Coffins & Ghosts

I'm writing from the El San Juan Hotel in San Juan Puerto Rico.  This will be the first night I slept ashore since December 29th.  The bed feels very comfy.

Caja de Muertos (Coffin Island)

The second half of the south coast of Puerto Rico included both Salinas and Caja de Muertos.  We left Ponce and towed Tibby and Kristen's tender behind Top Shelf for the 8 nautical mile run to Caja de Muertos, which translates in English to Coffin Island.  Some say the profile of the island looks like a coffin, but there is a story about a pirate named Jose Almeda. 

LED Light Replaced the Kerosene Lamp

Jose fell in love with a woman who died shortly after they were married.  The legend goes that he buried her in a glass covered coffin that was hidden in a cave on Caja de Muertos.  Periodically,

Julianne on Coffin Island

he would bring his pirate ship to the island and go ashore by himself to view his deceased wife in the glass coffin.  When Jose died, his crew sailed his ship directly to the island to recover what they thought was hidden treasure.  The crew fought to the death, and the lone survivor entered the cave to find the only treasure to be the corpse in a glass coffin.  Either way, the island is known as "Coffin Island"

Looking Down at Top Shelf

We arrived and anchored about mid island just below the lighthouse.  We used the tender in tow to go ashore and we climbed a sketchy trail to the lighthouse.  I did a little off trail hiking and found a small cart, similar to a mining cart.  They must have used the mining cart on rails

Tibby & Kristen

to get the Kerosene up the 244 foot hill.  I couldn’t find any evidence of the rails.  Views from the lighthouse were fantastic.

The next morning we said goodbye to Tibby and Kristen as they took their tender back to Ponce to continue his construction project aboard their catamaran Phoenix.  We hoisted anchor and set sail for Salinas.

Wind Mills Along the South Coast

During our 2 hour cruise we saw the Puerto Rican wind power investment that has been made since Hurricane Maria in 2017, as there were hundreds of windmills located on the southern shore between Ponce and Salinas.  In addition we were buzzed by a C-130 Air Force transport plane that was training off of the

C-130 Climbing Out After Buzzing Us

coast of Puerto Rico.

Salinas is known as a hurricane hole.  In the Caribbean, folks that sail during hurricane season know that hurricane holes are your go-to anchorage if a hurricane is approaching.  These anchorages are very well protected and typically surrounded by mangrove trees which are used along with anchors to secure the vessel.

One of the Ghost Ships

When we first arrived at Salinas, we thought the anchorage was very busy.  What we found as we entered the harbor was that these anchored vessels had been there since Hurricane Maria 18

Salinas Marina

month ago.  Folks had simply abandoned these vessels.  It felt like we were anchoring among ghost ships.  We inspected many of the nylon anchor lines on these vessels and decided it was best to anchor to the east or upwind of these vessels since many of them had broken off of their anchors and lay in the mangroves on the west side of the anchorage.  We didn’t need one of these ghost ships to break off its anchor and ram us during the upcoming 54 hour blow that was forecast.

Julianne at the Full Moon in Salinas

We rode out the next 3 days among these ghost ships.  The town had a few OK restaurants, but after 3 days when the wind finally settled below 20 knots, it was time to leave Salinas.

Julianne and I decided to skip the next two anchorages and sail directly to the east coast of Puerto Rico to the marina at Puerto Del Ray. This was a very swanky place with real estate around the marina selling for more than 2 million dollars.  We would use this marina as a base to explore the El Yunque National Rain Forest and await the arrival of the Fords from Buffalo, NY.

South Coast Puerto Rico

Guancia - Harbor like a Fiord

So we have been along the south coast of Puerto Rico for 3 weeks.  We are currently in a slip at the Ponce Yacht Club.  The last 6 days have been windy and Julianne has mainly hidden from the winds since her return last Saturday.

We anchored behind Gilligans Island State Park, more properly known as Guanica.  We sat on anchor for 3 days while the wind consistently blew over 25 knots.  The constant wind and the thought of the anchor slipping, wears on you after a few days.  It felt very similar to the 6 day we rode out a blow at Mayguana Bahamas in early December.

