Beach Bungalow Dancing

Thursday April 4, 2013

We think things are finally winding down to an end for us here in Long Island, so it was time to take care of last minute business like stocking up our measly grocery supply and making sure we grabbed the bracket for the davits.  Sweating it out once more on the pavement we walked up to the local garage where the owner Les who told us the part was all ready. He brought it out and explained that although he did weld and grind the two pieces back together it may not be as strong as it originally was. We half expected this prognosis and may be ordering a new bracket as soon as we have the option, but we figured a fixed one, even if it wasn’t as strong as before, was better than the ghetto rigged contraption we were using at the moment. Plus with some of the big hops we’ll be doing in the near future we’ll need all the strength we could get. We paid the $20 to Les and continued to see what kind of goodies the mail boat brought to the grocery store.  The store was fully loaded, but the problem was that we were completely indecisive.  Walking up and down the aisles with a little basket in our hands we kept exchanging looks of ‘What do we even need?’.  We’re horrible at grocery shopping and never go with a list or even a plan so we just threw in a few basics like lunch meat, potatoes, and a staple of ours, cereal and milk.  Once we were satisfied that we could survive on the boat for another week we grabbed our Meijer bags (yes, they put our food in Meijer bags, how strange and cool!) and went back to Serendip for a little R&R.

We had a few hours to kill before the big event for the night which was dancing at a beach bungalow a few miles up the road from the anchorage.  Since there was no way we’d be able to walk there or even back and I seemed to be the only one up for hitchhiking, we grabbed a ride with Shiv and his friend Nick.  We had heard that this bungalow was the happening place to be on Thursday nights and as soon as we walked in the door we were flooded with familiar faces of other cruisers and locals that spend a fair amount of their time at the Breeze.  While happy hour was still going strong we made our way up to the bar for a couple of Sands before trying to push together a few tables to accommodate our large group.  In addition to the six of us that arrived in Nick’s rental there was also a group of five Austrian’s joining us.  We had met Jakob back at the blue hole as one of Ashley’s students and was at the bungalow that night and had brought along his group of friends.  We started out with polite conversations about travel and their time in Europe, all while enjoying a batch of conch fritters that had been brought out to the table.  After watching the girls slurp down some delicious Bahama Mamas there was a quick change in beverage choice which also soon helped me to get enough courage to get on the dance floor.

I came prepared for Shiv and his Speedy Gonzales feet tonight and was even picking up on some of the moves so that I was spinning when I was supposed to and to the untrained eye it may have looked like I knew what I was doing.  There might have been a few accidental head butts on my part but I think Shiv was still happy to have me as a partner versus one of the local women that had her eye on him and looked like she might club him over the head and drag him home.  Everyone was getting on the dance action at some point, Brian and Stephanie, Penny and John, Jakob and his girlfriend Claudia.  I had  a great dance with John who says he doesn’t have much skill but really doesn’t give himself enough credit, and we even got Matt on the dance floor for a little bit after the Bahama Mama’s became bottomless.

Since the week had been busy and we were all still a little tired the original plan had only been to stop by for a max of two hours while we grabbed a drink, said hello to friends, and I satisfied my need to get on the dance floor.  Before we even knew it though the sun had set long ago and we were having the time of our lives.  Getting into lengthy conversations with ex-American locals, cruisers, and our new Austrian friends we let go of our self-inflicted schedules to enjoy the here and now.  Intoxicated on rum and on life I looked at the bungalow style bar we were sitting in, the beach just past my reach with it’s waves lightly lapping on shore, and all our great friends surrounding us when I realized we are finally out living our dream.  This is why we were out cruising.  Up until this point there had been plenty of good times, sure, but promises of moments like this were what kept me going while I was back on shore struggling with getting the boat ready and sitting around waiting in a life that I just wasn’t satisfied with.   With a wave of content and happiness washing over me,  smiling I looked over at Stephanie and exclaimed, “This is our life!”.  Grinning back at me she raised her glass for a toast and repeated just as excitedly, “This is our life!”.

music at beach bungalow from Jessica Johnson on Vimeo.

dancing at beach bungalow from Jessica Johnson on Vimeo.