We moved from White Sound to Black Sound to embrace our diversity and get a slip at the Leeward Yacht Club.

It’s a smallish marina with only a few sailboats and the rest big ol’ trawlers.  Not much diversity there. But we got a slip on the T dock in the shadow of those big boys so they blocked the wind for us.

And this place is our dream come true, with a little outdoor bar/grill and a tennis court.

Yes!!! You heard me, our very own tennis court.

Of course Ed made me leave the racquets at home in the bag with the big bottles of wine and vodka, so we had no racquets or balls.  He was worried about weight on the plane.

Of course our racquets ARE pretty heavy I guess.

But not to worry!  The marina office had spare racquets and paddles.

Paddles for Pickle Ball!!  

Now if you’re not familiar with the sport, it’s setting the world on fire among the 60+ crowd.  

Because the court is smaller and you don’t have to move as much.  Which is important for those of us who have had back surgeries and knee replacements.

So our first day here we got a little indoctrination on the sport and will be playing with people from all over the island on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings.

Then we are playing tennis every other morning.  Ed had to adjust the rock holding down the middle of the net because it’s a little high.  But no complaints! If we play a lot maybe we won’t be so terrible when we come home for league play.

More to come as Ed develops his strategies to become the reigning pickle ball king – a sport he swore before that he would never play til he was 80.

We’ve been to the little settlement of New Plymouth a couple times by foot and once by dinghy.

It’s about a 30 minute walk and a 15 minute dinghy ride.

Sundowners is our 5pm destination, where the sunsets are gorgeous and the drinks are $1 off – not a great deal but hey every little bit helps.

And our bartender is Caroline, one of the pickle ball contenders.  

Small island.