Anchorage at Guancia with Nordhaven "Pinch Me" at anchor

Nothing much to report.  Diving the outer reefs in La Parguara was OK.  The coral reefs were well formed, but I have been spoiled by underwater visibility of the Bahamas.  When we moved to Guancia on Sunday to get to a protected harbor for the blow that was forecast for the next few days.  We made made a video of how Julianne found a new friend named Ceasar at the Copa Resort in Guancia

Julianne Touring Ponce

Ponce Fire House

We met a nice couple from British Columbia on a 78 ft Nordhaven named "Pinch Me".  They were on a practice cruise getting ready to cross the Atlantic in May.  We met when they used the "Harbor Tour" concept on us.  I had said Hi to them when we passed them before anchoring.  Later that day, they came by in their tender and invited us over for cocktails.  Their boat was beautiful, but
unfortunately they were heading west, and we were still heading east.

Julianne & Kristen at Don Q Mansion

Yesterday, we moved to Ponce to resupply for the next 8 days.  While we were checking in we ran into Tibby and Kristen who we had originally met in Boqueron.  They had docked in Ponce to finish some repairs.  They offered to take us shopping and we ended up touring Ponce and the Castle of the founder of of Don Q Rum.  That evening, we crashed their Valentines dinner.  We never made it to the grocery store, so we stayed a second night.

Don Q Hill Top Mansion

We are leaving in the morning for Isla Caja de Muertos, which translates to Coffin Island.  We plan to stay there a few days and explore the lighthouse and the beach.

Jim with Sancho Panza

Overlooking Ponce to Coffin Island

Ponce from Don Q Mansion

La Parguera - They're Watching...

I took the picture of Top Shelf below to the left in Boqueron the night before we left.  If you look close, you will see a blimp in the background.  For the first two days I thought this was a marketing blimp that you often see for a retail company.  It wasn't until we go to La Parguara that it peaked my attention.

TARS Blimp

I have been waiting for Julianne to return from a business trip for the last 7 days.  I see this blimp go up and down literally with the weather.  With all the time in the world I decided to investigate.

A few days ago, Julianne and I got as close as we could by water.  Not good enough, so today I went on a long hike and found the front gate to the blimps landing pad.

Blimp Originally Seen in Boqueron

This blimp is part of the Tethered Aerostat Radar System (TARS).  It is a surveillance blimp that is used to detect aircraft and vessels.  The first TARS was used by the US Air Force in 1980 to help with illegal drug smuggling.  This first site was in Grand Bahamas, and subsequent sites included Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, Florida, and the one I'm writing about in Lajas PR.

The top of the blimp is filled with helium and the bottom section above the radar unit is filled with compressed air.  The blimp

Blimp Grounded for Storms

carries an airborne radar capable of resolving images out to 200 nm along with a generator to power the radar and 100 gallons of diesel fuel. This thing is big.  More than twice the size of the Met Life blimp.

Hike to the Landing Pad

The most interesting thing to me is trying to find out what the tether line is made of.  The blimp can withstand 65 kt winds and ascend to 25,000 feet.   420,000 cubic feet of helium supports its 2,200 lb payload.  The diesel itself weighs 600 lbs.  25,000 feet of any line in the air has to be heavy.  I wanted to know if it was some star wars kind of line.  As I was looking for the specs of the tether which ended up being nylon and polyethylene I found that a previous blimp was lost at this site in 2012.

Google Earth view of Pad

They are watching the French Boat

Blimp at about 6,000 Feet

On August 15, 2012, the tropical wave that eventually became hurricane Irene was approaching Lajas PR.  The 6 person crew was attempting to retrieve the blimp, but the storm approached quicker than expected with winds increasing from 60 kt.  The normal winch was not working fast enough so they attached the tether to a 43 ton truck with an extra heavy winch.  The winds kept increasing and the blimp towed the truck off the landing pad and through a fence, then over 3 berms before the tether was severed.  The blimp quickly began to climb, and despite the ground crew attempting to deflate the blimp remotely, the blimp's helium exploded at 7,000 feet.  It landed in the hills of PR and no one was injured.  And you thought the 1937 Hindenburg disaster was the last helium blimp to explode...

Descending Before Bad Weather

This answered my final question of why the blimp is lowered every afternoon as the mountain thunderstorms pass.  I guess if I was a drug runner, I'd fly by nice and low about 6
pm any night.  This blimp is always on the ground.

Boqueron - The warm up for our Puerto Rican Adventure.

I know one Puerto Rican very well.  My nephew Kevin married Michelle who was raised in NYC and Puerto Rico.  She has a huge personality, is loud, funny and is a very caring person.  This describes everyone in Puerto Rico!

