Bolg 5 2017: Election Day in the Bahamas

Blog 5 2017

Election Day

the Current Pride in Current Harbour

Other cruisers have come and gone, but we are still here in Anchor Bay, hanging on the hook. Easter was a pretty big event here, starting with an early-morning parade past our boat by the congregation of the Methodist Church on Palm Sunday. The same congregation got up even earlier and held a dawn service on the point only a few feet astern of our anchorage. Not only are they early risers, but they are hardy too. The wind was steady at 23 knots during the ceremony, and there is no shelter on that point of land.

Panacea in Anchor Bay

A number of fellow cruisers have stayed here during the high winds. Inevitably they move on when velocities drop to 15 knots, to be replaced by another batch of cruisers. At this stage of the cruising season, about half of the sailing community is returning to their nest. The other half are heading southward. We altered our plans and had hoped to leave for Bimini as soon as possible in the hope of linking up with co-cruiser Michel on M’Blij d’amour. After a minor rigging failure, his plans to sail to France with the 2017 ARC Europe rally have been interrupted. He and his crew have concluded that a rigorous trans-Atlantic crossing would be unwise until a rigger gives the boat a thorough vetting. I gave him the names of a couple of storage yards in the Bahamas, neither of which do I have personal experience with.

I have suggested that he store the boat in Florida at our own home boatyard near Green Cove Springs.

Our new head gasket arrived and had undergone two stages of torquing with the 'old' (uncalibrated) torque wrench.  Our new torque wrench shipped last week, but the express company in Nassau failed to forward it for several days. "Uh Oh!" we thought, "...maybe they are using Watermaker Air". That outfit sat on a vital engine part for Adastrelle for three weeks several years back. It failed to come to us for a whole week after Xpressit received it. Susan expressed her certainty that someone had stolen it.

The failed gasket appeared to have suffered delamination that allowed lateral flow of coolant which eventually reached cylinder number three. The torques ‘felt’ inconsistent on the strip-down, but I can’t be certain that this was the case as several head bolts had corroded threads from the coolant. I think we will be removing the head in Florida and letting a machine shop check it over for flatness. Maybe new head bolts are a plan too, although I have yet to find a source for these. We really don’t want to keep doing the same project over again annually. There are still many ‘new’ projects to keep us busy. Trying something new, we ordered a copper spray adhesive and used it on both sides of the new head gasket.

The election is happening here in the family islands on May 10^th, and people are running around in yellow tee shirts or red ones or turquoise ones – depending on party affiliation.

Canadian fashion designer and millionaire resident of the exclusive Lyford Cay gated community has figured in election advertising here. Last year he was on the front page of Nassau newspapers – after refusing to comply with government rules about his excavation of the coral reef adjoining his property. He baldly declared that he didn’t have to comply because he had paid Prime Minister Christie graft to have his transgressions on the matter overlooked.

That particular chicken has come home to roost, with the front page of the Nassau Tribune seemingly touting Nygard for Prime Minister with the 'A-Okay' hand symbol of the Progressive Liberal Party.    

 This after a full page advertisement in The Punch by a political governance interest group called ‘Transparency in Politics Ltd’ that is self-explanatory.  

In an article in the same issue of The Punch, another civil liberties/good governance interest group was taking the credit for the defeat of the infamous ‘spy bill’ by which government agencies hoped to ‘legally’ have access to all private communications in the country. This country has a lively and vibrant press, and it shows its stuff at election time.

The Bahamas has got full spectrum politics with old-style campaigning, supposedly with hundred dollar bills rolled-up in flags being passed out by one candidate (the Police Commissioner), and political scandal revolving around backroom deals between the government in power and big tycoons from ‘away’.  A number of Bahamian locals on Eleuthera have shared their opinion with us - that the incumbent party is still electable. One argument was essentially: "Yes they do stink, but the other guys were MUCH worse!".  Another person could not keep a lid on her enthusiasm for the PNP (the incumbents). I asked about her feelings on graft and corruption. Her response conveys a common feeling among some Bahamians to the effect: "Sure they collect graft. But they share it back with the community. For example, our minister who supposed collected 5 million dollars on the Baha Mar issue, they papers don't tell you the other part. He is a big donor to charities AND he built a playground with his own personal money."

Call me hard to impress, but also I must remind myself that this is not my country. They can run it any way that suits them and I will simply be a spectator.

But hey, legalized marijuana is on the table here just like at home, although from one of the lesser parties, the FNM.

The chronically underemployed have ‘suddenly’ become employed, performing needed maintenance on public properties.  Apparently some of this work is saved up so that it can be awarded for loyalty to known supporters at election time. Do they still do this at home?

