Governor's Harbour To Rock Sound

  We couldn't decide to leave Alabaster Bay or not because we liked the beach and we were well protected from the wind and swells coming into Eleuthera Sound from the southeast, but we had lots of places we wanted to see and they pretty much have all been better than the last place, so by mid-afternoon on Saturday we made way for a short hop over to Governor's Harbour.

  One reason I was reluctant to enter Governor's Harbour was because everything I had read about it said that holding was poor, being a slim layer of sand over hard rock, not leaving much for an anchor to grab.
  As we entered the harbor, there were five sailboats settled in, and they looked to be holding just fine. We picked a spot that wouldn't be intrusive to them and we dropped the hook and took in the scenery while we waited to see if we were holding.
  We had dragged the dinghy behind us when we left Alabaster Bay, so we jumped in and took a quick look around the harbor to see what was what. We were planning on getting dinner somewhere, so we wanted to scout out a dinghy landing.
  The best place for the dinghy seemed to be at anchor in the sand along the beach, so we went back to the boat and while Rosie made ready to go out for dinner, I grabbed my mask and fins to check on our anchor.
  The anchor was dug in just fine, and as I swam back to the boat, I spied a dinner plate on the seabed and went down to retrieve it. It looked to be fine china from France, and it hardly had any marine growth on it. I swam back to the boat with it and showed it to Rosie.
  "Why, that thing has a chip in it!" Rosie said.
  "Gives it character", is what I said, then I took a 3M pad and scrubbed it up good as new, except for the chip. My story is that some irate wife on a fancy yacht threw the plate at her husband, and it missed, sending it to the briny deep. This story may change as time goes by.
  We left Holly to guard the boat and we went into town. What we have found is that some pretty paint does not make for a good looking town once you see it up close, and Governor's Harbour is no different.
  One restaurant we thought we would go to had just closed, and it was only 5 P.M. Upon asking, we found that another restaurant was a "five minute walk" in one direction, and a "twenty minute walk" in the opposite direction. No other details were given.
  We hadn't seen what looked to be a restaurant in the five minute direction when we were on our dinghy ride, so we decided to walk in the general direction of the twenty minute place, but had no intention of walking that far. Rosie was wearing tall chunky sandals and was having all she could do to just stay on top of them on the on and off again pavement.
  We walked for enough inland and passed enough shuttered food stands and abandoned homes before we mustered up our street sense and turned around and headed back towards civilization. Nothing gets my defensive radar up like a "remote" part of town. Any town.
  We had passed a small grocery on our walk, so on the way back we stopped in because I wanted some black beans and some red beans, and believe me, in the Bahamas, both are in abundant supply, along with rice and noodles. Carbs are king here.
  On a dirt lot, just off of the road, was a group of folks selling take out dinners for some youth group. I think it was a baseball team. I asked it they were still serving and they were. We were told we had our choice of steak or chicken, with peas and rice, slaw, and cheese and macaroni, all for $10 per plate. We said we'd take one of each and they piled two styrofoam containers high with a good sized steak in one, and a large quarter dark meat chicken in the other.
  When the nice woman who served us dished out the peas and rice onto our plates from the grill where they were being kept warm, the flies swarmed like I hadn't seen since I shoveled horse manure at a local riding stable years ago.
  We paid, and gave them a $5 tip for good measure, and I told Rosie to hurry up so we could get back to the boat to eat our food while it was still hot and before any of those rice grains could hatch.
  We actually had a nice meal back on the boat if we didn't think about the flies too much. After dinner we played gin rummy and two locals in a center console fishing boat came by the boats anchored in Governor's Harbour at a speed designed to offend. They did this no less than four times. If they were intending on discouraging boaters from anchoring in the harbor, it worked for us. Next time we'll take a pass on Governor's Harbour.
  The next morning we headed down the coast to Ten Bay, a promising looking anchorage that I had seen on our chart, and we were not disappointed.

  Ten Bay beach is just beautiful. The beach has such a gentle slope that you have to be aware of when the tide is going out or you might have a long haul for the dinghy when you want to go back to your boat.
  We took a long walk on the beach and met some women who loved dogs and Holly made some friends, and also made all three of the girls homesick for their pets at home.
  Rosie and I took Holly in the shallow water and let her swim. We sat a bit apart from each other in a couple feet of water and let Holly take turns swimming from one of us to the other in the crystal clear water. Holly had a ball.
  Back to the boat, and Rosie and Holly took a nap while I had a few beers and chatted with friends on Facebook until Rosie got up and made us a dinner of roasted chicken and red beans and rice. We had been cooking our beans in our small crock pot that morning and they turned out great.
  We have some bad weather coming our way, so this morning we left yet another great beach and anchorage and set out on a 20 mile cruise to Rock Sound Harbor, which is just about at the end of Eleuthera Island before we have to come around the southern tip and head east to Little San Salvador, a trip that needs to be done in settled weather to avoid strong prevailing southeast winds and giant swells coming in from the ocean.
  When we left Ten Bay the steering on Swing Set didn't seem right, and as we traveled to Rock Sound, the steering got worse, as in there wasn't much steering to be had.
  I put the anchor down and did a few quick checks. (No, there was NOT a loose nut behind the wheel.) I suspected low steering fluid, and decided to nurse us in to harbor until I could take a better look at the problem.
  Once we got settled I got my tools out and my extra bottle of steering fluid. What I don't have is a proper filling tube and fitting to add steering fluid properly, so even after over three hours of messing with the steering, I wasn't able to get the steering working like I wanted to.
  Today is Whit Monday, a holiday here in the Bahamas, so going to the local NAPA store couldn't be done today, but first thing tomorrow, I'll go and get what I need to do this job right.
  If I can't fix the steering, I'll have to ask around for some mechanic that is familiar with hydraulic steering, especially the part about bleeding the cylinder that actuates the steering arm for both rudders. This mechanism is way back in the bilge toward the stern, in a spot that's a little tough for me to reach, especially with two wings that are not in the best of shape.
  After getting drenched with steering fluid, I took a hot shower and Rosie did too. I spent time contemplating my plans for getting our steering fixed while Rosie made us a nice dinner of Italian sausage on pasta with a small side salad.
  It was a perfect dinner, but we found out that we are anchored in the direct path of the smoke from the town dump. Every town has one, and anchoring downwind is typically avoided, but we didn't see any smoke when we dropped anchor, and the reviews on this anchorage don't mention it. If it gets worse tomorrow, we'll have to move.

