Captain's Log

23 February, 2016
Posted by tuck on Saturday, February 27, 2016 - 19:00

Hey There-

On Sunday morning, it was so pleasant and sunny that inertia threatened to take hold, but we had decided to push on down the Exuma chain.  To paraphrase Jimmy- “There’s so much to see waiting in front of me”-or somethin’ like that.  Cambridge Cay was calling.  Halfway there, I discovered that the charging cord for one of the laptops was nowhere to be found.  A quick call revealed its’ whereabouts-in Andrew’s office.  Well…. we could keep on headin’ down-he’d find a way to get it to us.  Right on.  After a verrrrrrrrry relaxed 2 ½ hour ride, we rounded into the anchorage at Cambridge Cay.  Four other boats were already in the huge, sheltered anchorage, leaving plenty of room for us.  While tying to the mooring, I dropped a pin for a large stainless steel shackle (translate expensive) into the water.  After we were secured, it took about a half hour of searching to find the pin on the bottom, which, by the way, now has a bright yellow lanyard attached to it.  Later in the afternoon, the anchorage hosts, Lynn & Larry dinghied over to welcome us, and collect the rent.  We asked them where they were from.  The following conversation ensued: “Canada”.  “Where in Canada”?  “Oh, a small town on the Great Lakes”.  “Where”?  “You probably haven’t heard of it-Tobermory”.  “Really.  You probably ran a dive operation there, which you sold in the Spring of 2014”.  “Are you serious”?  “Yeah, we met you on the dock at Tobermory when we were headed to the Trent/Severn Canal in May of ’14”.  (This was all Suzanne, none of us remembered our first meeting until she described it in detail).  After we got that out of the way, we arranged to go snorkeling with them the following day to a site by Rocky Dundas Cay.  They told us that there was a grotto there, whose mouth was exposed at low tide, allowing you to swim in to a cavern “large enough to hold this boat”.  Cool.  75 degrees and sunny.  Hammocks out, books in hand.  You get the picture.  After dinner, we dusted off the cribbage board, got out the Hoyle’s, and relearned the game.  As good hosts, it was our duty to get our skills up to a level that we’d pass for players so that when Andy and Jody (avid card players) got here and trounced us, it would be a more satisfying experience for them.

Oh man, this is what it’s all about.  The sun came blazing up over the edge of Cambridge Cay, the wind had stayed steady in the low teens all night, which made for perfect sleeping.  We were excited about our upcoming snorkel expedition in the afternoon, so we broke out our new diveskins to get our weights “dialed in”.  (Diveskins are worn for protection against scrapes and sunburn, and also provide a little bit of warmth.  Ours cover our bodies from ankle to neck to wrist, their thickness is somewhere between long underwear and a light wetsuit) Anyway, they’re slightly buoyant, so if you want to dive below the surface, you need to wear a weight belt to compensate.  We got this accomplished in a few minutes, then headed over to the Cay to do some exploring on land.  There, against a backdrop of crashing aquamarine seas and glaring sunshine on the windward side, we did our eco-thing and picked up beachtrash for an hour or so.  While we were on the beach, a couple of new boats joined us in the anchorage, and one left.  We expected that more would arrive during the day, as another front was expected to roll through the following day.  We had a spot o’ lunch (peanut butter on homemade wheat bread), and were ready to go when Lynn and Larry rolled over in their tender to let us know that they thought it was too rough to go to the caves.  Bummer!  Not to worry, Larry asked if we had been to the “Aquarium”, or the “Plane wreck” sites.  Since we hadn’t snorkeled anywhere around here, the alternates would work just fine.  Off we went in the tenders, joined by Ken and Grace (S/V “Pisces”) to the site some 2 miles away, just off Johnny Depp’s private island.  “The Aquarium” was a pleasant surprise, the water clarity was very good, in spite of the windy conditions, and the diversity of small aquatic life there made the trip a success.  Next, we went to the plane wreck, a drug running Cessna which had crashed and sunk upside down in about 20’ of water back in the eighties.  It was kinda cool, but beside a couple of coral heads rising up from the sandy bottom, there wasn’t much to see.  We had just piled back into the dinghy when up drives….guess who?  Andrew, and he’s got our power cord-Yea!