May 10^th is a public holiday in the Bahamas, a Remembrance Day for four Naval Marines who died in an air attack by Cuban MiG aircraft that sank their (Bahamian) naval vessel. Perhaps it was the same two Cuban brothers who have been tried in absentia for shooting down an US Cessna a couple of few years back as it patrolled the Florida Strait watching for rafters fleeing Cuba. If relations EVER actually normalize, those two will be hunted down and imprisoned.

Other news in The Punch included an item about a Canadian Marijuana provider. CanaMed Therapeutics has signed a deal with Grand Cayman to supply ‘medical cannabis oils’. Jamaican marijuana suppliers are ‘incensed’.

Who would have seen that coming? Canada supplying weed to the Caribbean? This seems...stranger than fiction.

Today we went over ‘everything’ on the engine. Sue washed some wine stains out of one of my cool ‘Bahamas’ tee shirts. We were getting so bored that we ‘almost’ decided to make a water run. While we do have a water maker on the boat, I have pickled it, because it is more practical in a place like this to shuttle water from public locations ashore. The turbidity of the seawater feedstock resulting from wind/waves just blocks things up.

Anyhow, I proposed that we save the water run for tomorrow so that we would have ‘something’ to do then too. 

“Let’s walk around Cupid’s Cay, see if we can find our new friend Diana’s house, and then maybe drop by Ronnie’s for a drink or two” says I to Sue.

“Your proposition is accepted….” ….and Sue went looking for some clothes.

We did our walk and were greeted by at least a dozen locals. When we arrived at the bar anyone could tell that we were starved for some culture. I chatted with Nelson, another patron of the bar and then got into a re-run of Robert DeNiro and Tommy Lee in the one about the witness protection family from New Jersey who settle in Normandy. I always loved that movie. The mafia guys are sooooo stereotyped.

Sue and Dr. Seabreeze compared stories about grandchildren. She was as animated as could be. Dr. Seabreeze and some other ‘locals’ sometimes forget that we are on a boat. When he asked if our grandchildren would be joining us for the summer, Sue said yes with a lot of enthusiasm. Sadly she had to tell him that we don’t actually live here, and that the kids will be with us in New Brunswick. We are hoping that they will summer here in Eleuthera with us before they leave the nest, although presently we have no idea how we will make that come to pass. Dr. Seabreeze is a seventy-six year old guitar playing widower with many of his children and grand-children living with him. He is a regular feature at local resorts, performing rhythm and blues long into the night. Like others regulars at Ronnie’s, he is always fun to ‘catch up’ with. Regarding the upcoming election, he warned Susan that the PNP, despite the really bad press that they are getting, inherited a shambles and have done the right thing again and again. He says they will get his vote.

I started to shiver later that afternoon and checked the temperature. It was 83.6 degrees F. The seawater is the same temperature. And we are going north soon? Oh Noooooooo!  Every year, going north is a transition that we happily make, usually wrapped in sweaters before we get to New York. Even so, we are looking forward to the time when we can just stay here (on land). Susan has assured me that I will find enough ‘projects’ so as not to get bored. The people ARE welcoming, and there IS land that is cheap enough. I hope not to have to build something. I'd rather renovate.

One of the discoveries of the year for us here in Eleuthera is local honey. This is the finest honey we have ever tasted. No doubt Bouganvillea and Mango yield different-tasting honey than Clover and Blueberry plants. The honey from Cape Bald Apiary in Palmetto Point wins first prize from us. AT $20.00 per kg, it is not competitive with bulk priced honey from Costco, but it is competitive with similar (half kg) packaged product from the USA, like Billie Bee.

pic of Honey Bottle

The torque wrench finally showed-up. This is the first time that Xpressit failed to operate smoothly for us, and they are forgiven. A day later, the head has been torqued in 3 more stages to exactly 94 foot-pounds. I am getting weaker as I get older. It took every ounce of energy that I could muster to achieve that amount of pull/push.After warming the engine, I performed an oil change using engine oil that I had stowed in the lazarette last year. Only a few days later was I to read the label on the oil cans.The oil is marketed throughout the Bahamas by Xcel from Florida. I was looking for the API letter code, just to be certain that it was the right stuff. After my initial alarm at the warning, I googled the oil ratings and learned that it was considered suitable for ignition engines built in the nineteen twenties. This is THE common available oil here.

We departed Governor's Harbour in brisk winds that Windfinder promised would back and subside late in the day. We would need four days to get to Florida, so we decided to 'anticipate' the weather window. The sail was rough enough that I chose to steer manually, rather than let the autopilot perform it's see-saw action up and down the waves.