  As you can see by the picture, Rock Sound is not much to look at, but there is a good market here, and several restaurants are in the guide books. Like I said earlier, there is a NAPA, and a hardware store. The water is blue, but cloudy. We hope it's just because the wind has the bottom churned up, but we're not sure.
  We might be here a few days, so we'll make the most of it and keep in touch.

Cruising The Coast Of Eleuthera

  We missed "Bandit" on Tuesday when we went to Harbour Island as he usually comes by the boat to collect our mooring fee. He was away piloting a boat through the Devil's Backbone. I called him on the radio and got his wife or somebody and told them we'd pay the next morning, so early on Wednesday, Jock (Bandit) came by at 7:30 and we paid up for two nights on the ball and said our goodbyes.
  We went over to Ronald's Service and filled up with diesel at $5.96 per gallon. This is a cash price. Credit cards are hit with an extra 4%, plus VISA charges an extra 1% for transactions out of the U.S.
  We learned that, particularly in the out islands, the Bahamas is a cash economy. A long time ex-pat over here told us that the typical Bahamian doesn't have a concept of "owing" anyone, so the idea of having a credit card bill is rather foreign to them. I guess more importantly, paying the bill every month may be more foreign. I don't know if this is true, but the extra charges for using the credit card are real, so we started a new plan in Dunmore where we'll go to a bank if we are near one and pay 2% to get cash with our VISA card, and then purchase all fuel with cash. We brought a lot of cash with us but I like to save that for emergencies, for example; getting me out of jail if the need arises.
  Not far from Spanish Wells is a little island called Meek's Patch, where locals go on the weekends to BBQ and hang out. A lot of Bahamian businesses are closed on Wednesdays, because Tuesday nights are party nights, so we thought we might meet some of the locals at the nice beach at Meek's. There is a few tables and a firepit there for anyone to use, just like a couple of the sand bars up on the Mississippi.
  Only two boats showed up on the beach, and a sailboat anchored near us toward evening, so we had a peaceful night and went to bed early. We both woke up at 4 A.M. or so, both having smelled smoke. I wasn't alarmed because it smelled like wood smoke, like a campfire was smoldering. Rosie and I went outside and even though it was dark, we could see smoke billowing up from the east, over North Eleuthera.
  The next morning we pulled up anchor and headed southeast toward Current Cut, a pass that leads cruisers into Eleuthera Sound. The Cut is reported to be somewhat risky, as it's narrow and has a swift current. (Thus, the name.)
  We got there right at high tide and breezed right through. There was little current and plenty of water until we got on the very eastern edge of the channel, but we still had eight feet easily. I'd rate the pucker factor much higher passing through the break in the dike at Bolter Chute, or the upper end of Lumpy's Chute, along the Dardenne Slough on the Mississippi. I wonder what some of these blue water boaters would think of, passing through those two places? It reminds me of being a salmon heading upstream on an Alaskan river during spawning season.

  After getting through Current Cut, we pointed the bow north, northeast, toward "The Glass Window", a natural break in the rock formation separating Eleuthera Sound and the Atlantic Ocean. The bridge used to be natural rock, but it was destroyed in a hurricane, so a bridge was built in its place. The road is an essential artery along the 75 mile long island of Eleuthera.

  We had traveled a comfortable 20 miles or so, so just south of the Glass Window, we found a somewhat protected anchorage from the southeastern swells and dropped our anchor. There were a few homes, and a reported hotel overlooking a couple of very pretty beaches. As you can see, the water was beautiful.

  As we sat in the cockpit looking west, northwest, we could see the fire on North Eleuthera that we had smelled on the previous night. This fire appeared to be a wildfire, spreading many miles wide. We tried to find some news about it, but were not able to. CNN wasn't covering it.
  The wind picked up during the night and we got tossed around some. I had a rough idea as to where we would find a better anchorage, so without planning a route, we just hugged the bluffs along the coast and headed southeast toward Hatchet Bay.
  Even putting along at 7 miles per hour, a slower speed than our normal one because we were making water (the water maker doesn't draw very well at higher speeds), and I was trolling for dinner, we came up on Hatchet Bay way too early for us to stop.
  We peered into the very narrow cut in the rocks that shelter the bay from the sound, and we didn't like the view anyway. All we saw was a few buildings and scrub bush leading down from low hills. We had also read about the locals trying to collect an annual "mooring fee" from passing boaters, and we didn't want any part of that. It sounded like something I needed to avoid, emergency cash fund or not.
  I want to mention our water maker. It has turned out to be a one of the things we had installed on the boat that we have found to be an essential item. We have only filled our tank from a hose once since we left the U.S., and that was from the dock at Harbour View in Marsh Harbour. This allows us to not have to worry about where we are going to get water for showers, drinking, and flushing the toilet, not necessarily in that order. It's enough worrying about the weather, anchorages, getting food, and where we'll get fuel, without worrying about where we'll get water, how much it will cost, and whether it will be any good to drink. The water we make tastes great and we've been able to keep up with demand, even when we use it to rinse the heavy salt residue off the stern occasionally. I would advise perhaps installing a slightly larger one rather than our 3.5 per hour model, for anyone who is considering it.
  A place called "James Cistern" was next on our list of possible anchorages for the night, but there was no protection from the southeast, where swells were still rolling in from, but not enough to make our cruise unpleasant. Our next place to check was Alabaster Bay.

