For the past week we have experienced both the joy of relaxing with friends and the frustration of the unexpected.
THE GOOD
We caught up with American friends Jeff and Mary on "Echo" who we sheltered with while hurricane Sandy passed over our safe harbor in Virginia last year. We had a very pleasant evening on Eye Candy and we provided them with a concert as the Scottish piper (anchored directly behind us) heralded in the passing of another perfect day. Each evening he stands on his foredeck and plays a selection of Scottish tunes to the setting sun for about 15 minutes, good stuff.
 |
| The Piper on Strathspey |
We also had the pleasure of Will and Jenny's company from "Full Monty" for a drink one evening after dinner. Their children Colin and Justine stayed at home glued to their computers. Mum and Dad managed to get a break but were back on board "Full Monty" in time for lights out. I often think we are busy on Eye Candy, I don't know how Will and Jenny cope with a large catamaran to run plus home schooling the children. They seem to have endless energy and they are doing a great job.
 |
| Crews from Eye Candy, Full Monty, What if and Good Trade |
We also had a pot luck dinner on "Full Monty" along with two other boats "What If" and "Good Trade". All in all there were eight adults and four children. We all provided dinner and brought our own plates and glasses to lessen the workload for Will and Jenny. It is just lovely to have a suitable venue for such a terrific social evening. Full Monty is leaving tomorrow morning and we will miss them. Andrew has managed to enlist Jenny as Thursday's Net Controller on our daily radio net, so we will keep in touch with them and follow their progress down to the Panama.
View from the Monument at our anchorage
THE BAD
Our frustration for the week is accepting that we are not moving on shortly as planned. The pump on our water maker has dropped in its water making capacity. It can only deteriorate from here and ultimately fail. We decided not to run the risk of being out of water and so we have ordered a new pump to be flown from Florida via Fed Ex into the Bahamas. It is due tomorrow but anyone who understands Bahamian time will be having a bit of chuckle. Andrew has been tracking its progress online. On day one it was sent to the wrong location and needed to be redirected. Oh well all will be revealed tomorrow - keep your fingers crossed for us.
Cruiser kids having fun on the sand hills
So with the hope of departing when the pump arrives, Andrew checked our Navionics Electronic Chart for the Caribbean. As you have probably guessed, it came up with an error message and no charts. So now we will have to order another Electronic Chart and run the gauntlet again Fed-Exing into the Bahamas; talk about pushing our luck. Maybe one day we will actually get to leave with all systems operating.
AND THE UGLY
We are anchored about 1 mile across the bay opposite George Town. Most of the boats are anchored over this side of the bay as the social activities are held here on the beaches and the shelter is better from the persistent easterly breeze. However, if you want to go into George Town for shopping, crossing the bay is ugly. Due to strong wind and current, no matter how big or fast the dinghy is, you are going to get wet, or drowned may be a better description. You can spot the cruisers in town; they are ones with wet clothes and hair.
We have been here for a week and I have been into George Town twice. The second time we made the mistake of bringing back two 20 L drums of fuel which weighed the dingy down. By the time we got back to the boat not only were we soaking wet, we were bucketing water out of the dinghy. We have to laugh, what else can we do?
SO WHAT'S NEXT
Waiting, waiting and more waiting; we are on Bahamian time.
Love Candy xx
At 3:04 PM6/01/2013 (utc) our position was 23°31.46'N 075°45.86'W
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