Engine revolutions dropped a few hundred RPMs when we were 10 miles away from Governors Harbour.  We smiled at each other and turned downwind for Hatchet Bay. "I knew Panacea wouldn't let us leave Eleuthera without checking in at Hatchet Bay" Susan commented as we relaxed on the new, and gentler, course.

To enter Hatchet Bay under sail requires that the tide be approximately slack or rising. due to the sea state, I was not interested in tacking back and forth along a lee shore to await low slack. Instead, we were rehearsing the several possible scenarios that we might encounter when we tried to buck the outgoing tide while challenging the narrow gorge which is the entrance to the harbour. I figured that the engine could be called upon to start and to run for a while, and when we started it to test this theory, it cheerfully pulled all the way to full throttle. "It's a fuel filter..." said I "...and the pump suction will increase while the flow diminishes. We will turn it on just as we get to the entrance and it 'should' power us in".

Panacea is a nimble steering boat, and it is conceivable that she could perform a tight U-turn in Hatchet Cut without striking a cliff....if everything is perfect.

As we approached the cut, a trawler yacht arrived and shoe-horned himself in front of us. He was maintaining radio silence when I hailed him. Reluctantly, we rolled in our Genoa and started the engine earlier than we had planned. My fingers were going to get a cramp from being crossed for so long.

The engine ran fine, and we entered the harbour to see the trawler yacht racing around the western anchorage, not really trying to anchor. He might have been sounding the depths, but it is hard to know with some people. As we turned for the Western Anchorage so did he, and I watched his bow wave grow. He was going to try to pass us and cut us off - again!

"Not happening...." I said to Susan."...Go to your station on the bow. When the engine dies, we'll drop the hook".
With Susan moving forward, I pushed to full throttle, expecting the engine to cough and slow. In a few moments we hit seven knots and were still increasing our speed when the trawler decided to just take his turn and backed-off. We drove straight to the only mooring ball and anchored. Since the ball was touching the hull, I examined its hardware and noted that someone had recently dove on the mooring and installed a nylon safety bridle on it. I walked forward with the mooring ball and connected or nose bridle to it. Susan had the anchor raised and we moved aft to shut the engine down.

The trawler circled the Western Anchorage, did the same mysterious circling at the Inner Mooring field, and eventually went back to the Western Anchorage. "The farther away, the better - with that bird" I told Sue.

We took the rest of the day to visit various friends around the town, and only the next morning did we get to work, changing out the filter element and checking the injectors. When Susan brought me the replacement element, I was disappointed to discover that it was itself a used filter that had somehow failed to make the garbage run ashore after the last filter change. The rest of the day slipped away with calls to several marine stores in Spanish Wells, none of which yield the desired results. Without further delay we ordered three replacement Racor filter elements from discountracor.com. One of our fuel injector lines seems to be 'vibrating' differently from the other three, so I ordered a replacement fuel injector nozzle from NCH Tractor Supply in Las Vegas.

Alabaster Bay

Alabaster Bay Beach

We settled in for the week of waiting, visiting 'Da Spot' for drinks, and hanging out with the crews of boats passing through. We knew that Spira Serpula was coming to Hatchet Bay from facebook. We have enjoyed the company of Bill and Gayle in several places already during this cruising season. We were pleasantly surprised to find out that they were travelling in company with another cat, named Bliss. We probably met in Georgetown in a previous year, and were happy to enjoy the company of Scot and Chris at sundowners aboard Spira Serpula that evening.

Hatchet Bay Caves

A couple of days later, I was able to get a rental car and we trekked through the Western part of Eleuthera, dining at the Shipyard restaurant in Spanish Wells, looking in the marine stores for 'stuff'. It was during our stop at R&B's Chandlery that I found 'our' fuel filter element. I was sure that I had called them!  Oh well. Our three elements would be arriving for discountracor.com, maybe tomorrow or the next day, so it's not an issue. I did find lubricating oil that was diesel rated with the latest C-code and bought 5 litres of 40 weight.

Snorkeling Fun

We drove to Gregory Town and looked at lots in the surfers village, where the houses are simple 'camps' and the lots lack public water supply. I wanted to get a feel for what the low-end of the budget spectrum would buy a person. The lot prices here are running at $15,000 for a quarter acre.