  Our wait paid off as we glided into a very protected anchorage along a beautiful white beach and crystal blue water over a flawless sand bottom. We dropped the hook in eight feet of water, but still fairly away from the beach on a gently sloping bottom.
  We had a quick lunch and then jumped into the dinghy for a shore trip with Holly. There was one couple enjoying a picnic of sorts on the beach when we pulled up and we didn't waste any time asking them about the area.
  Tony and Jessie were from Toronto and on their honeymoon. On this, their last day staying nearby at Governor's Harbour, they were told about the beautiful beach we were on and they came over for the day, carting along a huge cooler filled with Kalik Beer.
  Tony didn't have to ask us twice if we wanted a cold one, and we wound up sharing their beach towels and a couple more beers before I had to take the dinghy back to the boat to restock their cooler, only to wind up staying and drinking those beers too.
  Governor's Harbour is five miles away, and Tony had to drive their rental car back to their hotel, so we bid them goodbye, way later than we had planned to. They wanted us to join them for the Friday night festivities in Governor's Harbour, but our hook was set for the night and we declined, even though we knew we would have had a good time.
  Back on the boat, Holly got a much needed bath after playing in the sand and surf all afternoon. Rosie and I chilled out and read our books as a gentle breeze flowed through the salon.
  Dinner was two leftover breaded pork chops, with a nice big salad on the side, and after dinner we retired to the cockpit for an after dinner cocktail, accompanied by our library of tunes on the iPad.

  The seas really calmed down as we watched the sun set. The water was window pane clear around the boat and we knew we were in for a peaceful night.
  After dark, Rosie and I popped a movie into the DVD player and spent the next several hours having popcorn and watching The Gangs Of New York, a film we hadn't seen since it came out.
  As we expected, we barely rocked at all during the night and we woke to a spectacular sunrise. Being Saturday, it was "big breakfast" day, and Rosie served me up some fried eggs smothering some leftover Spanish rice. Three slices of bacon, buttered toast, and hot coffee rounded out the meal.
  Our plans for the day were to include a cruise over to Governor's Harbour, where we want to anchor for the night and go into town, but halfway through this blog, Rosie told me to come out and see the sky and I found big rain clouds to our east and south, coming this way.
  Oh, whatever shall we do? Maybe we'll have to stay here another day and night! Maybe the rain will come and go, the sun will come out, and we'll have to take the dinghy back to the beach and have another beach picnic with some more nice folks.
  Unlike Tony and Jessie, who at this moment are headed for the airport for their trip home, we don't have to be anywhere for the time being and that suits us fine.