Back at the ranch, Suz made Cuban coffee while I hung the hammocks up on the boat deck so that we could lay out in the sun and warm up (what a couple of dive weenies!).  Through the rest of the day more boats came rolling in, keeping Lynn and Larry busy with their host duties.  By days’ end, there were a dozen other boats either moored or anchored in our cozy little bay, including a hundred footer.  By 1730, L&L, K&G, The Admiral and Yours Truly were sippin’ and rappin’ on “Alizann’s” back porch.  The full moon rose over the scrub on Cambridge Cay, changing the dark water back to a subtle blue-green hue.  It was so bright that you could see the shadows of The Girl and the trailing tenders on the bottom in 13’ of water.  By 1030, we decided that we should either break it up for the evening or move in together.  We opted for the former after making plans to try the grotto snorkeling on the ‘morrow.

One of these days, we’ll get enough cell coverage to post some blogs/pics.  Until then,

-Later

 

 

 

21 February, 2016
Posted by tuck on Friday, February 26, 2016 - 10:02

 

Helloooo…….

First thing in the morning, we hopped into the dinghy and motored a mile or so north to Allen’s Cay, where we hoped to see the marine iguanas that lived on the shore there.  We threw the hook out near the beach and snapped a few pics of the many iguanas perched on the rocks surrounding the sandy beach.  Later, we were out of Highbourne, anchor up at 1220.  On our way out, Suz spotted another Krogen in the distance.  We loitered around for a few minutes, thinking that she may be “Sweet Ride”.  As they neared, it was clearly a 42’, not a 44’.  Passing close abeam was “Knot 2 Fast” crewed by Bob and Peggy, friends from the Rendezvous.  We had a quick chat over the rail.  They told us that they had been travelling with a couple of sailboats, and were heading south as well.  We figured that we’d see them down the line.  As we pulled into the Shroud Cay mooring field, the sun was out, and the line of clouds had moved on.  The seas were as calm as could be, so we dropped “White Star”, and headed to the north end of the island where there was a shallow waterway to the other side of the Cay.  This passage, accessible only at high tide, wound through mangrove lowlands (Swamp Girl be smiling’) for a mile or so, terminating at a deserted beach on the windward side.  High above the beach on a rocky outcropping was the ruins of “Camp Driftwood”, the island base of an American sailinghippie back in the sixties.  Later, the spot was used by D.E.A. agents, surreptitiously keeping tabs on the air traffic in and out of Norman’s Cay to the north.  We walked to the top, and were rewarded with a breathtaking view of the mangrove lowlands extending west all of the way back to the other side of the island, the Exuma Sound to the east, and Norman’s Cay to the north.  The next morning, we were awakened as the wind shifted to the north at 20 knots.  Dropping the mooring at 0700, we motored to the south side of Elbow Cay and dropped anchor.  The spot proved to be untenable, so we decided to head to Warderick Wells Cay, hoping that the anchorage there would be mo’ betta.  We called Exuma Land and Sea Park’s headquarters there, and were informed that all of the moorings in the northern mooring field were occupied (except for the 3 in the cut, which we figured would be pretty exposed to wind and current), but that there were plenty available in the Emerald Rock anchorage south of HQ.  By then, the wind had clocked to the northeast at 20-23 knots, so we figured that the slight swell in the anchorage would subside as the winds continued to clock around.  We deployed the flopperstopper nonetheless, riding nicely on the ball, a mile or so south of the Park HQ and northern mooring field.  Just an aside here regarding mooring balls vs anchoring.  Although it is often quite possible to anchor rather than pick up a ball, therefore staying for free, we try to take a ball and pay, encouraging the government to continue to put in balls (which are kinder to the environment than anchor chains dragging across the bottom, ruining potentially fragile ecosystems).