The others had their snorkeling gear with them and after visiting the 'cave' (three went in, three would not), we set out in search of Sweetings Pond, said to have a vibrant population of seahorses.
After the greater part of an hour, we found ourselves on the banks of that pond, and after the divers were doing their thing, Sue, Chris and I drove back to Gregory Town to buy some cool refreshments.
Our final stop was at the roadside fruit and veg stand between Hatchet and Rainbow, where we bought expensive produce.  He had a bin containing land crabs for sale although no one was interested.

The catamarans left us the next morning, moving on to the Abacos. Mr. Burrows, our friend who graciously shared his workbench when I was in need two years ago, waved us down as we walked back to the dinghy dock. He had a big bunch of bananas and a quart of button tomatoes for us from his garden. And the mangoes are just beginning to come in. Yay!

Susan and I spent another day in the rented car, talking with a real estate agent and looking at fixer-uppers in Rainbow Community and Palmetto Point.

Rainbow Bay Public Beach Park

 We like both communities and now have an idea of how much cash would be required to get established in either community.

Fixer-upper TwoViews at Rainbow

We spent part of the day in the older community of Palmetto Point. We had met the new owner of the Runaway Bay Marina at a Friday night fishfry in Governor's Harbour. Seen up close, this could be a good place to tie-up. We plan to check in with him next year for story weather, and experience the place at first hand. We even espied a fixer-upper next to the marina,which would be close to an ideal arrangement. When Susan looked it up on her phone, it was noted to be 'under contract' the phrase that connotes the lengthy process of title conveyance here in the Bahamas. In a word, SOLD!
 

Runaway Bay Docks may need some work

As does the house next door

We also used the car to restock fuel, to go to a laundramat and to truck water from the public faucet to the dinghy dock. We definitely got our seventy dollars worth for that rental fee. Not an hour after I returned it, Susan had one of those ' oh darn!'  moments. This time it was 'Oh darn, we have only a few days worth of propane left".


On Sunday morning we motorsailed out of Hatchet Bay destined for Coral Harbour 72 nautical miles away. We would get propane there.

Blog 4: Eleuthera...We love Eleuthera

Blog 4 2017

Eleuthera ... We LOVE Eleuthera

(and so does Panacea!)

Beach view from Tippy's

It's was two whole weeks for us in Coral Harbour. The pace had been slow, with no weather concerns because we were at dockside in a protected man-made waterway. Every now and again I lend the carpenter, doing hurricane repairs, a hand to carry something awkward, and I spend the rest of the time doing cosmetic repairs in the cockpit.

We visited a Building Supply warehouse and got some primer and paint for the cockpit, as well as a couple of treated pine boards with which to construct a new bathroom cabinet. Our host entertained us with Johnny Cash music as we drove through that mission. It felt gooood. Nick's Morgan Plus 8 still awaits a new owner in the carport. He seems to have lost interest in the car.(If only I had more deck space on the boat.....darn!).

Susan and our hostess have driven the entire island doing coffee klatches and museum tours. Sue says she has been on every road on New Providence. Other visitors have come and gone from the wharf while we stay here. We could have anchored out, but we really like these folks so we stay until Nargis arrives. Shep and Deb of High ZZ's joined us from Palm Bay Marina after a day or two. They are cruising friends from years past in Bimini. We hang out together whenever our wakes cross.

With Nargis aboard, we traversed Coral Harbour, waiting until lunchtime so as to avoid small arms fire from the practice range at the Naval Base. High ZZ's turned west, to return to the States, while we turned east – destination Shroud Cay, where we arrived after a brisk sail, just as the sun drops below the horizon. Next morning we departed Shroud and, again with a brisk wind, sailed into Big Majors spot and found a good place to anchor, close-in under the coral cliffs.

Lunch at Lorraine's Black Point

Nurse sharks coming for leftovers

Brisk North winds held us in Big Majors Spot for several days, but did not prevent us from taking dinghy expeditions to the Staniel Cay Yacht Club and Isles General Store. When the winds turned easterly we sailed over to Black Point Beach, where we spent a couple of days hanging out on shore with more fellow cruisers.

With diminished easterlies we raised anchor and made our way out of Dotham Cut fighting the tide, which had not quite slacked. We were sailing on a course for Powell Point, Eleuthera only twenty minutes after raising anchor. Things were going just fine.

Cape Eleuthera Marina 

We were steering manually as the auto-pilot couldn't cope with the swell on our quarter. We had been fussing with the sail trim, attempting to get her 'balanced', finally accepting the 'fluffly' conditions and just sitting back.

Whenever things are going THAT fine I tend to relax and speculate about what will be the next project for Panacea.