Harbour Island

  We survived our first night on our mooring ball with nary a mishap, with nature, or with the sailboat next to us. The view above is of Spanish Wells from our mooring ball.
  "Bandit" came by Monday morning to collect our $20 fee. His real name is Jock Morgan, and he is a local pilot, and probably jack of all trades if he needs to be. I asked him how much he charges to pilot one's vessel through the perilous Devil's Backbone on over to Harbour Island. He smiled and said "A hunnerd dollars". I nodded in reply and only offered that we had some business to attend to before we could start thinking about a trip over to the famous Harbour Island and the town of Dunmore.
  We have no less than four printed guidebooks, or chartbooks, plus the advantage of Active Captain on our Garmin Bluechart app on the iPad, so we have lots of information to sift through when it comes to local knowledge and inside tips. For instance, all the info we have on the mooring we are on says that the charge is $15 per night. "Bandit" says $20, so you don't argue with "Bandit", you just pay and hope he isn't cheating you.
  The piloting charges are reported to be $70 for a local pilot to take your boat through the Devil's Backbone. The price goes up per foot over 70 feet. "Bandit" says he charges $100, so that's what you expect to pay if you want his services.
  My point is that with all the information at our disposal, we still know little going in to any area as far as what things cost. We can never get a handle on fuel costs or dockage costs. We only find out by asking in person. It makes it hard to make some of our decisions, as a lot of them are budget based.
  We do feel, for the most part, that the locals need to make money off of us, and the prices are consistent with everyone. It's not like they see a "live one" and gouge them. Their future business depends on their friendliness, honesty, and reputations, and they usually are smart enough to not ruin it for a quick buck.
  Rosie and I left Holly on the boat in search of the local BTC office, or Bahamas Telecommunications Company. We docked the dinghy at the dock in front of Pinder's Market, after going in and asking if it was all right to do so. We promised to come back in on our way out to buy a few things when they told us it was fine to park where we were.
  At BTC, we signed up, and paid for, 90 more days of Internet service on our iPad. The young man behind the glass booth in the very small office re-entered all of our information and said we should be able to access our account to see the status, but we still wouldn't be able to add on to our Internet via their online system. They don't work that way. One must take the SIM card out of the iPad, put it into an unlocked phone, and then use some screwy phone number to activate more data usage. He agreed with my assessment of their system as being more than confusing for the average customer. But if all I need to do is visit any local BTC office every 30 days for the next three months to keep a very inexpensive data plan active on the iPad, I'll do it. We're getting 1 gig of data for 30 days at the sale price of $20. We're paying AT&T $120 for 800MB of data per month, but luckily we don't have to visit a local office.
  We popped in Pinder's and picked up a few things. We got bread, eggs, some pork chops, tomatoes, and some lettuce. All expensive, but necessary. The Food Fair, owned by the town, was too far of a walk, but we hear that their prices are good and the selection is better.
  Spanish Wells saw the need a few years ago for some services that their town was lacking, so they banded together and pooled resources and built their own grocery store, and some other things. Most of the goods from the Bahamas come through Spanish Wells, and a lot of the lobster and stone crab claws are processed here as well. It's a nice little blue collar town and the people are incredibly friendly and helpful, which I'll come to next.
  Back at the boat, I commenced to investigate the overheating problem we've been having on our starboard engine. The first thing I did was check the sea strainer. I had cleaned it in Port Lucaya, and upon checking it again, it was clean as it could be.
  A check of the water pump belt revealed nothing out of order, so it was on to the raw water impeller. I pulled the three half inch bolts out and took the cover off and found that our impeller was toast, missing at least five blades.
  The good news was that I had found our problem, the bad news was that I had failed to obtain the needed impeller puller used to pull a usually recalcitrant raw water impeller from its housing. I knew I could probably get the thing out, but only by destroying it, and for the time being, I could still run the engine as I had been, just not at higher speeds.
  An impeller puller is nothing but a bolt with a T-handle on the end, and a regular bolt will do, if you can find the right bolt. I grabbed the new impeller and took off in the dinghy in search of either a proper bolt, or an official impeller puller if I could find one.
  I mention that Spanish Wells is a blue collar, working town. So that means they use heavy equipment, and that equipment breaks, and they need to have the means to fix it. So that also means they have a better selection of parts, and people to do the work, than most of tourist type towns a cruiser may travel to. We came to Spanish Wells for a particular reason, and that was to check out a local boatyard, R&B.
 R&B had a bolt that would have done double duty as an impeller puller, but as I found out, our impeller utilized a fine thread, and most bolts you might find in a hardware, or marine store, will be course thread.
  The nice woman at R&B asked me if I had tried "Onsite Marine". I told her that we were just passing through and didn't really know where to turn. I said that I'd be glad to pay them to change out our impeller, but she said they really only did bottom work, and prop repair, even though the sign says "Full Service". I won't hold that against them because this is what she did next: She gets on the phone with Onsite Marine and asks them if they either had an impeller puller, or a fine thread 3/4" bolt, then she handed me the phone.
  After some negotiations on the phone, the guy I was talking to said they had a puller but he didn't know where it was. Only some other guy knew where it was and he wasn't there right now.
  At this point, I mustered up all the tact that I had in my power, and asked him; since I was in dire need of an impeller puller, and I had no where else to turn, could he please, if the party of which he was speaking that knew where the impeller puller was, if he could please, pretty please, call him and ask him where in their building the item was? I also offered to come over and look myself if that's what it would take. I was told to hold on.
  Meanwhile, I talked to the nice woman at R&B and cultivated her, in order to obtain some information on some local knowledge. She turned out to be very helpful and I learned a great deal. Our chummy conversation was cut short when I heard loud exclamations coming from the speaker on the phone I was holding.
  "I found it! I found it!", the person at Onsite was hollering into the phone. I would have thought that he was the one who was in dire need of an impeller puller for a raw water pump on a Caterpillar 3116 marine engine!
  "I'll be right over", is what I told him, and after getting directions to the place from the nice woman at R&B Marine, I marched off in the direction of Onsite Marine.
  Onsite Marine is housed on the main drag in Spanish Wells, and for all practical purposes, looks like an old "filling station", like we used to see on all the corners of any given town, before they all became "On The Run" or "Quick Trip" facilities.
  I walked in and immediately saw the guy I had to have been on the phone with. He appeared to be working on a radio from the 1920's, with tools more suited for a 1950's Buick, but I was in a hurry and I could have been mistaken. He went "in back" (that's where all the good stuff is always found) and produced what looked to me like the impeller puller of which I was seeking.
  I was under the impression that I was in a position to purchase the impeller puller, but quickly found out that, no, I could only borrow it.
  Borrow? At no charge? Indeed. I told him that even though I didn't need another impeller, as I still had another for our other engine, I would gladly buy one from them, no matter the cost, just as a show of appreciation of letting me borrow said puller. They certainly did have a Sherwood impeller for our 3116 Cat, and even though it was $130, I bought it and promised to return in a short time with the impeller puller.
  On the way back to the dinghy I stopped in at R&B and told the nice woman there how well I was helped at Onsite Marine, and to thank her for her help. She was glad to be able to help. Is this town, and the people in it, for real?
  I had been gone quite a while and as I approached our boat, Rosie and Holly were out on the foredeck keeping a watch out for me. As soon as Holly saw me she started running back and forth like she hadn't seen me in ages. It's nice to be missed. Rosie even wagged her tail.
  In the engine room I went; pulled old impeller out, put new one in, took off inlet end of the heat exchanger and extracted missing impeller blade parts, buttoned everything up, and fired up the engine to check for leaks. Check. I was a happy camper.
  Now, the nagging feeling I have is...what about the other impeller? We have put on over 600 hours on our engines since the impellers were replaced before we started out. I'm not sure how long they are supposed to last, but what I'm going to do is just keep an eye on the temperature of the port engine. If the port engine begins to complain about high temperatures, I'll know what to do. But first, I better find my own impeller puller. It's on my list.
  As Rosie, Holly, and I were getting ready for a dinghy ride back to town to return the impeller puller, a boater pulled up and chatted with us for a while. "Robert" is from the U.S., but has been around this area for 50 years. He gave us some good tips about not only Spanish Wells, but some of the areas we are headed to. He was a very nice fella, in spite of him being a blow boater.
  We went back to Onsite Marine and returned the impeller puller, and thanked everyone profusely. When we got back to the boat, things really got weird.
  Our sailboat neighbors came by in their dinghy and I waved. They came over and we actually had a nice long conversation with them. I think it helped that while they were gone all day, having taken the "Fast Ferry" over to Harbour Island, our boats played nice and everything was how it should have been when they returned.
  They wanted to exchange "boat cards", but I sadly answered that we didn't have one, even though we do, because I didn't want them to read what I wrote in the last blog about them. You won't tell, will you?

  Today we went to Harbour Island. That's Rosie, of course, and Holly, of course, at the government dock in Dunmore, on Harbour Island. It's not easy getting to Harbour Island, I guess that's why a lot of rich and famous folks come here for vacation. Imagine: we went there too.
  I did some information gathering and learned that a water taxi from the government dock in Spanish Wells over to Jean's Bay on North Eleuthera was $4 each. Then a taxi for ten miles to Three Island dock was $25 one way. Then another water taxi over to Dunmore was going to be $5 each. You do the math.
  Taking the boat over would require a pilot. Even the experienced folks around here suggest it. Then we had to think about coming back, as our trip south would require it.
 The alternative of taking the dinghy on at least a ten mile cruise was out of the question, as the winds have picked up considerably out of the north and breakers would be pounding the Devils Backbone.
  So, we decided, since we had to leave the dinghy somewhere, we would take it the two miles or so over to Jean's Bay to the water taxi dock over there, and then grab a taxi to the Three Island dock for a water taxi ride to Dunmore. And you thought this life was easy.
  We tied up at the dock at Jean's Bay and got a call in for a taxi. We quickly got picked up by David in cab 146, and then found out the price wasn't $25, but $30. Remember what I was saying earlier?
  Still, when you think about a ten mile cab ride for two people, and at the price of fuel around here, the charge is fair.
  We jumped in a waiting water taxi with some other folks and were soon in Dunmore Town.
  It was encouraged by the water taxi folks that we rent a golf cart in order to explore Harbour Island, but we wanted to have lunch and have a couple of beers, so I couldn't justify paying $20 per hour for a golf cart so it could sit guarding a parking spot while we ate lunch. A lot of cruisers visit the touristy spots, like churches and nature areas. We think that's funny.
  Valentine's Marina is where we would have liked to have lunch, but dogs were not allowed. I don't blame them, the place was ritzy as hell, but at noon, they only had two customers.
  We found a nice deli with outside seating, and pets were allowed. I certainly hope so; two women at the table next to us had a newborn baby, and they actually set its bottom on the table! Horrid.

