March was a wonderful travel opportunity for me to fly to Tampa to visit with Joe & Reta and family, attend Marie's big birthday and reacquaint with my old Theta Chi fraternity brother, Horace Whittlesey, whom I had not seen since he was the best man at Linda's & my wedding 46 years ago! The fun didn't stop as I was then off for a week with Carl and Pat aboard the Josephine in the Bahamas.
| Southwest getting ready to shoot down the runway towards Tampa. | |
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Marie holding a hand made birthday card from Laura and Dave. |
| Dave, Lee, Joe, Reta, Laura and Charlotte enjoying dinner at Mimi's. |  |
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Mimi's staff singing to Marie while she contemplates the big chocolate cake Lee had presented to her. |
Horace visited us at Joe and Reta's home while Joe treated us to some accordion music. Horace is a big music enthusiast and he gave us some of his favorite CDs. |
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We went to a neighborhood restaurant for brunch then Horace dropped me at the airport for my Bahamas flight. It was terrific to reacquaint with Horace after so many years! |
| Grand Bahamas Island coming into view. The dark object at the top left is a prop blade. If you have flown on a turboprop aircraft, you will remember the noise and vibration. |  |
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Carl and the Josephine |
| Lucky me, I arrived just in time for Pat's lobster dinner! |  |
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The next day Carl, Pat and I motored along the beach in the dingy to the Blue Banana Restaurant for a Grouper lunch. |
| Cruising down the waterway with the Grand Bahamas Yacht Club in the background |  |
| Exploring an old sailboat that had been used as a movie set. |  |
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We used the dingy to enjoy a day at the beach |
| White legs reveal who was the new guy |  |
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This and the following pictures show the beautiful condos and vegetation |
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Heading out to dinner with friends |
| Carl and Pat have folding bikes aboard the Josephine. We used them to visit the dolphin pens. |  |
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Feeding time has attracted 3 dolphins and a couple of seagulls |
| Jumping for joy? or just looking to see when the gal with the food will arrive? |  |
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Sunday March 15 was a launch of the Space Shuttle from Cape Canaveral. Carl used his GPS to determine which direction to look and noted that the cape was 155 miles from us. When launch time arrived, I was straining to see a faint line of light and was surprised to see this fat column of flame! |
| The sun had set and the blur is due to trying to hand hold a time exposure. |  |
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After separation of the solid fuel boosters, this glowing cloud of gas appeared and lingered for quite awhile. |
Carl preparing yet another lobster dinner thanks to his son, Larry. Earlier, Larry and Mia had gotten their limit of lobster. Carl and I tried spearfishing for them but had no luck. |
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Alas, I am homeward bound shooting this picture out the plane window somewhere over Texas. Many thanks to Joe & Reta, Lee & Marie, Horace, Carl & Pat for a wonderful vacation! Jerry |