We have it in mind to enclose the cockpit. A curved glass windshield might be within reach – costwise. Roll-up side curtains will let us stay warm and dry in the kind of weather that brought us to the islands this year. “Yup, we're going to do that” were my words spoken in my mind as the new plan.

“What was that?” Nargis had heard a change in engine note. Admittedly, the engine had slowed a few RPM's. I adjusted the throttle up a tad and re-cinched the small lanyard that we 'lock' the throttle with, telling myself “the darned throttle spring is too strong...”.

Moments later, we lost 300 RPM. I raised the throttle. Yup, full response.

I was automatically trouble-shooting, and by revving her up again, was assured that fuel was getting through.

Susan had gone into troubleshooting mode automatically too. “The antifreeze overflow tank is bubbling a lot”.

“That's it, we're sailing again” I declared as I shut the engine down. Sue and I looked at each other “...Head Gasket....again!”

The winds dropped to the point where the plotter gave us an ETA of midnight. I rigged the dinghy abreast and tied the steering of the outboard, checked its oil and filled the fuel tank.

Making three knots solely using the outboard, our Estimated Time of Arrival soon dropped to 9:00 pm, and when the winds steadied and increased, we began to smile again. We arrived at Powell Point and clipped into Davis Channel an hour before sunset. We messed up our tack at Poison Point, circling to lee close-in to the point in total darkness – before getting our act together – finally anchoring in exactly the same place where we had dropped the hook two years ago – also with a dud engine.

In my brain I was seeing Tekla Bramble already at anchor just ahead of us. Of course – that was two years ago. This time we are one lone boat. At least we are on completely familiar ground this time. We have done this before.

When we raised anchor at sunrise, leading a flotilla of other sailboats – all of which passed us as they sped West and North. When we entered Governor's Harbour in mid-afternoon a few of those same boats sent their tenders to assist placing us in the anchorage. One lady urged us to pick-up the empty mooring ball in mid-harbour. I was slow to accept her advice as Susan would have to be handling the throttle in the dinghy while I would necessarily have to steer Panacea, leaving it to Nargis to secure us to the mooring ball. This task would require a lot more strength that she possesses.

After two tries at anchoring, one of the other boaters suggested that he assist with the ball.

Problem solved.

Dinghy on the beach Governors Harbour

Susan stayed aboard while Nargis and I drove to the French Leave Resort to pay for a couple of nights on 'their' mooring ball.

Mooring balls in the Bahamas are usually installed by the Bahamian government and then 'leased' to a nearby commercial enterprise whose business it will be, to recoup the leasing costs and eke a margin of profit from mooring rentals from cruisers passing through.

This seemingly straightforward concept has a few kinks.

One of these kinks can be laid at the feet of the authors of several chartbooks and cruising guides. To be sure, the authors of those books and guides were committing what they knew to be true at the time - to paper. Unfortunately, when the Government's mooring ball business plan evolved from “free for all” model - to a “lessee and sub-lessee” model, the “knowledge” that these things are free could not be erased from all of the guides and chartbooks out there in circulation.

The battles on VHF between defiant boaters and frustrated lessee mooring operators have not generally diminished. They are not a pleasant thing to witness.

And now – back to the story. We presented ourselves to the business office and advised that we wished to pay for the use of their mooring ball. The young woman looked at me with a serious expression and replied “We won't take your money. You can stay on the ball if you wish, but I have to advise you that some of the moorings have failed and we cannot assure that the two remaining ones will not fail as well”.

With thanks, we returned aboard, happy enough to stay on the mooring in the mild conditions we were then currently experiencing. If the hardware was going to fail, then it would fail when under heavy load, probably during a 'blow'. I inspected the mooing lines and the attachment hardware, which all looked 'perfect'. At 'sundowners' aboard another boat Kevin of Apres Ski told me that he had once attached his own hardware by diving to the ring on a mooring block in this harbour. Others advised that the mooring where we had attached had been occupied by a large power boat for a long period. We felt well-assured on learning that fact. When the wind turned to the northwest and every other boat left Governor's Harbour - we stayed right there on the ball.

Derek and Sue enjoying lunch at Tippy's

It got pretty ugly, what with all of the rolling and pitching – but the mooring held. I declared that I had had enough and dinghy'd to Anchor Bay on the opposite side of the isthmus to Cupid's Cay, where I sounded the bottom and otherwise 'scoped-it-out'. We made the move the very next day, even as some of the other sailboats returned to GH.