At the park HQ, we met Andrew, an American who had been managing affairs here for the past 9 years.  It seems that he came on a boat, started helping out, and ended up running the place.  Besides the National Defense Force guys who run their boats out of the base here, the island is uninhabited.  Suz and I are members of the Park Support Fleet (we donate $ to the park), so we had a “care package” of supplies from the Park “wish list”, which is posted online that we dropped off while we were at the office.  We asked Andrew if there were any chores that the park needed volunteers for, and he told us that he would check with Dave, the maintenance guy, and let us know.  We spent the rest of the day on The Girl, and buzzing around the anchorage on the tender.  Friday was to be an allday hike around the island, but when we checked in with Andrew before starting our walk, he told us that he had to go “down south” unexpectedly, and could we man the VHF, take care of the mooring fields, and run the store while he was gone.  No problemo!  He gave us a quick primer on how to do the stuff we needed to do to assign moorings according to boat length/draft, how to collect fees, and sell stuff out of the store.  Being super organized, he had a “how to” cookbook with all procedures outlined, right down to radio scripts with instructions for boats entering the various fields. We took a 2 hour walk in the morning, then came back to the office and assumed the position, while Andrew headed south to repair a mooring.  The afternoon went smoothly and as we were closing up at 1600, Andrew returned and we handed over the keys.  Good fun, and we had the use of his computer and satellite internet, so that we could check our emails and get weather reports.  We didn’t want to abuse the privilege, so the blogs already written were piling up.  Still no cell coverage, but Andrew told us that it was usually marginal here even on the best of days.

It was still beautiful on Saturday, the 20th, with the temperature climbing into the high 70’s, so we motored back to HQ and the trailhead to Boo Boo Hill.  Supposedly, the hill is so-named due to the ghostly apparitions that inhabit its’ environs during the full moon.  In years past, a schooner had gone down off the coast here, with the loss of all hands.  None of the bodies were recovered, so none were given a proper Christian burial, the result being that these lost souls were destined to roam here forever.  The view was nothing short of spectacular.  Along the way, we checked out the “blow holes”, openings to the surface from the tops of underground caves, where, at high tide, wave action causes water to spurt out like a geyser.  Down on Boo Boo Beach, we picked up a garbage bag full of plastic products, Styrofoam, discarded fishing nets, and etc. which had washed up on the shore.  As we visit these beautiful places, it’s sickening to see all of this pollution left by human hands.  We can’t help but think about all of the marine creatures whose lives are destroyed by entanglements from, and ingestion of this detritus.  Sorry about the downer, but this stuff makes me cranky.  We decided to hang out at Rendezvous Beach, a deserted patch of sand near the Girl, and catch some rays that afternoon.  No sooner did we get our towels down, we heard of trouble in the northern anchorage on our handheld VHF.  A trawler had come in, and lost control in the wind and current, causing it to back down and get hung up on a mooring ball.  I called Andrew, and yes, he did want some help.  By the time I raced out to the Girl, got my dive gear, and got to the scene, he was just about finished removing the trashed mooring ball and pendant from the running gear of the snagged boat.  Chatting afterward, I complimented him on his quick response.  He said: “Yep, been there and done that-many times”.  I returned and picked up the stranded Admiral off the beach, and we headed in to the beach at HQ where an impromptu gathering of cruisers was taking place for happy hour.  The snacks and drinks were good, the conversations better.  Bob & Peggy had come in during the day, and we had a chance to catch up with them as well.  As soon as the sun went down, the Hutias came out in full force.  These guys are the only mammal native to the Bahamas.  They are about the size of a large softball, and look kinda like fat rats with a short tail.  They’re nocturnal, and don’t seem to be the least bit fazed by humans.  From the number of them that were literally dodging between our feet, it’s hard to believe that they are an endangered species.  We motored back to “Alizann” under a nearly full moon, and planned our departure for the following day.

-Later

16 February, 2016
Posted by tuck on Friday, February 26, 2016 - 09:50

 

Hola Muchachos!

