Charter life - Bahamas

So we were doing charters in the Bahamas for quite a while....about 18 months actually and here are a few photos that were taken along the way. Tyrone of course was the skipper so that made me the chef! Yes I learned how to cook for 10-12 people at a time. And yes they all survived;) 

 These are portholes with bacon bombs as I like to call them...I can fit 2 packs of bacon in one skillet by simply rolling them up and standing them up in the pan. The portholes are baked ham cups w egg and cheese and tomatoe in the middle. The muffin tin is my best friend on charter :)

 Every morning I put out fresh fruits platters. These are my banana dolphins!! Along with some mango and kiwi and strawberries yummmm

 There’s a magical little place called Hope Town in the middle of the Abacos. We take people ashore and walk through the town and half way through the week they go to shore and eat dinner so we have time to clean the boat and change the sheets and replace towels and such...

This is my homemade hummus (more delicious than anything you will find in the store) that we offer up when everyone first gets onboard at 5pm on a Saturday.

Tyrone has taken up fly fishing recently and he would often teach anyone wanting to learn on this little spot called Tilloo Bank. Its a long shallow bank that we would anchor near for one evening and go to the beach...sometimes building bonfires and we would have cocktails and snacks there.

Cool shot of the moon from the boat. I think we were in Great Guana Cay.

This is JO! She was such a great boat. We would take people to Tahiti Beach here and I would usually stay on the boat and make lunch but its a favorite spot for sure! A little slice of Tahiti right here in the Bahamas....only visible at low tide :)

This is my absolute favorite lunch! Its a spicy grilled chicken salad with slices of red onion and green bell peppers, grilled pineapple and an amazing dressing that has the perfect amount of spice...mmmmmmmmmm....

This is Dont Rock....silly name but it has loads of small barracudas and little flounders around it. On a calm day like this we would anchor and it would be the first swim of the charter for the guests. This is typical Bahamian water by the way...its crystal clear blue turquoise ish.....my favorite!

Now this little gem is one of Tryone's favorites! This is the prosciutto, melon, and gouda salad. Add some olives, walnuts, and my homemade dressing and you will have Tyrones attention. 

This guy loved all the catching we did! Yes I said catching not fishing. We caught quite a few different kinds of fish and this guy was always the first one to reach the rod. Here we have Barry the barracuda, who we released just after this shot was taken.

Anyone remember that pesky hurricane from a couple years ago...Matthew I think he was called...This was me getting ready for that lol....actually we did evacuate and flew to Atlanta where we just kinda hung out for a few days before returning to the untouched Abacos to get ready for the next charter.

One of many beautiful sunsets we see on a daily basis....I love being a sailor!

I believe this is Hope Town again. Just on the other side that is exposed to wind and swell....oh how I miss this place now.

A little collection of unique shells and sea glass...and a broken guitar in the background. A guest left it behind when he cracked the neck on the beach one day. I asked him to leave it so I could practice a little bit.

We took a break from chartering for a couple weeks and went to Freeport to finish getting our divemasters. We walked down to the beach and these two massive spotted eagle rays came up to greet us!

Tiniest little sea heart ever...cute!!

Yes we ate this guy....well the crayfish not the guy....haha....he was fresh and delicious with a bit of butter garlic and lemon. Simple is best.

This crane or heron cracks me up the way they walk with that long neck of theirs. We would see them regularly while we were tied up on the dock on our off weeks.

This is such a treat! Its called the Caribbean Chicken Salad and it consists of celery, heart of palm, red grapes and an amazing curry sauce. I made it at home for the family and it was a huge hit! It goes verrrryyyy well with butter and a baguette. just sayin...

This is the charter companies take on Tuna Niciose salad. Seared tuna with juicy tomatoes, blue potatoes, black olives, green beans and boiled eggs topped with a yummy garlic dressing...homemade of course...

More banana dolphins! So fun to try to get creative with fruit platters every day.

This is such a fun charter. These guys were so stoked to be catching our lunch. That would be a mutton snapper and they're quite tasty! Again simple is best. All I did was stuff it with onions, lemons, garlic and olive oil and boom! slapped it on the grill.

I'm sure by now everyone has heard of the famous swimming pigs of the Bahamas?! This was always our first stop on Sundays. We would rock up to this little pig island called No Name Cay and feed the piggies and have that Caribbean chicken salad for lunch before heading to Sunday Funday on Great Guana Cay.

Here we are ready for our guests!! We were awarded a new boat midway through the season. This is a new lagoon52 and wow she was nice for charters....lots of space and storage and roomy cabins...the only thing I would say that is exactly positive is that Tyrone and I had to sleep in bunk beds....so had to sleep separate. 

Oh captain my captain!

awwww this cutie pie

Not sure why I am dancing here....but do you ever really need a reason?! No....:)

This is pretty much all day every day in Treasure Cay when we were tied up on the dock. So calm and flat with turtles and eagle rays and dolphins around. Even saw a manatee one time!

This is the new boat we got halfway through the season. The blue lights help to attract fish to the boat and sometimes squid!

So if you are not a fan of chicken or any kind of meat you can make this Caribbean salad with chickpeas instead...its the beeeeest. Let me know if you want the recipe!

