Provo IV: "Roughin' it"

Stephanie is in town. Remeber Stephanie from Miami? She has her own advertizing company: Gordon Media Group. http://www.gordonmediagroup.com/ Her specialty is upscale Caribbean travel ads. She's all hooked up down here. She's in town for business and a little "downtime" as well. I am fortunate enough to reap a few benefits by association. She is staying at the Turks & Caicos Club for a week as she pseudo-works. She twisted my arm, and I agreed to tag along as she roughs it in these accommodations.

Today, we went to the beach right in front of the condo. I saw a Hobie Cat. "dingdingdingding!!" rang my fun detector. I asked Stephanie "Do you think anyone can just get on the Hobie Cat and take it out as they please?" She replied "Sure, I don't see why not..." That was all I needed to hear. I promptly donned the PFD, and casted off. The breeze was honkin'. This was gonna be FUN. Seconds later, I was haulin' some serious ass, up on one pontoon, fully hiked out, spray in the face, I was laughing out loud... "yeeeehhhaaaa!!" The only qualm was the nagging thought: This is too good to be true.... this can't be legal. I stuffed the bow a few times, almost got blown over a few times.... still laughing. Still haulin' ass. Uh oh. Two dudes in uniforms are casting off the beach in the condo skiff. Yup, they're headed right for me. Here they come.... they get as close as they can; I was movin' about twice their speed, on a beam reach for the beach. They point to the beach as I speed by them, spray in my wake. I beached her, and waited for my punishment. They motored the skiff ashore alongside.... "Uh-oh.... did I break the rules?" I asked. "We don't let guests out alone when it's this windy - I have to go with you..." he replied. DOH! OOOPS! Slightly embarassing, but totally worth it. File under: "funny little blog fodder".

The Meridian Club, Pine Cay. Stephanie had to go conduct business there, and I got to tag along as her assistant. Shlepping her bag and taking pictures. The Meridian Club is a 12 room / one cottage resort on the private Pine Cay. Top notch service and accommodations, zero crowds, minimal civilization. "Detached from civilization, but not roughing it" was the description that occurred to me. How much does it cost? "If you have to ask, you can't afford it."

This picture is not downloaded from a website. I actually took it during the tour. It's the view from the bar balcony. Traditionally, the guests (max of 26 in number) meet here for happy hour daily. Very quiet, low key, mellow chill-out vibe. The kinda place Dr.Melfy (sp) should have prescribed for Tony Soprano....for a month. It's even nicer than the Bada Bing:

Aboard the Meridian Club shuttle. They have two. They haul ass, as you can tell by the wake. It's a Parker cuddy with twin 200hp Yamaha four strokes:

Here's our (oops, I mean her) condo at Turks & Caicos Club:

Johnboy cooking dinner last night! He's good. Steph also brought her friend Nancy with her, and the four of us enjoyed chicken & artichoke fettucini d'herrigel. His signature home made bread as well. Ben & Jerry's for dessert. That's what I'm talkin' about. What a HUGE treat after you've been living 38ft boat for 2.5 months. Nancy has eluded the camera eye thus far, but not for long. Her and John are out fishing with Rumrunner Bill as I type this.

Team Audax Family Fun Day. The day before Jordi flew home temporarily, and Steph became his pinch hitter, Team Audax rented bicycles, rode them all around Grace Bay to "The Hole" and went to a great sushi lunch. I splurged a bit at the sushi place, OK I admit it. But it was the perfect amount for my bicycling induced hunger, and it was fresh and delicious.

"The Hole". Yup, you guessed it. It's a hole. At the bottom is some green water and empty Heineken bottles. Maybe a shoe or two, and black burned out logs. The phrase "Oh my God... this is incredible..." did not enter my mind. That happened about 30 minutes later when I took my first bite of sushi.

On a deeper side note, I am BESIDE MYSELF WITH GRATITUDE these days. This is all just so incredible. It's surreal at times. What did I ever do to deserve this adventure? I don't know. But I ain't gonna mess with it. It's just too good. This journey has taken on a spiritual tone for me personally, and it is my belief that my good fortune comes as a result of seeking a new relationship with God that I never had before. HP's got my back. I can feel it. I could write volumes about "Ego vs Spirituality" and related sub-topics.... but I better save my server space at blogger.com for things like poopyjuice. By the way, just because I make a reference to "Ego vs Spirituality", does NOT mean that I claim to have eliminated Ego from my life. Not even close. I have, however, begun to get it under control, or so I think.... as my "fellows" all know, it's "progress, not perfection". Peace out for now.