The next few days at New Providence were quite windy.  Surprise!  Saturday night and Sunday, the surge out of the north continued, wrapping around the point, and hitting us directly on the beam (as the wind out of the east had us pointed in that direction).  First thing Sunday morning, we deployed the flopperstopper, which decreased our roll considerably.  I’ll try to describe the flopperstopper.  On one side of the Girl, we have a padeye fixed to the hull just below the caprail, about 3’ off the water.  Into this padeye, we fix a 10’ long whiskerpole (basically a boom for a spinnaker on a sailboat).  This boom extends perpendicular to the long axis of the boat.  At its outboard end, 3 lines are attached which come back to the boat; one to the top of the mast, to keep the pole level, and one each to the bow and stern, to keep the pole perpendicular to the boat.  From the bottom of the outboard end of the pole is a line which extends around 6’ below the surface of the water.  At the underwater end of this line, a hinged stainless steel panel is attached, which offers resistance to being pulled through the water.  The overall effect is that the rolling motion of the boat is damped.  The system works quite well, and would work even better if there was a pole on the opposite side of the boat.  In fact, we think that we’ll buy another “fish” and hang it off the boom, cranked out on the port side.  (When we built “Alizann”, we weren’t sure about our crazy idea, so thought we’d just do one side in case it was a total bust.)  I’m not sure how that explanation worked out, but I’ll throw a couple of pictures up when we get decent Interweb.  I tore up the outboard motor again, pulled the old fuel pump, and replaced it with the new.  I’ll run carburetor cleaner through the old one, vacuum bag it, and keep it as a spare.  We dropped “White Star” into the water, and made some test runs around the anchorage.  he afternoon was spent chillaxin’ in the sun up on the boat deck in the lee of the bridge, out of the 18 knot winds , and bein’ warm and toasty.  I was smilin’-between the winderators and the solar panels, we were puttin’ money in the bank.  Our battery charge rose as the day wore on, in spite of our constant energy consumption-“Yeah, Baby”!  Holy Mahi Tacos!  ‘Em shur made a great dinner paired with a vinegar-based coleslaw and fresh veggies.  By evening, the swell subsided and the Girl rode well in the gusty (up to 22 knots) conditions.  The sunset as viewed off our back porch was awesome.

 

.

 


The seas were predicted to subside by Tuesday, making it a good travel day, so we spent most of the day on Monday doing-you it, guessed it-boatchores.  Suz grabbed her preptools and varnish brush, touching up areas in the galley, and portlights over our bed.  Meanwhile, I washed and waxed small areas outside.  This is an ongoing deal.  We just work our way around the boat.  When we’re done, we start over again.  Not real rewarding, but necessary to protect the fiberglass, and keep the rust at bay on the stainless.  During the early evening, the wind shifted to the southeast, and the swell was back.  It rained off and on, but no thunderstorms, even though they had been predicted.  During the early hours, the flopperstoppers’ block at the top of the mast started squeaking LOUDLY, inducing that half-sleep, restless mode.  We were both more than ready for sunup, so that we could get up and go.  We ran down the Tongue of the Ocean so that we could wet a few lines in the deep water, but after an hour or so with no bites, we abandoned that course.  A beeline to Highborne Cay would get us there by 1500 or so, as opposed to arriving around dusk, so we plotted a new course across the shallow banks.  We weren’t sure where we were going to anchor at Highborne, as there looked like several possibilities, so we wanted to get there when the sun was still fairly high.  All the while, we were watching a line of thunderstorms moving east across Florida at 20 mph, and wondering if they’d peter out before they reached us.  We were rolling along with the watermaker crankin’ out some fresh water, when I noticed that the water tank gauges are droppin’notrisin’.  What?  No sinks running.  Suz opens the midship machinery compartment, only to find that water is gushing in from somewhere up under the sole on the port side.  I jump down, and shut off the valves on the tanks while Suz turned off the water pump.  Of course, the leak stopped, but not before we lost 100 gallons of precious water.  It took a while to find it, but a hose clamp on a barbed nipple had failed, allowing the hose to pop off (it was double-clamped, but apparently the second clamp wasn’t placed correctly).  The good news was that the wine cellar got a good cleanout as I wiped and shopvac’d out the water that the bilge pump missed.  (Note to self-Maybe I should install a high water alarm in that compartment too).

