Flat Stanley

Tonight is Flat Stanley's good-bye party.  We are having Mexican night at Pedro's.  Flat Stanley has enjoyed the last 3 weeks in the Bahamas and now has some great memories to share with his friends back in California.  We will miss you Flat Stanley!!!!

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On Friday night we went down to Port Lucaya to watch the band and see the dancers and the limbo guy.  Mr Amazing, the limbo guy, limbos under the limbo pole carrying 2 little kids when it is about 2 feet off the ground, blindfolded and handcuffed when it is one foot, and under it when the pole is on fire 8 inches off the ground.  He's awesome.  Today I took Stanley SCUBA diving.  He had alot of fun.  We found a wreck that we hadn't been found since the hurricane because the hurricane moved it.  There were alot of colorful fish.  We saw a flying fish, a sting ray, a big huge blue parrot fish, some mahi-mahi, a shark and a huge turtle who actually nudged one of the divers.  Today we went out on the Sea Explorer and he even helped Scott captain teh boat.  In between dives we layed out and enjoyed the nice sunny day.

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Today at work Stanley got to play with some dolphins.  First we tried to get a pic with Cayla, the movie star.  Cayla is the star of the movie "Zeus and Roxanne".  Well Cayla is about to give birth any moment now and is a little uncooperative.  Sure enough we tried to get her to hold Stanley and she wouldn't.  On the second attempt she took Stanley and swam off with him.  She returned a  moment later without Stanley.  We were a little worried Stanley would be lost in the pen, but we asked her to go get it (they are trained to retrieve objects so we just gave her a little signal, two fingers tapping the forehead) she went and got him and returned.  So we decided to take a picture with someone else.  He got his picture with Scarab and Robala.  Robala liked taking her picture with him, she carried him around and tried to show everyone and we had trouble getting him away from her.  Then he got a kiss, but Robala couldn't quite find his mouth, but its the thought that counts.  All of the dolphins, including our very youngest 1 year-olds, are movie stars.  Besides Cayla, Cocoon was in the movie "Cocoon", and all of the dolphins stared in a movie coming out next year called either "Eye of the Dolphin" or "Blue 14" with Carly Schroeder from Lizzy McGuire.  Two dolphins were also in the Dolphins IMAX as well as several TV shows and commercials because they are trained to go out into the ocean and swim with people and SCUBA Divers.

For more dolphin pics check out my Dolphin Experience Journal that you can access from Bahamas Adventures on the right hand column.

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So Stanley got to experience his very first (and hopefully last) hurricane.  Wilma's winds started around 4am on Grand Bahama.  They slowly got stornger as the morning went on.  Around 9:30 we went over to Pedro's where it was a little safer.  The strongest winds took place around 11am-2pm.  Wilma was moving pretty fast by the time it hit Grand Bahama, so luckily it was over in a few hours.  It was originally supposed to be a tropical storm but ended up hitting us as a Category 3, we were just 60 miles south of the eye.  So it was really strong winds and a little bit of rain.  Durring the Wilma Stan tried some Hurricane Punch, took some naps and helped out with a puzzle.  By 5 pm we were out walking around surveying the damage.  There wasn't too much damage, just alot of trees, fences and signs down all over.  Today he went to work with me and helped clean up all the mess from teh storm and put everything that had to come inside. 

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On Friday night we were going to go down to Port Lucaya and watch the dancers, but it started pouring down rain and lots of thunder and lightening.  So I thought this was the beginning of Hurricane Wilma, but I was wrong.  Saturday was just a little overcast and today was so pretty that I decided to take Stanley down to the beach and see what preparations are getting ready for Wilma.  Today was 86 degrees, 80% humidity with a heat index (it feels like) 95 degrees.  It is beautiful sunny skies and the beach was full of tourists.  So Stanley had fun playing in the sand and water.  He even thought about getting his hair braided at the Braiding Hut.  After hitting up the beach we went over to Rum Runners and got a refreshing drink in a Coconut cup.  The Carribean is well known for making good rum.  During the 1920's when prohibition was in the US, Grand Bahama was used to smuggle alcohol to Florida, so that's where it got it's name Rum Runners from.  After that we were still hot so we stopped by Marie's Kookies and got some Birthday Cake ice cream which tastes just like my confetti cake.  So far it's my favorite ice cream in the Bahamas.  As we were walking around some places were boarding up windows and putting sand bags in front of doors, while others hadn't started yet.  We stopped by the Straw Market so Stanley could do some shopping for souveniers.  After that we peddled back to my apartment.  On the way we stopped and took a picture with a sign that has been put up to help direct cast and crew for Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and 3.  It is beign filmed right now on Grand Bahama, so yes there really are Pirates of the Caribbean here right now.

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Tonight we went down to Port Lucaya Marketplace for dinner.  The Marketplace is the main tourist area where there are restraunts, Bars and shops.  We ate at The Pub at Port Lucaya where Stanley perused the menu.  After dinner we went for a walk down the docks and looked at the Yachts.  We then went and got some ice cream from Andy's and sat down at Count Basie Square.  Every night there is a band that plays and singers.  It's fun to sit around and watch the tourists and the occasional crazy local.  There's one local we see there every night that dresses straight out of the 80's and dances crazy.  We tried to get a picture of him tonight but he moved as we were taking the picture, so maybe tomorrow night we'll get a photo op again.  Tonight was Disco night and they sang songs from the 70's with a Carribean beat.  The most interesting song we heard was Shania Twain's "you're still the one" with a Carribean Beat. 

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Flat Stanley arrived in Freeport/Lucaya Grand Bahama Island today.  He came over via a Carnival Cruise ship from Charelston, SC.  After going through customs (which apparently, surprise, was a nightmare), he made his way over to UNEXSO where he boarded the Cetaca (picture coming soon) and took the beautiful 20 minute boat ride over to The Dolphin Experience.  When he got there he was a little tired from all the traveling, so he took a nap with Raney and Sal the guard dogs.  After his nap he went and visited with the resident Parrots and Cockatoos.  The Cockatoos immediately like Stanley, where as Jessica the blue and gold Mackaw and Amber the Harlequin mix mackaw were not quite sure what to think of him.  Marty, being her usual mean self, tried to attack him, but I saved him.  Today was a busy day with the dolphins, so we decided to wait until another day for him to meet our dolphins.  Tonight we're going out to dinner in Port Lucaya, so we'll see what adventures we can go on there.

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Flat Stanley arrived in Salisbury, North Carolina on October 12th.  He is being packed and will be leaving tomorrow to fly to Florida, where he will be boarding a Cruise ship to come over to the Bahamas.

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