  After this photo, Holly settled in to Rosie's lap and didn't make a peep. She was basically enthralled with the bugs scooting along the floor. Meanwhile, the baby at the table next to us was breast fed, (mildly interesting) but then both women took turns trying to make the critter "burp", which means "barf" no matter how you say it.
  I had an oven roasted turkey sandwich with Applewood bacon, provolone, and avacado on one of the freshest buns I've ever had. Rosie had a "California Wrap", which was vegan, but it really looked good, and Rosie said it was delicious. We both say this was the best meal we've had (off the boat) since we've been in the Bahamas, and we don't know the name of the restaurant!
  After lunch the wind was out of our sails, so we headed back. A quick water taxi ride, a quick taxi ride, and we were back to our waiting unlocked dinghy at the water taxi dock in Jean's Bay.
  Once back to the boat, I put the dinghy back on the davits and we read our books and had a nap before the wind picked up again and a storm threatened.
  Rosie started dinner and I started this blog. Seemed like a good thing to do. We'll pay "Bandit" in the morning for last nights mooring, and tonight's, but at mid-day tomorrow when the tide is up, we'll unhook from our mooring ball and get fuel over at Ronald's Service Center, and then we'll point our bow south and follow the Eleuthera Island chain as far as it takes us, at least for a few miles tomorrow anyway.
  Rosie calls and dinner is ready. We're having oven roasted breaded pork chops, steamed corn and garlic butter rice. Can't wait.
  I thought this was going to be a quick blog entry today.

Spanish Wells

  Just a quick note today. We left our anchorage just off of Lynard Cay this morning at 7:30 after a nice breakfast consisting of a corned beef hash omelet, toast and hot coffee.
  Big swells passing through the Little Harbour Cut and they didn't let up once on our over five hour crossing past "Hole In the Wall" on the southern tip of Great Abaco and then on to Ridley Head, just on the northern tip of Eleuthera, a total of 51 miles.
  The waves were on our port quarter bow and fairly consistent, and we were only ringing the ships bell on every fourth one or so.
  We only passed one sailboat going the opposite way of us, but we saw three sailboats way off in the distance when we finally spotted land as we approached Eleuthera.
 

  We wanted to go on the hook, but the wind is going to be nasty when the cold front moves in Monday night, or early on Tuesday, so when we cruised by the local mooring field and saw nearly all of the only eight moorings already taken, we called on the VHF and got assigned a mooring for $20 per night.
  We are in a tight little mooring field and the sailboat next to us is pretty close. We got the "hands on the hips" treatment as we tied up, but our mooring harness is as tight as we can get it. The other guy's isn't.
  I said hello to our neighbor and told him I'd be monitoring the radio if he saw a problem. He seems nice enough, and said that he has a spotlight he uses to get the attention of other boaters. I told him that the spotlight will be hard for me to see when I'm sleeping.
  Tomorrow we'll make our trip to BaTelCo to see about getting Internet back on our iPad. I missed having it today.
  We also still have an overheating issue on the starboard engine. Either we picked up more debris in the starboard sea strainer since I cleaned it out in Port Lucaya, or there is another issue. I'll have to look into it tomorrow. I'll check the circulating water pump belt and then the raw water impeller. If I have to call out the cavalry, there is a good boatyard here. This has been a full day, so none of these things are happening for the time being.
  A pork roast has been simmering in the crockpot all day. (Ever use a crockpot when you had to use a bungy cord on the lid?)  When we ladle the pork over the egg noodles we're going to cook up later, we'll have a feast. We'll add a bottle of wine we bought in Marsh Harbour and then maybe shoot some bottle rockets over toward the neighboring sailboat if things get too quiet.

Hope Town and Pete's Pub

  As soon as we left Harbour View Marina I heard a distress call on VHF 16. A boat was sinking nearby and there was a request for assistance. Even though the boat sinking was eight miles away, I decided to try to help once I cleared the harbor, but by time I got out to where I could put the boat on plane, there was already help on the scene and all vessels were told to "stand down". The person making the distress call was hard put to describe his location, initially making it hard for anyone to come to his aid. Things to remember.
  Our cruise over to Elbow Cay and Hope Town was a short one, only a few miles. Hope Town Harbour is small, and is mostly mooring balls. We anchored just outside on the harbor entrance, along with four or five other vessels. It was my birthday and I wanted to spend the day on the hook, especially since we had just spent ten days at the dock at Harbour View.

  We didn't even put the dinghy down. We just sat on the boat and listened to the stereo and occasionally took a dip in the beautiful water. In the photo above, I'm enjoying my favorite beverage, bought in Marsh Harbour for $48 per case.
  My birthday dinner of bar-be-que'd pork steaks and "summer crabs" didn't turn out like we had wanted, but I still got to spend the day doing what I wanted to.

  The next morning we took a cruise with the dinghy into the harbor. The town sits on the east side of the small harbor, and the lighthouse and some resorts are on the west side. We got some fuel in the dinghy and went back to the boat for a few hours.

  The street in the picture is typical of all the roads in Hope Town. They barely are the width of a small truck, and some are just for walking. All the homes are painted in bright colors and most are neat and clean looking. Most of them also seemed to be vacation homes for rent.