After a seven hour cruise on this 71 degree, windy, overcast day, we pulled into the lee of Highborne Cay, and dropped anchor in 13 feet of water.  We dinghied into the small manmade harbor to check out the boats there, a couple of hundred footers, and a few sportfishers.  They’re pretty proud of their dock, wanting $10 to land the tender, so we satisfied ourselves with a “from the water” tour, as there was nothing on land to attract us.  We were itching to get south, and hopefully, to better weather.  It looked like Shroud Cay would be a nice next stop for us on our way down the chain, so we planned to head there the next day.

Sorry about the wierd page layout, but we're working on some format changes.  Finally got a good cell signal, so we'll get some blogs up.

Hasta la Vista

14 February, 2016
Posted by tuck on Tuesday, March 1, 2016 - 20:43

Goood Morning!

It’s a dreary, windy day here in West Bay on New Providence Island.  Oops, a little late for a spoiler alert.  Now that you know that we got off the dock, let’s fill in the blanks.

Thursday, the 11th dawned bright and sunny, but still very windy with the temperatures promised to move in to the high 60-low 70 area.  We got off a Happy Birthday email (voicemail on the phone call) to our son, Jeremy, then took the water taxi over to Port Lucaya.  Over in the Market Square, we perused the goods at several of the shops before walking a couple miles down the beach.  With no one in sight for a half mile in either direction, we found a spot in the lee of a small dune(let), where, out of the wind, it was actually warm.  There, we luxuriated in the sun for a couple of hours, enjoying the noboatchores.  On the way home, we stopped at “Agave” (which Aaron the Dockmaster had recommended) for a late lunch/early dinner.  The Conch fritters, Mahi tacos, and Jerk chicken with peas and rice were washed down nicely with a cold Kalik (in the Admiral’s case, iced tea).  Returning home, I called the marine supplier, who informed me that yes, the fuel pump was on its’ way, and no, they couldn’t be sure it would arrive tomorrow, but if it did, it wouldn’t be until after 1600.  Okay……. the weather window looked fantastic for tomorrow, but still reasonable for Saturday.  Suzanne’s turn to pick the movie, but she allowed me some input.  “Magic Mike” could’ve/should’ve stayed unwatched in our humble opinions.

As promised, Friday morning dawned warm and bright with a few puffs of breeze.  Man, did we have the urge to go.  We kept telling ourselves that we were on “Island Time” and to relax.  We had some nice “Face Time” with Jeremy, as he was taking the day off for his birthday.  Afterwards, I couldn’t take it anymore, so I ripped into the outboard engine.  I got the high pressure reservoir off, disassembled it, and removed the fuel pump.  Lotsa dirty screens and filters.  When I got the pump out, I hotwired it to a 12 volt source, and it popped on.  What?  I cleaned all of the components, installed new “O” rings, and put it back in the engine.   Crank, crank, crank-nothin’.  The motor was getting fuel, now what?  I checked-no spark.  Okay, so when I was cleaning up the wiring mess the other day, I bypassed the “Kill switch”.  I undid my “fix”, cranked again, and Eureka!  Eric, Rhonda & his girlfriend Sara stood on the dock and gave us a standing “O”.  I called the marine supplier and Jamie, the boss, gave me the answer that I expected.  It was a special order part, and I still needed to pay for it.  He also assured me that once a fuel pump bound up once, it would most assuredly do it again.  The good news was that the pump was on-island.  The bad news was that it was hung up in Customs.  It seems that the day before, a cache of guns was discovered in a shipment of “consumer goods”, and the guys were inspecting every box individually today.  We kept the positive attitude, and called Queenie to drive us to the grocery store and OBS marine supply.  When she picked us up 10 minutes later, 2 other folks were in the van, headed to the port to board “Balaeria”, a ferry headed to Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale.  They had taken it several times in the past, and reported that the 3-hour trip could get kinda sloppy if the weather was bad.  The price was right, however, at $200/per, and the schedule was fairly reliable, with a trip over and back on most weekdays.  (we made a mental note).  Now, it was getting late-1645, and OBS closed at 1700.  “No worry” says Queenie.  As we roll through the gate at 1657, she says “That’s what I’m talkin’ ‘bout!”  Jamie says every part in his shipment has arrived but ours.  He’d sent a guy back to the airport to look for it, but everyone would be headed home for the weekend soon.  What a letdown.  As I was walking out to the taxi to give Suz the update, Jamie’s truck rolled in, and a guy jumps out with a box in his hand.  “You the guy waiting for a fuel pump”?  Music to my ears.  Jamie gave us some love on the price, foregoing his profit, it came through on our cruising permit (so no 30% duty) and, all in all we didn’t have to pay a lot more than we would’ve in the States.  We dropped Suz off at the grocery store, and I went home to move the Girl over to the fuel dock to diesel up before the 1800 closing time.  Back at the ranch, Eric and his crew were gone, so I pulled out of the slip and over to the fuel dock alone (a first for me-singlehanders do it all the time. ) She only took 75 gallons, but OCD me likes to start with full tanks.  After filling, I hung at the fuel dock until Queenie got the Admiral back, then we moved back to the slip to fill the water tanks, stow groceries, and get dinner (homemade pizza) ready.  Suz also fixed lunch and cut up veggies for our trip the next day.  The pizza was almost done when Rhonda popped in, ordering us over for Shepherd’s pie, one of Eric’s specialties.  Suz set the timer, and we were off to “Sweet Serenity” for comfort food and good company.  We watched an episode of the TV show, “Wicked Tuna”, which we had never heard of, and got our fishin’ juices flowing.  We excused ourselves at 2100, as we were planning an 0330 departure.