On the last night of the charter we would be treated to dinner by our guests which was always a nice treat. We would go to one of 3 restaurants available...all owned by the same person but all served different cuisines....

A champagne toast to the new members of the charter company! They loved the charter so much they joined the club.

Someone got a little creative with this shot from Tahiti Beach and my Jo in the background.

This guy just landed his plane in front of our boat and dragged it to shore like it was dinghy!ha!

Another gorgeous sunset..

Amazing how clear the water is....This is S/V Now which is the new one we started running.

And this is Jo...

Me presenting my melon, prosciutto and gouda salad....they all look a bit different as I tried to get creative with my presentation.

One of my faves is this Curry stewed chicken with coconut rice and rum spiced fried plantains.

We sometimes added Cracker P's to the itinerary. It is a bar near Tahiti Beach that has a famous hot sauce that we would sometimes need to make a stop for. Cracker P was a wanted man in the states...I believe he actually shot the sheriff and was a wanted man. He fled to the Bahamas where he hid out on this island and was never really caught. There is a bar named after him now and they serve amazing food and have a really nice rum punch. You should totally stop by if you are ever in the area. :)

This is the only way to really chop an onion lol

aw strawberry hearts!

In Hope Town there is a famous lighthouse that we climb each week with the guests. There are 101 steps and it is the last working kerosene lighthouse left in the world. This is the view from one of the windows on the staircase leading to the top.

Dugong! or Manatee to some people depending on what side of the world you are from. They hang out by the dock looking for fresh water to drink. It is not advised to give in to them because they get chopped up by props on boats that don't see them in time :(

Oh my my look at those beauties!! And the girls holding them!

No Name Cay with Billy the swimming pig...

I cannot remember the name of this fish but it wasn't the kind you would eat...so we sent him back...

There's a red headed wood pecker up there if you look closely.

I think it looks like a face...like a polynesian face of some sort...

Some of the plant life based in Hope Town along the streets...

More ideas for fruit platters....thank you pinterest.

I made some really good ceviche with that mutton snapper we caught!

MMMM Tyrone loves this one...it is a Caramelized onion and Brie tart....delish!

Somewhere in the Bahamas the sun sets like this almost every day....get over there!!

Me and my Ash in Freeport...this was right after we saw they 2 huge spotted eagle rays on the beach. She met us in Freeport while we were doing our divemasters. We had a couple days off so we were able to hang out for a bit! Always good to see that face!

I really love this new iphone with the camera on it...another shot of my homemade hummus and Tyrone's famous Bahama Mamma in the background.

A little piece of key lime pie for ya! It's one of those super simple desserts you can make ahead of time and freeze until ready to serve. And it's an all time fave:)

This would be my Eggs Florentine served on an english muffin with a bit of a spinach mixture....oh and don't forget the bacon bombs!!!

My captain trying to get fuel or water or something from a man who is seriously on island time mon....

Look at those guns!! Our season in the Bahamas came to an end and we had to deliver Jo from the Abacos to St Maarten. It took us 2 weeks and it was the worst delivery I have ever experienced and I pray that I never have to do anything like that again. On a better note Ty's brother Robert came to Bahamas to assist with the delivery! Along with his Dad but somehow he escaped every photo I took! We did get to see Turks and Caicos and Puerto Rico due to engine failures and bad weather though so that was awesome!!

This is that famous kerosene lighthouse in Hope Town that I was climbing earlier...this is the outside view....(obviously)...

Pete's pub is in Little Harbour which is on the mainland of Great Abaco...such a cute little harbour it is and Petes was always a favorite of mine...if you go there you will actually meet Pete! He owns the area and has a very unique art gallery there...

Poor squeezy ccuda!! lol he had a grip on this slippery little guy.

The size of these cushion starfish are crazyyyy! HUGE!!!!

More fish to send back....not quite the type you keep and eat...

A bit of piracy was done after we all went to bed one night! These scallywags stole everything that was hanging to dry on the lines! All the guys boardshorts and bikinis and skivvies!! LOL they strung up all our floats and stolen boardies from the main halyard for all to see in the morning! Had to wake the boys up to get them to go collect our belongings from those damn pirates!! haha

This is luxury....lol...when you're too tired to keep rowing and the captain just pulls you along in the kayak with the dinghy....

Well I shall finish off this post with a photo of these amazing creatures....we saw these dolphins off the little spot we call Tilloo Bank....it's a shallow sand bank so we were a little surprised to see them there....Now that I have shared a bit of our experiences from the Bahamas how keen are you to travel there?? I had no idea it was going to be so amazing. Seriously. The Abacos completely blew my mind...took me by surprise...and I am so happy that I got to experience it for so long.

The Bahamas has the third largest reef in the world. First you have the Great Barrier in Australia, then you have Belize with the second largest and some of the best diving you can ever imagine. Third you have the Bahamas! Its great for diving and snorkeling but it also protects the shallow waters to keep the Sea of Abaco flat for the most part. So it's a great place for beginner boat people....if you normally get sea sick easily you can be assured that the Sea of Abaco will treat you with kindness and you will only have the most enjoyable memories :)