Derek checking out the anchor set

Anchor Bay is delightful. As I write this I am listening to the pastor of the Episcopal Church as he delivers his sermon only two-hundred feet away. Skin diving in this cove is a treat, with clear water – unlike the water in the main harbour. We expect the new head gasket to arrive tomorrow from the tractor supply firm in Las Vegas. Hopefully it will solve the problem. If it turns out that we have to do other things to get her running again, well this is a great place to hang-out. The anchorage is protected better than the main harbour and we can stay near the grocery stores, banks, the NAPA auto parts store and the express company.

We are anchored facing Fish Fry and Library 

Our stern is side on to the Episcopalian church

Many of the local people are aware of our reason for staying and have offered advice. One morning walker, wintering here from Mahone Bay,NS invited us to 'visit' with he and his wife, an offer we intend to take Tom up on. Last night we were invited to attend a grand 50^th birthday celebration by the sister of the celebrant. The sister has been very helpful at the watering dock. She just happens to be working on a construction crew – but whenever a dinghy approaches the dock, she drops her tools and brings a water hose to the cruisers dinghy.

And the birthday party was a smasher – and only 400 feet away at the 'weekly fishfry' site. Sue and I left early, Nargis hitched a ride back a little later.

It's a sunny Sunday morning here in Anchor Bay. We have been catching up on boat chores that we fell behind on while bouncing around on the mooring. Nargis has just booked her air ticket out via PineappleAir for Tuesday. Today is a day of R&R. We had tried to rent a car for today to show Nargis some other parts of the island – but could not get one. It seems that the Easter Season is a busy time here for car rentals.

We're going to explore by dinghy instead, and maybe do some snorkelling.

water falls at Leon Levy Preserve

Blog 3: Cruise of Panacea

­Cruise of Panacea

Blog 3 2017

Panorama of Nassau Harbour

We sheltered at Big Majors Spot for several days while that cold front passed. As usual when we are ‘trapped’ on the boat, we just lay around reading or doing puzzles. There are always minor boat repairs to be dealt with, this time including a window leak above the electrical panel. In general, things go pretty slowwww!

Susan and I took the inflatable one morning while the winds continued high and crept along the shore, hoping to arrive at Isles General Store without getting soaked with spray from the north winds. Alas, the outboard quit. It stopped dead from full throttle, as if I had pulled the curly cord off the kill switch. I squeezed the fuel bulb. Nope: rock solid. I removed the curly cord and re-attached it. Still no joy. Detach and reattached the fuel line. No again. Oh crap! This engine is practically brand new.

Just as I was about to bend my back to the oars, a cheerful fellow on a Yamaha Wave-Runner came along and asked if we would like a tow. “Yes please!” said we in chorus, displaying our best ‘warm and friendly’ smiles. In a moment we were tied behind him and in two moments we were getting drenched by his water squirter, the jet of by-pass water that tells any jet-ski operator that his raw water pump is functioning correctly to cool his engine. On the principle that we were not going to look a ‘gift-horse’ in the mouth, we stayed the course (translation: we took a ‘hosing’) and arrived back at Panacea to be greeted by Tristan.

With another cheery wave, the jet-ski driver left us. Susan and I climbed aboard and dried off as Tristan started the outboard on the first pull. I didn’t feel like ‘chancing it’ again, so we went on an egg-free diet for a while. I’ll never trust that outboard again, which is too bad because it is almost brand new, and we are likely to have it for years to come. Events like this were not rare with the Honda outboard that this Tohatsu replaced last year.

We have had a couple of invites to go out for sundowners, but have not taken these up, mainly due to the distances needing to be travelled by tender after dark. My sense of adventure must be running to the ‘chicken’ side lately.

On the lighter side, our old buddy from Sturm undt Drang arrived in the anchorage yesterday and immediately went into Boot Key Rodeo mode, touring from boat to boat like a bareback circus rider. He dropped by our boat on the pretext of trying to exchange DVD movies. I still have nothing to say to this bird, exactly 12 months after our last conversation when he was a fount of advice about how our boat should be anchored. His advice was wrong at the time and he was a real pest about it. At that time he suggested that if I couldn't do it his way, I should remove my national flag so as not to bring shame on the country. He still doesn’t seem inclined to mind his own business.

A day later we had moved 7 miles down the Exuma chain to the Great Guana Cay and the lovely town of Black Point Beach. Susan and I visited the Laundromat and found a few needed grocery items. Prices are not necessarily cheap at $5.00 US for a dozen eggs, but the selection complimented that of Isles General Store, back in Staniel Cay.

While the washers and dryers cycled, we chatted with other cruisers at the Scorpio Sports Bar, our favourite every year. Tristan arrived after parking at a more distant wharf with further tales of woe regarding the baulky outboard engine and treated us to fish burgers and Grouper fingers. Excellent fare!