0315 came mighty quickly, but we were pumped.  We got off the dock by 0336.  As we passed the seabuoy outside Bell’s Channel, the seas and winds were higher than predicted, but no big deal (1’-3’ and 12 knots), as they were on our quarter.  Breakfast of champions, pizza and coffee for me as I settled in for the first watch.  Suz drifted off to bed, while I waited for sunrise.  It did not disappoint.  After sunup, I rigged a couple of lines, one with frozen Ballyhoo, one with a skirted cedar plug, and let ‘em out about 200 yards.  No sooner than Suzanne took the wheel, one of the reels was screamin’ off line.  Ran back to the cockpit as Suz slowed the Girl, and hooked up.  A gorgeous Mahi leapt out of the water about 400 yards back, furiously trying to shake that hook.  The bull jumped two more times, with me reeling in like a man possessed with each breach.  With our little ship idling along on autopilot, Suz brought in the other line so that it wouldn’t get fouled.  We got our prize alongside, where Suz deftly gaffed him on the first try-Yeah, Baby!  Bled him out, snapped a pic and gotim on ice.  Rebait and wait.  Well……we got nothing else until I laid down for a nap a few hours later.  I jumped up and hustled to the cockpit where one of the reels was winding out.  I wasn’t patient enough, and started reeling in before he was hooked- my reward was a Ballyhooless hook-Oh well.  As we neared Chubb Cay, our proposed destination, we rechecked the weather.  Looked like we were in for a couple days of heavy winds, so we reevaluated our plans, and decided that West Bay, on New Providence Island might be a better place to hole up, so we altered course.  Coming on to the shallow waters of the Bank, we hauled in our lines, and traded bait for bathing suits.  With the Girl on autopilot, we basked in the sun on the bow, cruising over the aquamarine water listening to “The 60’s on Six”, courtesy of Sirius Radio.  After an hour or so of subtropical sun, we had had enough, and our prize needed filleting.  My new collapsible workbench provided a perfect platform for fish work, which yielded some gorgeous filets . As the sun dropped, it was evident that we were headed toward another “boating don’t”, entering a strange harbor after dark.  We had no alternative, and the entry was very straightforward, so in we went, as the wind started to roar.  By the time the anchor was down, we were too pooped for Mahi tacos, so we ate our lunch (Tunafish sammies and veggies) instead.

-Later 

10 February, 2016
Posted by tuck on Wednesday, February 10, 2016 - 22:12

Goood Morning Baahaamaas!