We got to Boqueron just in time for the weekend.  The cruise guides said to be ready, as the Puerto Rican's are much more rambunctious than the Dominicans and you will hear some noise in the anchorage.  Boy they were spot on.

Mangrove "Adventure"

We spent Saturday afternoon in the dingy exploring some mangrove rivers.  Eagle eye Julianne spotted an iguana in one of the mangrove.  I had never seen that before.  Just as we left the mangroves we were approached by the "Cuerpo de Vigilantes de Recursos Naturales".  The US equivalent is the marine police.  These are the same guys that followed us as we approached the night before.  Seems appropriate the the word "Vigilantes" is plastered on the side of the boat.

Iguana in the Mangroves

They asked to see our life jackets.  I showed them two old moldy ones in the bilge.  They told us we had to wear them.  I could see that Julianne was panicking about putting on that moldy jacket.  I put them back in the bilge and the guy repeated that we need to put them on, this time more firmly.  I put up my one (index) finger for "hold on" and I quickly got two brand new inflatable jackets from inside the built in cooler under the seat.  Julianne and I gladly put them on. 

He then asked for my fire extinguisher.  I didn't know that a 12 ft boat had to carry a fire extinguisher, but luckily I didn't make a stink because he was right.  If a boat has an outboard with a built in gas tank, you must have a fire extinguisher.  That will be a new ad for the dingy when I can find one. We got away with only a warning.

On the Malecon

Julianne and I took the dingy into the dock in front of the Malecon on Saturday night.  A Malecon defined by Wikopedia as "a broad esplanade, roadway and seawall which stretches along the coast".  Boqueron had redone the street just in front of the harbor to create the Malecon to support their parties.  During the week, the Malecon is open for business, retail shops open, cars moving both ways over the concrete pavers, but come Friday through Sunday, the street is shut down and the party
begins.

The Old Man Trying to Fit In

Bands get a power cord or two from a local business and set up their amplifiers and drums in the middle of the Malecom.  The bands aren't more than 200 feet apart, yet they crank up the music to drown each other out.  The whole time everyone is watching or dancing in the streets.  Why didn't I find this place back in my 20"s ??? 

It was very cool to watch at 10 pm, but it got old in the anchorage when the singer with the loudest amplifiers did her final encore at 3:15 am.

We stayed both nights, we didn't go in in Sunday night as we continued our 100 percent success rate from another harbor tour.  We had visited Tibby and Kristen earlier in the day on their 42 ft catamaran, and they stopped by to visit just as it got dark.  Julianne served appetizers that ended up being dinner.  Fortunately the party on shore ended around 9 pm Sunday night.

We were up at first light Monday for a 2 hour passage to La Parguera, the first stop on our trip east along the southern coast of Puerto Rico.

A night in the Mona Passage

We got back to Cap Cana around 11 pm Thursday.  I didn't like the vibe of the marina so I was looking for a weather window to cross the Mona Passage to Puerto Rico.  It is 80 miles across this section of water.  It is the passage that separates the western and eastern Caribbean and many boats have been de-masted or simply turn around due to the bad conditions.  There are wind shadows, thunderstorms and wind accelerators all caused by the mountains of Puerto Rico, not to mention the ever present 1 knot of west set from the Equatorial Current.

Top Shelf Route Since October 31st.

If we didn't go Thursday night, the next window was Wednesday of the following week.  This was a quick decision on my part and I would pay for it later that night.  We used Sammy on last time to provision the boat with the great DR fruits and veggies.  My plan was to leave at 2 am to catch the night lee off of the east coast of DR, then catch the Puerto Rico night lee after the daily thunderstorms move northwest off of the coast.

This plan had two problems.  First, the weather window was only open for tonight, but the second larger one was that we had to deal with the DR Navy to give us our "Despacho" out of the country.  This could only be done between 8 am and 5 pm Monday through Saturday.  Two days earlier, I saw a sport-fish next to us try to depart at 8 am.  It was 10:15 by the time he got under way.  Knowing this, and with the closing weather window, I decided to depart after clearing at 4:30 pm.

Leaving Dominican Republic 

The "gang" of DR officials gathered about 5 pm at the boat.  Julianne and I were inside.  They decided to invite themselves on board.  There was 7 of them.  One had a Navy uniform on, another was from immigration, and I never figured out who the other 5 folks were.