  Here's another view of Hope Town. We were out to celebrate our anniversary, and we had plans to go casual, picking out a place called Captain Jacks, because they had an outside deck and we took Holly with us, but Holly wasn't allowed even on the deck at Captain Jacks. Geez, it's not like we were wanting to bring a toddler into their restaurant!

  We found another restaurant with an outside deck, and they welcomed Holly, so we sat at the outside bar and had a couple of cold beers and enjoyed the shade at the Harbour View Inn. Catchy name.
  We perused the menu, thinking we would have some appetizers to start with when the bartender wanted us to "cash out" because she was going home, the shift was changing. I hate it when that happens, so I told her we would be glad to pay our bill as we were just leaving. The menu was a bit pricey anyway.
  Not wanting to ruin our anniversary celebration, we reluctantly took Holly back to the boat, and even more reluctantly we went back to Captain Jacks for dinner.
  Captain Jacks was having trivia night. As we stepped off the dinghy, they were just asking the first question, so the host asked if we wanted to play, but we declined.
  The waitress that waited on us had an attitude like you wouldn't believe, but we attempted to kill her with kindness when all I really wanted to do was just kill her. Her bad attitude was starting to rub off on me, so to be ornery, every time the host would ask a trivia question, I would blurt out the answer, which in every case was the number three. Each time I was told that if I did it again, we would have to buy the house a round of drinks. I laughed each time, as well as some of the other folks there. Rosie just wanted to melt into the floor.
  We met some folks at the table next to ours and they were very nice. It was a whole family, out celebrating the wedding of their grand daughter. The grand parents had been living in Hope Town for many years. We told them that we had been married on that date too. Both times.
  Things were going well until we got our dinner, or at least until I got mine. I ordered fried chicken. I knew I would only get a breast and a wing, that's how they do it in the Bahamas. You get  a quarter chicken, either white or dark meat.
  When my plate came, the piece of chicken looked like some part of a chicken that I had never seen before, and I've had lots of fried chicken in my life. I would have sworn that someone, or something had taken several bites out of the chicken breast before they deep fried it. Apparently it was payback time for my trivia antics.
  Rosie got a small taco salad that wound up looking inedible by the time she got around to asking me if I wanted any of it. No thanks.
  We went back to the boat still hungry and wound up eating some cheese and crackers. But Holly was very glad to see us, and that made our whole night.
  On Friday morning we pulled up anchor and cruised fourteen miles or so south to Lynard Cay, at the southern end of the Sea of Abaco. We dropped the dinghy once we got our hook set and took Holly to one of the very nice beaches on the west side of Lynard Cay.
  By mid afternoon we pulled up anchor again and took the boat into Little Harbour, just a little over a mile away. We were going to anchor outside of the harbor but the wind was picking up and I didn't want to leave the boat at anchor out of our sight while we visited Pete's Pub,  the famous beach bar overlooking Little Harbour.

 
  We entered the harbor at near low tide, a risky move, but the lowest our depth gauge read was 4.2 feet going in. The narrow channel is marked, but there is unforgiving rock on the starboard side going in. We slipped in slick as a whistle and grabbed one of the few vacant moorings.
  We took the dinghy in to the bar to pay the $20 mooring fee and then we went to explore a little bit. The harbor has a great abundance of sea turtles, the most we have ever seen in one area. They're amazingly quick.
  We were intent on making up for a less than enjoyable evening the night before, so by late afternoon, it was on to Pete's Pub, which is in the center of the photo above, and just off our bow.

  Holly was more than welcome at the outside bar. It was early, so we were able to grab the best seats in the house. I didn't think we would get along with our bartender because all she did was complain about working double shifts for the last few days and she was by herself. But...we won her over eventually and she gave us tremendous service. We never had to wait more than a couple of minutes for a beer, and it was standing room only later on at the bar.
  We met lots of other boaters, and Raymond, the bartender from Snappas came in and actually seemed glad to see us. I even got a knuckle bump from him.
  We left a RiverBill's sticker on the framework of the bar. Look for it if you ever go there.

  It was way past dark when we finally got into the dinghy and back to the boat. I told Rosie to not even let me know how much our bar bill was when we left, but I intended on making up for a less than perfect night on the night before, and we did.
  Things were a little fuzzy this morning, but we had a great breakfast in the harbor, and then rode a high tide out, back to Lynard Cay for the day and to spend the night on the hook before heading to Eleuthera on Sunday morning.
  We took Holly back to the beach and boy did she have a ball! We let her run and play in the water, just like any proud parents would.
  A cold front is coming in on Tuesday, and it's going to get very windy throughout southern Florida and the Bahamas, so we want to be in a safe anchorage by then.
  We plan on being in Spanish Wells by tomorrow afternoon. On Monday I have to visit the BaTelCo office because I'm can't add minutes to our data plan on the iPad. The BTC home page has no option to use the prepaid cards we bought in Alice Town. We'll get it figured out. Our Bluechart Mobile app doesn't need Internet service to work, but we like to have Internet at the helm when it's available.
  I got news today that a guy I started with at the beer factory many years ago died today. He didn't get to enjoy any of his hard earned retirement, having left the job diagnosed with pancreatic cancer about the same time I left. I feel fortunate that I've gotten to live this dream with Rosie for the last year. Every day forward will just be gravy, as I've already gotten more from life than some people have. Like I always say, "I'd rather be lucky than good." And I've been lucky.

Reflecting On One Year Of Cruising

  One year of living on the boat was celebrated on April 20th, but we didn't leave St. Louis until May 8th of last year. It was my birthday, and what a way to celebrate a birthday!