The pouring rain subsides, and we peek out of the pilothouse to see Aaron, the Dockmaster, standing in the shelter of the eaves in his office door, 10 feet away.  After exchanging the usual morning pleasantries, he lets us know that Customs and Immigration is just around the corner, but still within the harbor.  We’ll need to take the Girl over, but no need to rush, as the officers don’t arrive until 0930 (or so).  A guy walking the dock says “Hey, is that a Krogen?”  Conversation ensues, he tells us that he’s gettin’ a Krogen soon, as he’s tired of motoring about in his sailboat.  (Little known trivia-cruising sailboats motor about 70% of the time).  Anyway, he also asks us if we know the folks on the other Krogen, “Sweet Ride”, that is docked here.  We sure do, but are flabbergasted that they’re here.  They had left Sunset Bay in Stuart, heading south for a crossing to Bimini a week or so earlier, accompanied by our good friends, Jeff and Susie aboard “Idyll Time”, who were headed to the Keys.  How’d they get this far north?

At 0930, we head over to Port Lucaya to clear customs, and arrive at the dock just as the water taxi is coming in.  Christopher and Alexandra (“Sweet Ride”) are on board, and tell us that they did indeed go to South Bimini, but after a few days, had the urge to move.  Their destination, the Berry Islands was a two (daylight hours) day trip from Bimini, involving anchoring out on the Bank (recall our trip last year, anchoring with nothing but water to the horizon for 360 degrees). Basically, the weather was so unsettled that they decided to head way northeast to Grand Bahama, stay here for a few days, then head southeast to Great Harbour Cay, in the Berry’s.  That’s cruising-plans always written in sand.  We cleared Customs, plunked down our $300 (cash) for our cruising permit, and tooled back to the G.B. Yacht Club to wash our salt-encrusted little ship and get some rest.  The rest part didn’t happen.  We had some trouble getting our Bahamian SIM cards to function properly in our phone and IPad, so a trip to BaTelCo was in order.  Our new neighbor, Erick on his 65’ Hatteras, informed us that he had lived here for 6 years or so, and that he’d call his favorite taxi driver, Queenie, to drive us over.  She was a stitch, and entertained us both to and from the telephone office.  (She came in with us and waited while we took care of business-everybody that came in to the store knew her, it seemed).  That pretty much killed the day.  Saturday was bright and sunny, albeit very windy.  We took the water taxi over to Port Lucaya, cruised the market square (cruise ships take their passengers here, and there is a Ritz Hotel as well), then walked the deserted beach for a couple miles.  When we returned to the Girl, we dropped the tender in the water to explore the man-made waterways that twisted and turned for a couple of miles past the marina.  The depths through this maze of canals ran around 10’, the shores were bordered with seawalls, and the land about 40% developed with some pretty nice homes.  I’m sure there’s a story about its’ development-guess we’ll find out later.  At the other end of the canals, there was a narrow, shallow channel exiting to the sea.  It wasn’t big enough for “Alizann”, but no problem for small motor or sailboats at high tide.  Earlier in the day, we had arranged with Rochelle, (touted by Erick’s friend, Rhonda, as the best cook on the island) to cook a traditional Bahamian dinner for Christopher and Alexandra and us that evening.  We were running short on time, so I suggested running outside back to Bell’s Channel, and the marina.  Due to the high wind and seas, the Admiral nixed the idea, and said that if we were late for dinner, so be it.  How fortuitous that decision was!  About a mile from the marina, the motor in the dinghy just quit.  No warning, no sputtering, no nothing-just quit, like someone had flipped a switch.  The starter turned her over, but nothing.  About the same time as the motor quit, a small motor boat appeared coming toward us from the other direction (we hadn’t seen another boat underway the whole trip).  We hailed them, they grabbed our line, turned around and towed us back to the Girl.  We were only 15 minutes late for supper.  It was wonderful.  Over dinner, we learned that it was C & A’s second anniversary of their first date.  Wow!  From first date to owning a boat together in two years.  Christopher is quite the talker, and regaled us with story after story, much to our delight.