They sat down in the Salon and made themselves at home.  The Navy guy started filling out the Dispacho, while another guy who didn't identify himself took pictures of our passports with his cell phone.  The woman from immigration noticed that our passports were stamped into the DR a month into the future, but fortunately it was no big deal.

I had to sign the Dispacho, and one other document, then the unidentified big guy motioned to take him down below to do an inspection.  He looked in two cabinets, then motioned me into the port cabin.  He picked up the mattress to show me what he would do to the boat if I didn't give him what he called a "present".  I had read about this bullshit behavior in the cruising guides, but we hadn't seen this in any of our previous marinas.  I had gotten rid of my pesos, so I gave him $10.  He looked at me and said "there is three of us who need presents".  I wasn't going to argue, I gave him $30 and he put the mattress back down.

I was going to fake an engine issue after we got our Dispacho, so I could leave at 3 am, but after playing Santa Claus with the "presents" I just wanted to get out of there.  What a terrible way to end our visit to a great country like the Dominican Republic.  We were off the dock at 5:30 pm heading for Boqueron PR.  Good riddance to the corrupt DR "officials".

The seas for the previous 4 days were reported as 10-12 feet as there was a large high pressure near Bermuda that was aiding the trade winds.  The wind forecast for the night was 10-15 gusting 18 knots out of the northeast.  This would put the additional 3-5 ft wind driven waves on the port bow.

As soon as we got off the DR east coast, I set Top Shelf's on-board Furuno radar to 36 miles to watch for the storms coming off the east coast of PR.  Sure enough, just before dark, they appeared at the edge of the radar. We were heading straight for them.

Sunset Mona Passage

We were experiencing 8 foot rollers with an additional 3 foot NE swell on top of them.  Occasionally we had 11 ft seas.  I told Julianne to go sit in the stern cockpit where you can see that actual size of the waves before it got dark.  She came back to the fly bridge just saying "WOW".

As the storms approached, the wind moved straight east on our bow and increased above 25 knots.  After an hour, those 3-5 foot waves from the northeast turned into 6-8 right on the nose.  Including the swell, Top Shelf was bouncing over 15 foot waves in the pitch dark.

As anyone who has done deliveries with me knows, I cannot sit a watch in the pilot house in these conditions.  I'm OK up on the fly-bridge, it is further aft.   I normally plan on staying up on the fly-bridge, rain gear and all, but the potential for a lightning strike brought me inside.

Boqueron PR Dingy Dock

To me, this is the only design flaw of the Fleming.  The pilothouse is too far forward.  In seas like this, the stern takes the top of the wave at the same time the bow is in the trough.  On a 15 foot wave, this causes the bow to rapidly descend, which gives negative G forces in the pilothouse.  You literally come out of the helm chair, or if you are standing, you experience brief levitation as your feet come off the floor.

It wasn't 15 minutes inside that I went from feeling fine to ready to puke.  I was sea sick in 15 foot sees in the middle of the night.  I was ready to move back to the fly-bridge and take on the lightning strike, when Julianne said "Why don't you lay down, I'll watch the Radar and let you know if I see anything"  These are some of the sweetest words she has ever said to me (LOL).  Withing 5 minutes I was laying on the couch in the salon and she was riding the waves in the Pilothouse.

Julianne is now fully certified in nighttime navigation.  Not only did she handle the negative G's, she ate cheese and crackers and watched 2 movies on the iPad.  I don't know what I would have done without her.

At about midnight, Julianne woke me up and said that we must be in the Puerto Rico night lee as the wind had calmed down to 10 knots and the wave have subsided to a 5 foot swell.  I took over from the fly-bridge and she retired to the fly bridge couch for a much deserved rest.

We got to Boqueron PR at 2 am, after being scared to death by a PR patrol boat (not USCG) who pulled up next to us after following us for 30 minutes.  I tried to call him on Channel 16, no response.  To me, this is uncalled for behavior, but once again, this type of thing is described in the cruising guides.  While he was following us, I recalled my decision to not carry weapons on this trip.  Since I didn't have any weapons, I had my brand new spear gun ready for my one shot!....Just in case...