  I'm a year older, and I think I'm a bit wiser, as far as cruising and living on a boat goes, anyway.
  Rosie and I have faced a few challenges in the last year, but we've met them, and have overcome them. We are in no worse health than we were a year ago, and the boat is no worse for wear either. In fact, the boat runs better than it did a year ago. But it hasn't been without a lot of work. Rust is a constant issue, but much better and more expensive yachts share the same problem. It's said that stainless doesn't mean stainfree. Everything on the boat works as it should (except for the generator, but that will be fixed today), even our one Bora fan started working again, right out of the blue. Keeping our little city operating at 100% is a primary goal of ours.
  We checked some numbers and found that we've spent a tad over $12,000 for fuel since we left St. Louis. We also spent $4,000 to stay at marinas. A-B Marina in Key West was over half of that though. Like they say, we wasted the rest, but we've been able to overcome some minor debt we carried with us upon leaving St. Louis, keep the boat maintained, and even save some bucks for upcoming surprises. This lifestyle has been affordable for us.
  We miss our friends and family at times, anyone would. There is a fairly long list of friends that have visited us in the course of the year, and we've been able to meet up with friends in Florida that we haven't seen in years. We expect to be able to meet up with more friends as time goes by, once we get "settled" some, and can predict our whereabouts a little easier.
  We are still both enthusiastic about our adventures. I do get overwhelmed at times about the responsibility of getting us where we need to be, and keeping the boat safe and operating properly. There are lots of decisions to be made and I make them, and I won't allow anyone to second guess anything I decide to do. Of course, we run into all sorts of other boaters who have the right idea about everything. I resist telling others what they should do, but rather just relay our story and they can decide what works for them.
  Rosie and I have both learned some things about each other that we didn't know, none of them are deal breakers, but were a little surprising. It would serve no purpose to go into them here, but even with our thirty- seven years together, we still don't know everything about each other. Not sure if we want to find out more though. Who knew Rosie was a man?

  There's been lots of rain here all week, and southern Florida has had lots of rain too. Because of the rain, our generator part we need didn't get picked up from the Westerbeke dealer in West Palm Beach until Thursday. All FedEx packages then go to Memphis for sorting, and ours did too, then got sent back to southern Florida to get flown to the Bahamas. Severe weather on Friday got our package routed to Freeport instead of Marsh Harbour. We are supposed to get it today.

Someone asked me how Marsh Harbour is: In the photo you can see the one traffic light there is. But the hardware store is one of three, and all three are stocked with just about anything a person might need. Every service you could want is here too, but there are no quaint little streets like in New Plymouth, or like we expect to see in Hope Town. Most of the thoroughfares are dusty and filled with potholes. This is a bustling city compared to the sleepy island towns that we like.

  Harbour View Marina is home to a shuttle service that takes the rich and famous out to Baker's Bay on Guana Cay. The 77 foot Lymon-Morse yacht in the photo is a charter vessel used to take some of the larger groups over to Guana. There are also two Hinckleys used as well, a 36 and a 40 footer. All vessels are kept in pristine condition. The Lyman-Morse is currently for sale for a mere 2.4 million. Who wants it? It's nine years old.

  

  On Sunday, Rosie and I took the dinghy out to explore. We found some pretty beaches nearby, and around on the other side of Marsh Harbour are some nice homes and resorts. Most folks around here go to Nippers, a beach bar on Guana Cay. Some folks we met at the pool asked us to join them for the weekend on the hook near Nippers, but we stayed here at Harbour View, and went again to Snappas next door for Cinco De Mayo and had a good time.

  Besides the generator part issue, we've had some other problems. Our Internet service was interrupted on our MiFi device because of a mix-up on the part of AT&T, but we got that resolved after a few phone calls.

  We've also exceeded the 40 minutes allowed on our International calling plan due to a lengthy phone call regarding payment by our medical provider to the health clinic in Marathon where I got my physical last month. Using the magicJack Internet phone service has not been the answer, if the connection is not top notch, the phone calls are of poor quality.

  These little problems are magnified when phone service, or Internet service, is poor. We get used to those luxuries when we are in the U.S.

  We should be heading to Hope Town in the morning, only seven miles away. The weather should cooperate for the next week so we can travel through the cays to the Little Harbour Cut, and then cross nearly fifty miles over to the Eleuthera Islands, first stop being Spanish Wells.

  But like I've said, Harbour View Marina is not a bad place to hang out for a while. I just said to Rosie yesterday when we were lounging around the pool that we should consider coming here for vacation some time.