Most of Sunday was spent dinking around with the motor.  First, I went through the fuel system from the tank to the fuel pump.  Everything looked good.  Next, I pulled apart and cleaned all of the wiring harnesses, and checked continuity of switches from the helm to the motor.  Again, everything looked good to me.  This problem was above my pay grade, so I tossed in the towel for the day and got cleaned up to join Erick, his son Ian, and their friend Rhonda for dinner and Super Bowl on his boat.  A good time was had by all.  Erick cooked, and we all ate.  Salmon, black beans & rice, and sushi.  3-2-1, provided by Suz, topped off this eclectic menu as we all vegged in front of his hugescreen TV.

Monday morning, and we’re up before dawn to get “Sweet Ride” off the dock.  They’ll go to Great Harbour, and use the slip that we had reserved, as they were unable to get one at the full marina there.  We tell them to make sure and hook up with Bill & Lauren (our Canadian cruising buddies) on “Sea Star”, as they are already moored there.  At 0800, a call to OBS Marine in Freeport got a mechanic out by 1000.  Took him about a half hour to decide that a bad fuel pump was the problem.  A call to the shop revealed that there wasn’t a pump anywhere in the Bahamas.  One had to be ordered from the States.  ChaCh$ng!  The part that wholesaled out of the factory for $400, would run around $900 here.  Time to do some callin’.  Found it online for around $550, but nobody wanted to deliver to the Bahamas.  I took a flyer, and called several dealers in Miami and Lauderdale to see if they knew of any customers heading out. -A long shot, but hey, ya gotta try.  No Go.  Erick said that he had a buddy in Lauderdale who MIGHT be headed out in a few days, and would be happy to bring the pump.  Okay, so the pump MIGHT get to him before he leaves, and he MIGHT have good weather.  We checked with Customs.  Since we had paid for a cruising permit, if the part was sent to our boat, no 40% duty.  Talked with Jamie at OBS.  Yes, he could do that, but they would still have to add their markup.  If we didn’t have to get down to Georgetown by the first week in March for arriving company, we probably would have gone another route, but we had OBS order the pump and have it “emergency shipped” to Miami, where a freight expediter would pick it up and run it out to Freeport by Friday at the earliest.  Okay, here’s our credit card number……….No, they want cash.  Great, I hop on my bike and ride the 9.6 klicks to the shop so that we can get the order placed ASAP.  All good fun. I think that it may be the national sport here to get the passenger side mirror as close as you can to the bike rider as you pass.  Moving over a tad is not in the program.  Having dodged death (or at least severe impairment), I took the rest of the day off.  Suz and I broke out our newest crew member, “Little Scout”, a Phantom 3 drone, for her maiden flights.  She is equipped with GPS, and is gyro stabilized, making her super easy to fly.  Her underbelly camera pans and tilts, is capable of taking still or video images, and has a continuous feed back to our smartphone, which is attached to the control station.  I had to pry the stick out of the Admiral’s (I guess that now, as a flyer, she’ll have to be a part-time General as well) hands to get a little flight time in.  When we get a little more confidence, and when the wind isn’t blowing 20, we should be able to send L.S. up and out for some long-range recon.  (as always, major expenditures aboard are made in the name of SAFETY).

Tuesday was cleaning day.  The Admiral (now back on the boat) said that the place “looked like the bottom of a birdcage”.  We washed walls, ceilings, and floors.  Carpets and screens were taken out on the dock and scrubbed-you get the picture.  All the while, it was cloudy, cold, and blowing 20, a perfect day for cleaning.  When the Girl was standing tall and proud, we called it a day, had dinner, and settled in for “Movie Night”, featuring “The Bourne Legacy”.

It was still blowing this morning, but the sun was out.  Around 1030, when the thermometer cracked 60 degrees, we grabbed the backpack and power walked over to Taino Beach, a few miles away.  There, we walked the beach, then had lunch at “Sandbar”, the restaurant at the Taino Beach Club.  Erick, Rhonda, and Ian are coming over for dinner this evening.  Suzanne is cooking up some chili and cornbread-appropriate for this chilly, breezy weather.

-Later

Pages