True to expectations the outboard failed us again when it was time to return aboard. Once again we were towed back to Panacea by others, this time fellow cruisers from a nearby catamaran.

This time Tristan finally decided that the cause of engine stoppage was unlikely to be operator error. Of course this time he was driving ! He dismantled the fuel system and purged it, finding nothing wrong. When he checked the oil, he found it to be ‘marginally’ low and on adding a little the engine ran fine. The culprit was presumed to be an oil level shutdown switch. Maybe this had been one of those ‘get to know your new engine’ events.

We enjoyed sundowners aboard Spira Serpula with friends Bill and Gayle. They are marine biologists and spend a lot of time in the islands diving reefs and documenting their observations on her blog, cruisingbiologists.com .

We remained in Black Point until Monday, waiting until the incoming tide had slowed before passing through Dotham Cut for the motor-sail to Georgetown. The anchor was up in Black Point at 7:58 a.m. and anchor went down at Monument Beach in our favourite little hole alongside a low cliff at 2:09 p.m. Our trip average was six and a half knots, which is a respectable cruise speed for our twenty-seven foot waterline length.

Sunset on the fleet at Monument Beach

I had worn my parka in the northerly breeze at dawn but finally we have come far enough south that the temperature won’t likely drop below 75 degrees F again. This means that finally we are far enough south to stay warm.. I am hoping that the parka will stay put away for the rest of our cruising season.

We joined a growing fleet of cruisers, mostly in sailboats. Estimates stood at 200 boats in harbour at the time of our arrival. The daily influx is between five and ten boats, although a significant number are leaving too. The Georgetown Regatta starts in ten days, and many of the cruisers come here specifically for that event.

Susan announced our arrival on the morning 'cruisers net', only to later hear another Panacea announce their own arrival only moments later. Maybe we will have a Panacea regatta here.

After another day of outboard problems, Tristan seems to be making some progress. This time he found that the fuel pump bolts had loosened, which he suspects of reducing crankcase vacuum that is required for the pump to function correctly. My attitude at this stage is one of: “We’ll see”.

Our first full day saw us swimming at ‘our’ little crescent of sand, known as South Monument Beach. The air was still and the temperature was in the low 80’s. The swim was just delicious. We had been contemplating a brief cruise to other Cays or islands to our south to fill up the time. We decided that the risk of getting ‘storm-stayed’ away from the airport was too strong to chance it until after our guest is aboard.

Volleyball Beach

On the morning of the second day, Tristan and I went to the ‘Treasures of the Bilge’ flea market. There were a few bargains to be found. We anticipate that there will be more on the tables as the fleet grows. The winds grew while we were there and they swung to the south-west as we returned to Panacea. Our nice cliffside anchoring hole near Monument Beach becomes a trap as the wind moves into the west, so we moved to an anchorage that we surveyed from our dinghy last year. We slipped into the lagoon at Goat Cay at high tide with very little water under the keel. We joined two catamarans and a sixty foot Grand Banks Trawler yacht. We were playing an audio-book and the resonant voice from our hull attracted our own personal dolphin. That dolphin stayed with us all afternoon, just circling the boat as our stereo transmitted the readers voice through the hull. This is a ‘happy’ anchorage for us, and the dolphin and our team of geckos seem to be telling us how pleased they are too. The geckos are out and laying around in the heat. We usually only see two at a time, but we are starting to think that there may be a third one.

Two days after arriving in our little lagoon the winds swung to the north and surge effect began to give us a lot of motion. It had crept up on us, and I first noticed it when returning from a walk up the Queens Highway to buy a newspaper. Panacea was bounding all over the place. With the winds expected to move more easterly within twenty-four hours, we decided that we would go back to Stocking Island at high tide the next day. That part of Elizabeth Harbour is very sheltered when winds are from a North-Easterly direction.

The traffic in the Eastern Anchorages is the main downside of anchoring there. Inter-island freighters and tankers pass very close to the anchorages, sometime through yachts at anchor. Open speedboats from the resorts, some sporting a thousand or more horsepower on their transoms, zoom close inshore next to water aerobics classes and swimmers as they shuttle their bikini babes and young dudes to the beach bars. And lastly we have the cruisers themselves, dinghying ceaselessly, on errands for food, water, fuel, and alcohol – and pursuing the numerous social activities that this ‘destination’ offers the cruising boater.