Harbour View Marina Is Not a Bad Place To Wait

  On Monday morning, after a quick breakfast, Rosie set to work scrubbing down the boat and I set off on my errands. My first stop was an outboard repair shop just down the road. They advertise generator repair, so it may have been possible for them to get the part I needed for our generator.
  I couldn't be helped there, but they suggested Marsh Harbour Boatyard, which is ultimately where I figured to wind up, but wanted to check on possible places on the way, which by my best guess, was about four miles, at least. I was to ask for Dennis, nobody but Dennis, period.
  NAPA auto parts was a dead end. The part number I supplied wasn't even in their system. This detail, I learned later, should not have been an indicator as to whether they could obtain the part, but I didn't know that then.
  I stopped at the Abaco Hardware store, which is either a True Value or Ace Hardware affiliate, I'm not sure, but they have a well stocked store. I wasn't looking for the generator part there, but our dinette table needed some minor repair, and I found some hardware in the store that I could use.
  I finally arrived at the Marsh Harbour Boatyard after a very long walk along a fairly deserted and windy road. I walked into the office and was met by a nice woman and less than nice man. When asked if I could be helped, I said that I would like to speak to Dennis.
  "Can I help you?", the woman said.
  "No, I'd like to talk to Dennis".
  "What about?"
  "Well, it's about an engine on our boat".
  "What kind of engines do you have?"
  I'm wondering what part of "I'd like to speak to Dennis" that this woman didn't understand. I don't do well in these situations, but I held my cool and said that I had a Westerbeke generator on our boat and that I'd like to speak to Dennis about it.
  "Dennis is way down at the other end of the yard", the woman said to me.
  "If you don't mind, I've walked quite a way already, and I sure don't mind walking a bit farther to speak to Dennis", I told her, with my last ounce of patience.
  "Oh, I'll get him for you, if that's what you want", she said.
  Yeah lady. That's what I want, is what I was thinking, but didn't say.
  Dennis finally shows up and he is very nice. I explained my problem and told him what part I needed. He said that they could order the part, and I felt like things were going well, until he said that the guy who orders the parts wasn't in today, but would be back tomorrow.
  I offered to let them install the part if that would be a better business proposition for them, seeing as how they would have to go through the trouble of getting the part from West Palm Beach. Dennis said that that wouldn't be necessary and then he offered to drive me back to Harbour View Marina. I took him up on the offer.
  On the way, Dennis mentioned the electrician, Andrew. I said that I was considering calling Andrew to see if the solenoid could be repaired, but I didn't want to take a somewhat functional solenoid apart until I had a new part ordered. Dennis thought that was a good plan.
  Once back to the marina, I called Andrew. A woman's voice answered the phone and I asked to speak to Andrew. "Speaking", is the reply I got. Nearly made a tactical error there, I was thinking.
  Andrew said he'd be over in forty-five minutes to look at the solenoid. He showed up in twenty minutes and I immediately felt gypped because he wasn't wearing a skirt. (If you didn't read my last blog, that's your problem.)
  Andrew climbed into the engine room and commenced to start the generator. I offered some key assistance, but Andrew declined any help from me, saying that he knew what he was doing. I let Andrew fumble around a little while, trying to start the generator, before I informed him that he wouldn't be able to start the generator unless he switched the override into the override position, enabling him to start the gen from the engine room instead of the salon. I then added that I'd also might be able to help him further, if he lets me.
  He grumbled something and then got his voltmeter out. It wouldn't work. I allowed as to how I had a voltmeter, albeit not as nice as the one he was using, but that it was in working order.
  "Let's see what you have", he said.
  I brought out my new voltmeter which met his satisfaction, and his mood changed and he became cordial, even allowing me an opinion or two about the matter.
  He agreed with me as to how repairing the solenoid could be possible, but an attempt wouldn't be prudent unless we had a new solenoid in hand. The repaired unit could be kept as a backup. Good plan if I should say so myself.
  I told him that if he could co-ordinate ordering the solenoid with the Marsh Harbour Boatyard, I would agree to employ him in the task of installing it. He agreed, and called the Boatyard and told them to have the information ready for Victor, the parts manager, first thing in the morning.
  Andrew then presented me with a bill for $85, having told me exactly what I knew in the first place, but I couldn't have sat all day doing nothing to resolve our issue, so I paid him without complaint. I considered charging him for using my voltmeter, plus my expertise in knowing how to start the generator, but I decided against it. Andrew said that he would call me on Tuesday morning with an update.
  On Monday afternoon, Rosie and I spent some time at the little pool at the marina. We met some nice folks and wound up having a very nice afternoon. After a good dinner on the boat, we watched some network T.V., the first time in months.
  On Tuesday morning I sent Victor an email, outlining our issue, and getting him on track. I told him I'd call once he got settled into his workday, not entirely trusting Andrew to be on top of things.
  After ten o'clock I called Victor and asked if he had gotten my email. He had, and he had also sent me a reply. I was at the marina office making my call, so I asked Victor to tell me what his email said. Basically, his email said that he wouldn't be ordering the part because they were not a Westerbeke dealer. Now I knew why I needed to speak only with Dennis about ordering the part, but that tactic wasn't going to work at this point.
  Victor had some detailed instructions as to how to go about ordering the part and getting it to Marsh Harbour without paying duty, upwards of 45% of the price of the part. His best information he gave me was who to call in Palm Beach for ordering the part, so I did that first.
  I called JAS Marine in West Palm. They have a store in Fort Lauderdale too. Lisa, in parts, told me she would call be back when she learned about the availability of the part, because the part number I supplied was not recognized by her parts list. I know these things happen when equipment is old, and our generator is 17 years old, so I wasn't worried.
  While I was waiting at the phone in the marina office, another boater nearby told me how to order the part without paying duty. The woman in the marina office concurred, saying what I should do is have the part sent via FedEx, and have the invoice and a copy of our cruising permit attached to the outside of the package. Also, it was very important that we have our boat name included in the address line, such as M/V Swing Set. This was good information.
  After waiting a reasonable amount of time, I called Lisa back. She still hadn't located the part, but was sure she could. I told her that if I could have a primary fuel filter sent along with the solenoid, that she could go ahead and do that. I supplied her with the shipping information, my credit card information, and told her that I'd fax a copy of our cruising permit right away. I told her I would also send her an email, and that she should send me an email confirmation once she found something out. My day was getting better. Back at the boat, I sent Lisa another copy of our cruising permit, plus a photo of the solenoid we needed, so there would be less confusion. I would say "no confusion", but there is always "some confusion".
  The day was overcast, so Rosie and I went for a walk to find another chart we needed for Eleuthera, and to pick up some groceries at Maxwell's, a very nice, modern grocery store here in Marsh Harbour.
  Maxwell's is a big, well stocked store. Some of the prices were unbelievably high, but others were not too bad. We filled three bags of supplies, and planned to go back later in the week. We wound up walking back to the boat in the rain. Rosie hates walking in the rain, but it was interesting to see just how fast she can walk when she has to do it in the rain.
  By 4 P.M. I hadn't gotten a reply from the email I had sent Lisa, so I called JAS Marine. Lisa was busy, so I talked to Mindy. Mindy couldn't understand why Lisa hadn't gotten my email, so I sent her one, and she got that one and forwarded everything to Lisa. Mindy then went to speak to Lisa in person while I was nervously on hold on the phone. Mindy said Lisa was still working on it. My outlook darkened.
  A half hour later, Lisa sent an email. She located the part and would have it in hand by Wednesday, the next day. She would then send it to me along with the fuel filter, and provide me with a tracking number. Yahoooooo! A celebratory Budweiser was in order!

  This morning it has been raining. Its due to rain the rest of the week. Quite a few boats have arrived here at the marina, which is a very nice establishment. We could have found ourselves waiting in a worse place.
  Meanwhile, we'll wait to get our tracking number for our package. I hope the right part comes, and it's here by the weekend. I haven't heard from Andrew, and I don't expect to. If the right part is sent, I'll put it on myself, and we'll be in business. If there is still a problem....well, there won't be. But if there is one, I'll do what it takes to make it right.
   I'll keep you all in the loop.