Bay Springs Lake

Dylan and Dee Dee have certainly been enjoying the good life lately. We ended up staying 10 days at Green Turtle Bay Resort - it was hard to leave. There were a lot of walking places for the kids and plenty of the dinghy rides. We had three days of quick anchorages and then enjoyed a couple of days at Grand Harbor Marina, another resort style marina. It was definitely time to toughen this crew up a bit. You know, hoist those sails, swab those decks kinds of stuff.

We've been anchored in a beautiful cove on Bay Springs Lake in Mississippi. We planned to come for a couple of days.  We're on our fifth day here and will probably stay for five more. The scenery is just spectacular and we've had beautiful sunsets each night. I think the whole crew could get used to this.

Dee Dee has been refining her dinghy skills with the help of Dylan. She happily leaps in after him and hangs over the sides now. There's a park about a mile across the lake with a small dock and lots of walking trails. She has learned that a dinghy ride can be much more than just a ride. It can mean that you get to go to other fun places.

She's now ticked off several more requirements towards her Second Mate status. There have been more than 5 successful dinghies rides without a single Dee Dee overboard drill (knocking on wood). All stairs have successfully been mastered, the latest being the flybridge stairs which happened just this week. Now she's found a whole new level to find trouble on...

Of course, there are still a few issues to overcome. The "on command" requirement, while getting better, is still a bit hit or miss. She's still very fond of leaning out over the caprail. And while we have left her out of the crate for a few locking and docking maneuvers, it's only been when she was already sleeping. She definitely hasn't been trusted yet to be alone for anywhere near an hour.

So her crate still takes up a large area of the salon and is used daily - some days more than others. She often goes in on her own to take a nap or when she has a special treat. Dylan doesn't see why she needs to come out of the crate at all. He's found a new puppy friend that never bites

We'll probably be here until Monday after enjoying the peace and beauty in this incredible place. It's a really hard life but someone has to do it.