Finally the day arrives. Claire’s BahamasAir flight and a brief taxi ride deliver her to Tristan. She will be with us for two weeks. At the same time we are rejoined by Bonavista which dropped anchor beside us only moments before Claire came aboard. With their fuel feed issue finally resolved, Craig and Sharon plan to go on to the Virgin Islands this spring, if circumstances allow.

As we again raise anchor to evade moderately high westerly winds (a manoever referred to hereabouts as 'the Georgetown Shuffle'), I see a figure waving arms from a blue boat as we motor past. Tristan turned to close with the boat and as we got closer, we recognized Joe and Yvonne on Osprey J, also just arrived in Georgetown. We will get together later and bring each-other up to date.

During this ‘shuffle’ we explored another new (for us) anchorage on the West side of Elizabeth Harbour. I took soundings and concluded that the charts err on the side of caution with the depths near the abandoned Out Island Resort,just north of the government docks. We were very close inshore in nine feet of water. This turned out to be a good move for we were told subsequently of several boats colliding in the darkness as anchors dragged over at Monument Beach and Sand Dollar Beach.

We remained on the West side of the harbour to facilitate fuel and food top-ups, before sailing north, back to Black Point Beach. It was another fast trip for us to Black Point Beach and Staniel Cay. We stayed for several days, just seeing the sights and diving in Thunderball Cave.

A lot of the 1965 James Bond film Thunderball was filmed at Staniel Cay.  Pictures of the film cast dining at Staniel Cay Yacht Club still adorn the walls of that establishment.

On Claire's Bucket list

One of main attractions in Big Majors is feeding the pigs. Several pigs died simultaneously this season and the theories abounded that the pigs had been poisoned by tourists. We have yet to see the toxicology reports, but the government veterinarian opined that the seven pigs in question were a) parched, with inadequate fresh water available , and b) had ingested large amounts of sand, which they could not pass in their desiccated state. Tristan and Claire visited with the pigs and Tristan reported that one in particular, a young female, 'showed-off' for him, chortling and nudging him.

We moved northward to the Warderick Wells Nature Park despite strong Easterly winds. Anchoring at Bell Island, owned by the Agga Khan, we did not find sound holding and likewise at Johnny Depp’s Island just to the north. We decided to go to Cambridge Cay and rent a mooring ball to wait for the winds to subside. Unfortunately we were optimistic. The winds pushed the falling tide into huge breakers in Bell Cut. Panacea was literally leaping from wave-top to wave-top as we tried to approach the Cambridge Cay mooring field. Our prospects for safely entering the channel dropped to a low percent when we saw that we would be abeam of the violent waves for a few hundred yards with a reef close on our leeward side.When we finally decided to turn and run westward we had left it ‘almost’ too late. Fortunately we did not roll on our beam-ends in getting turned around.

Agga Khan's place on Bell Island

Waves breaking at Bells Cut'

As we motored back to the lee side of Bell Island, Susan’s head popped up out of the companionway. “What was that?” she asked.

Claire, Tristan and I had forgotten to call a warning to her as the situation deteriorated. It had only seemed to take a few moments for us to get really into trouble and the violent seas captured all of our attentions.

We left the neighbourhood and sailed to the western anchorage of Warderick Wells, taking a mooring ball close to the beach. Tristan and Claire toured the dive spots as were accessible in the high winds. Next morning we moved on to Shroud Cay where Tristan and Claire toured the channels through the island. Tristan arrived back in late afternoon to advise that a sailboat on the opposite end of the mooring field had a Port of Registry of Rothesay. As the sun got low in the sky I visited her to extend greetings. Mariposa is the Catalina 34 of Joe and Cathy Holmes of Sussex. With only a brief conversation we parted on the next morning, they travelling South, we going north.

The winds had diminished and we decided to use to brief lull that had been forecast to return to Nassau, as winds were expected to rise to over 30 knots and stay there for a number of days.

This turned out to be a good call. We arrived in New Providence after a beautiful cruising day and were securely tied to a dock when the high winds arrived – exactly as forecast. We spent the next day in downtown Nassau. Six cruise ships were in and the downtown was ‘jumping’.

Claire and Tristan went off in search of a Wendy’s for their lunch while Sue and I enjoyed lunch at Nassau Yacht Haven, where I had the very best ½ pound Angus burger I have ever eaten.

Best Burger ever

Conch Shacks

I don’t think that I have ever stopped eating to take a photo of my food before, but I did this time. What a great burger! And the price was the same as if we had gone to one of the ‘conch shacks’ under the Paradise Island Bridge.

The forecast says that winds here will continue strong, so we will stay snug at the dock until they diminish. By then Claire will be in Halifax and Tristan in Fort McMurray.