Next Post:  Wild and Crazy Boqueron PR

Rob & Beth Visit from Hilton Head

Fast Friends

After getting back from the Tree House, we started preparing for Rob & Beth's visit.  As with anyone who visits.  Getting together is a moving target.  At first we thought we would stay in Luperon and have them visit there, then Ocean World, and finally Samana.  We planned to anchor out in the National Forest for a night, come back to Samana to watch the Patriots AFC Championship Game, then cruise down to Cap Cana which is closer to the Hilton Resort they would stay at after our visit.

Moto Conchos

I had only met Rob one time.  Julianne and Beth were fast friends and had been hanging out for about a year.  Rob and I both rolled the dice on getting along for the sake of the girls.  It all worked out as Rob is a great guy, who manages the worldwide supply chain logistics for Auto Zone.

They told us they would rent a car in Santo Domingo and drive out to Samana.  After experiencing driving in the DR complete with Moto Conchos, we thought it would be better to pick them up.

Mangrove "Adventure"

A Moto Conchos is a form of taxi in the DR.  It is basically a small motor scooter where you sit on the back as the driver takes you where you want to go.  We saw some amazing "fares" on different Moto Conchos.  Sometimes 3 to 4 people on the scooter, another time we saw a mother with her 3 year old in front of her while she held 2 infants while sitting side saddle.  We saw bread being delivered by rigging a 10 ft pole across that carries 4 or 5 dozen large loafs.  But for me, the best was rigging a 55 gallon drum on the back while the Moto Concho driver weaved in and out of traffic.  These guys are simply nuts...

Sunset Dinner at Anchor

We decided to use our local driver Richardo to go pick them at the airport.  It was a two and half hour drive to the airport and back.  We had champagne, beer and snacks in Richado's mini van.  We got safely back to Samana.

The next morning we left for Bahia de San Lorenzo, a well protected bay on the south side of the Bahia de Samana.  This is part of the Manglar de Cano Hondo National Forest and a very remote large anchorage.  Being surrounded by mangroves, this would be the first time we tested our delta anchor in mud.

Rob's Night Tender Ride for This Pic

Bahama Grouper & Lobster

I had to explain to Beth the difference between a tender "Harbor Tour" and a tender "Adventure".  The harbor tour was introduced to me by Ryan back in the Jimentos Islands.  A harbor tour involves bring cocktails to a vessel anchored nearby and introducing yourselves.  This type of tour has a 100% success rate, usually meeting other great cruisers.  A tender "Adventure" is taking the tender to remote locations exploring, similar to what Julianne and I did every day in the Exumas back in November.

Sunrise Enroute Cap Cana DR

Relaxing on Top Shelf  While Underway

On this day, our adventure lead us up a very narrow mangrove creek.  This was the first time Rob and Beth had been in a mangrove creek.  I knew there was a dock up at the end of the creek, but I wasn't giving a lot of details to the others as I wanted to keep this an "adventure".  We heard another outboard motor up ahead of us, all of a sudden a 42 foot center console rounded the corner with 20 passengers doing about 10 knots.  The adventure became getting out of his way straight into the mangroves without puncturing the tender!  We spent the afternoon running up and down mangrove rivers, then we went back to Top Shelf for a late afternoon swim and a great lobster and grouper dinner.

R&B with "Sam The Beautiful"

The one difference I have with Rob is that he HATES the Patriots.  I figured I should play this similar to "don't talk politics" with someone you don't know well.  We got up Sunday morning and headed back to Marina Puerto Bahia where we took over the billiards room to watch the game.  Thank god the Patriots won.  That kept Rob quiet from that point on!

The next morning, with a good forecast, we left at first light for Cap Cana on the southeast coast of DR.  It was a 7 hour cruise that was a good time for everyone to catch up on sleep lost over the last few days...everyone except the Captain!

Group Pic at Punta Cana Market

We got docked at Cap Cana and within 10 minutes a large DR man introduced himself as "Sam the Beautiful".  He wanted to wash the boat for me, but with a personality like this, I was more interested in recruiting him as our Cap Cana driver.  As it turns out, he had a nice Toyota Camry with special wheels.  It was clean and would work out fine.

Over the next few days, Sammy the Beautiful did very well for himself.  He took us to Punta Cana to a sea side flea market.  We had a ball negotiating our purchases with the vendors.  The next

Lunch at Punta Cana

Better View of Rob & Beth

afternoon our visit from Rob and Beth was over and Sammy drove Rob and Beth to the Hilton La Romana in Playa Bahahibe.  Beth called later that day and said we must visit, so Julianne and I made the day trip including a great dinner there before we returned.

