bride-to-be's face, as she bursts into tears upon seeing her mother come around the corner at her bridal shower party, put on in Jacksonville by the wonderful and gracious hostess, Robin Frost...............Laurie's life-long friend........



NOW THAT'S THE KIND OF SURPRISE WE CAN ALL HANDLE

The wedding is sheduled for the 27th March, in Hope Town in the beautiful Bahamas.


And needless to say we are due to fly back on the Yellow Canary two days hence............never mind...............