I haven’t updated since before we went to the Christmas Festival in Marsh Harbour — ten days ago!  The festival was lovely.  We went with our friends from Green Turtle Cay, Lana, Roger and Nicole Parks.  Nicole is in 7th grade and is doing the Calvert Homeschool program as well.  There was singing and dancing and crafts and facepainting and delicious food.  I had one bite of Lana’s coconut dessert and fell in love.  I was determined the following week to find it in a bakery; I even commissioned a bakery to make me a “coconut jimmy” which is what they came up with after I described it.  There was no joy in Mudville but I am still on the lookout.  We ended up staying in Marsh Harbour for another week — till Friday, December 9th waiting for packages and sailboat repair stuff.  Finally, we motored about four miles away to Hopetown which is so beautiful.  It reminds me of Chatham in Cape Cod.  They have a red and white striped lighthouse which is decorated like a Christmas Tree.  It is called the Elbow Reef Lighthouse and was built in 1864.  It is hand-wound, not automatic.  All of the marinas and restaurants are lit up as well with multi colored lights.  It is so beautiful at night as we are anchored out in the harbor with other boats and lights all around.  The Atlantic Ocean is just over the hill — about two blocks so you can hear the waves crashing on the shore at all hours.  So peaceful.  On Saturday we walked all around town, had a delicious meal and then took a break from school work and working on the boat and we just all went to the beach for the day.  It was fabulous.  It was sunny and about 80 degrees but the breeze made it so that we were never hot.

Then we went to the fresh fish market (a man’s backyard where he has a little shack with a fridge with his catch of the day and a cash register.)  Matt prepared a delicious snapper.  This morning we are going to church in the playground — there is no Catholic Church here but the priest travels from island to island on the ferry conducting mass.  But first we are going to have brunch ourside in a resort by their fresh water pool and 30 feet away from their live coral reef.  Tomorrow we will go to Captain Jack’s for Bingo!

Brunch at the Hope Town Harbour Lodge's oceanside grille.