Our first visitors since Ryan & Sam, this "adventure" went well.

NEXT:  Crossing the Mona Passage

From Top Shelf to a Tree House

Since our last blog, Top shelf has moved around the SW corner of Puerto Rico to La Parguera, the most western town on the south coast.  This post is the second of 3 post regarding the Dominican Republic.

Marian Puerto Bahia

Rural DR

As we traveled to Samana DR during the night, I had a secret plan in mind.  Once we got to Samana, Julianne's birthday was in 2 days, so I had heard of the Dominican Tree House Village, that was 30 minutes from Samana.  In keeping with Julianne's introduction "outside the wire", I thought a few days here would be a great birthday present.  Once and a while I get it right!

Julianne in the Tree House

After spending Sunday at Marina Puerto Bahia, well protected inside the wire, we got a ride from Richado up the mountain to the rain forest where the tree house village is located.  Leaving Samana, we both got a first hand look at rural life in the Dominican Republic. 

Outdoor Shower

Once we arrived, our driver carried our bags a 1/4 mile up the mountain to the registration hut.  We quickly found that the rural folks in the DR are very nice, and they are willing to help you in any way they can...for a gratuity.  I quickly found that I needed to carry less than 1,000 pesos bills ($20) or I would quickly go broke!

The Tree House

Another porter, carried our bags up another 300 feet to our tree house (a well deserved 1,000 pesos).  This tree house was built on the side of a box canyon in the rain forest.  Inside, the room is basically a floor with an attached bathroom and an open air shower that was carved into the side of the canyon.  The bed had a mosquito net over it for obvious reasons.

Bed with Mosquito Screen

We had the afternoon, so we decided to take bikes 3 miles down to the beach.  On the ride down, we saw some natives slaughtering a pig on the side of the road.  I stopped to watch, but Julianne kept riding.  I decided I had better catch up.

Julianne in the Beach Caves

We got to the beach and had a great afternoon exploring the rock formation and had a traditional DR lunch including La Pina (pineapple juice out of a cored pineapple) and whole fish Dorado (mahi-mahi).  On the way back, we got off the bikes and played baseball with some of the local kids and their dad.

La Pina at the Beach

Later that afternoon, I convinced two of the locals that ran the zip line to take me up for a private tour (remember the 1,000 peso notes!).  The zip line ran below our tree-house, so the plan was that Julianne would film me going by the tree-house.  The plan fell apart as the tree house manager made her a second Pina Colada.

Zip'n over the Waterfall

The next day, after a very relaxing night under the mosquito net in the jungle, we went to go horseback riding.  We had to drive in the van down to Samana, where we picked up a very nice young lady from Spain.  She couldn't speak a word of English, so we had fun all day trying out our mangled Spanish on her.

The Conquistadors

The horse ride was incredible.  Not because of the beautiful waterfalls at the end of the trail, but because of the rural logistics needed to move over 500 horses through the jungle.  All of the local Resorts offer the folks to go "outside the wire" on a horseback riding excursion.  Obviously, lots of folks sign up.  The logistics involve rural DR kids, who bring their horse to the starting point where the tour owner assigns their horse to a tourist.  The kids then run beside their horse, or guide their horse in most cased along a completely overused trail in 6 inches of mud and rocks, 2 miles to the waterfall.

500 Horses to the Waterfall

Riders at the Waterfall

We mounted our horses, along with the Spanish girl, and quickly took off with our young guides.  They saw that we were all comfortable on horses, so they had us move quickly by the literally hundreds of horses on the trail.  The incredible part of this experience was to look at the expressions of horror on 90% of the tourist on horseback.  They had not been outside the wire, and this was full immersion into the DR rural culture.

At the Campfire

Later that night, back at the tree house, we met a nice family from Philadelphia.  After getting past the Eagles vs Patriots  jokes, we had a nice time talking with them and cooking marshmallow around the camp fire.

The next morning we got up early and left the tree house as we had our annual sales meeting.  Julianne and I were joining the meeting via video conference. 

Long Awaited Coconut Bread

But before we left the tree house.  The two DR woman who did the cooking, made us two loafs of Coconut Bread.  Ryan had told me of this special Caribbean bread back in the Bahamas.  I now would have two loaves on Top Shelf!

Next:  Beth & Rob visit from Hilton Head

Suspension Bridge at the Tree House