A small slice of life here in the Bahamas

I had no idea what kind of reception we'd receive upon arriving here in the Bahamas with a pit bull on board. I had a deep down fear that perhaps pit bulls might be part of a future ban of this completely misunderstood breed, but I needn't have worried after all. I bet over half the dogs here are pitties and just like in the states, they are loved, hated, feared, and revered. It does, however, make me feel good when I'm able to assuage the fear some people have expressed upon seeing Wilbur, when they realize he's just a big love bug. We were sitting at a patio on Treasure Cay trying desperately to get Hans' computer to connect to their internet when a young Bahamian teenager lazily shuffled past us with half closed eyes. That is until he saw Wilbur and then you'd have thought he'd been hit with a thousand volts of electricity. With eyes bugging in fear he shuddered to a stop and as his legs turned to jelly he slid into a neighboring chair. "He's very friendly," I volunteered. "Would you like to pet him?" After assuring him that yes, Wilbur was indeed a pit bull and that no, he wasn't going to tear him from limb to limb, he finally came over and very tentatively placed a hand on Wilbur's side. After that we couldn't get rid of him and for the next hour (while in a trance like state) he repeatedly ran his hands down Wilbur's rib cage, tugged his ears, and rubbed some tender pitty tummy. Wilbur loved every second of it. After a while the young Bahamian's friends showed up and I have a feeling this fellow is going to go down in Treasure Cay history as a very brave man. His friends kept a safe distance from him and Wilbur, all the while shouting out comments that I couldn't understand but I'm pretty sure meant that he was taking his life in his hands with this vicious dog. It didn't matter to our new friend; he was in love, and it wouldn't surprise me if a pit bull is in his future. But we've actually received more positive comments than negative and a lot of the marina employees we've met are pit bull owners. I've heard this more than once: "Hey Mon, is that a pit? I have two at home and they're the best! They sleep with my kids!" Just yesterday when we were walking around Marsh Harbor we met a local family with a chihuahua and Wilbur was quite the gentleman. The chihuahua wanted nothing more than to sniff poor Wilbur's butt, and being the good will ambassador for pit bull's that he is, Wilbur allowed it. This same family had a pit bull that died a few years ago and they got a huge kick out of Wilbur and his patience. We're also thrilled with the relaxed Bahamian rules about dogs as we've been able to take Wilbur to the beaches and the marina pools without a problem. Even though we could probably sneak him into swimming in a pool, we haven't, since I don't want to overstep our welcome. I'm just happy that he can snooze under our chaize lounges instead of being locked up on the boat. It's Bahama Mama time and Wilbur wants to know if one of these belong to him. Sorry, Wilbur, but NO!

This is yours.

Honest to God, just try to sleep with a pit bull snoring in one ear and Hans snoring in the other. Yes, I woke up in our berth this morning to find Wilbur firmly ensconced on my right side with his snoring pitty head on my pillow, and Hans snoring on my left, but at least he was on his own pillow! "Hey, I'm trying to sleep here!" Poor Wilbur. A favorite pitty perch while at anchor.

Take a good look at this because I think it's the last time you'll see Hans' swimming suit in one piece. We went to the marina pool yesterday (with Wilbur!! Yaaay we love the Bahamas!) and that's when I saw it; Hans' swimming suit was ripped from stem to stern in the back and I nearly split a gut I laughed so hard. Dear God, it left nothing to the imagination and today before we leave the marina and this wonderful thing called shore power, I need to get my sewing machine out and fix it before we get evicted from the islands for indecent exposure! And so it goes with our life here in the Bahamas.