Time for a guest blog from Mike and Mary’s favorite son, Daniel. I was lucky enough to have Mike and Mary fly me out to the Bahamas for an extended weekend, and some wonderful scenery, memories, and quite a few beers on the beach.

Day One: Arrival and Treasure Cay

After a few flights and some drinks in first class, I arrived in the Bahamas at Marsh Harbor International Airport (MHH). My first experience began as I was getting picked up in a minivan with exclusively Japanese wording, labels, and features–I have to say, driving back to the Marina on the left side of the road was an experience to write about all on it’s own. After getting to the boat and setting things down, the rain started to pour, and pour, and pour. So naturally we sat back, grabbed a book and a beer, and relaxed.

The gloomy weather still didn’t stop us from heading over to the local beaches after it cleared up and taking a few long walks. The water still seemed impossibly blue and warm given the conditions. We stopped over at the resort bar for some fresh caught grouper fish and some great fries which was an A+ choice in my opinion.

Day Two: Over To Treasure Cay Anchorage

After a relaxing morning and some great breakfast made with some larger-than-life avocados, the weather was stunning so we headed back to the beach! Compared to my parents I’m now whiter than the paint job on their boat (We’ll just call that “Pittsburgh White”), so after slathering on a pound and a half of SPF “Don’t Even Bother” we kicked around in the sand, took some nice long walks on the beach, then laid back and had a few beers while reading in one of the most beautiful spots I’d ever been.

After hopping back on Forever Friday, we headed out to anchor. Conditions on the water were smooth, and the sunset that evening was beautiful as expected. As a special treat, we made some of the best food I’ve had in ages: Grilled spiny lobster tails and steaks with a killer salad and fresh baked bread. Pops made the bread, Mary grilled the steaks, and I grilled the lobster. It was phenomenal.

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Day Three: To Tahiti Beach Anchorage

Saturday was hot, hot, hot. I ripped through almost an entire bottle of sunscreen, accidentally ruined a GoPro camera, and got to partake in some spear fishing in the mangroves courtesy of some of our boat friends.

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Exploring the mangroves was a ton of fun, water depth ranged from 1.5 to about 10 feet in most places, I got the chance to throw on some fins and snorkeling gear and explore. We had a great couple hours of exploring spearfishing, and snorkeling with friends and then headed back to the boat because it was time to head out to Tahiti Beach.

The trip to Tahiti beach was smooth-sailing (motoring?) and kept me captivated. I had seen how beautiful the beaches here were, but still wasn’t ready for these views. We dropped anchor in Tahiti beach in around six feet of water, had an anchor beer, then headed over to the Rum Barge (which was knee deep in the water just off of the shore.)

After a few fruity drinks with the some friends (Heather and Kent of mvheartbeat.com among others,) we headed back to the Forever Friday for some bangin’ home-made pizzas. After five pizzas, champagne, and a few bottles of wine (shared with friends) we were exhausted and called it a night to get ready for Sunday.

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Day Four: Harbour Town

The trip over to Harbour Town was a quick one, made even quicker by the fact that I was reading, relaxing, drinking their beer, and being a general freeloader. Harbour Town was a bustling place! We all helped get the boat safely into it’s slip (Mary was killing it with her expert thruster skills) and the dockmaster helped everything move along quickly. We got some relaxing time in on the boat, then grabbed a ferry over to the other side of the island to explore the sights.

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When I say “Explore the sights” I mean that we attempted to walk off the pizza from last night, and the enormous plates of fried conch we ate at the Rum Barge the day before. This is the place that is going to stick out in my head next time somebody mentions the Bahamas. It was a beautiful place to explore that had plenty of diverse scenery, businesses, quaint homes, and (obviously) killer beaches and ocean views.

After heading back to the other side of the island via ferry we took a walk up to the lighthouse–which was unfortunately closed on Sundays–then headed over to the resort restaurant to grab a glass of wine and enjoy relaxing during my last night in the area.

Heading Home

After such an awesome weekend with family and friends, I hopped out of bed shortly before 5AM to catch a ferry and a taxi back over to Marsh Harbor Airport. I’m a little sun-burnt and tired, but wouldn’t trade anything for the great times while visiting here with Mike and Mary on Forever Friday. Much love to you both!

If you ever get the chance to take a spur of the moment trip out to the Bahamas, I hope your trip manages to hit the very high-bar that was set by my own. Thank you to everyone we met, and all of the friends that helped create the amazing memories from the weekend.

P.S.
Always make sure your GoPro has the correct *waterproof* case on before dunking it under water.