In the Bahamas, finally and it’s Plenty “OK” Mon.

It’s been a long journey trying to find our way to the Bahamas.  We spent a month in Florida, a good amount of that time waiting for a proper weather window to make the crossing.  But, Pandora is now safe and sound here at Great Harbor Key in the Berry Islands. This island was once famous for attracting well known guests from the Hollywood but now that building is in ruins.  It’s located just outside of the marina.  Bill and I walked by it yesterday.   Bill, flew down to Ft Lauderdale on short notice last week to make the run with me to the Bahamas.  We departed from the Middle River on Saturday to take advantage of a several days of light easterly winds.   Getting from FL to the Bahamas can be a “waiting game” unless you are what Chris Parker, the Weather router, calls “salty”.  Crossing to the Bahamas, against the easterly trades, the normal wind direction, for most folks means motoring into the light easterlies that usually follow the passage of a cold front.  This is about the only time that they winds settle down for a few days.   Alternatively, you can “ride a front”, This involves crossing as the winds begin to clock to the SW ahead of the front.   As the winds clock, they veer to the West, NW, North and ultimately back to east.  Properly times, you can sail all of the way.  This can be challenging, however, if the front ends up moving faster than expected and you can easily find yourself in the middle of the Gulf Stream with very rough conditions.  A northerly wind blowing against the GS kicks up short steep waves over 10′ and it can happen very quickly.  These conditions aren’t fun so most tend to head out when the wind is light and settled from the east.

With that in mind, we left as the wind was dropping and motored all the way here, around twenty hours.  The Gulf Stream was a “non-event” with swells of about 4′ but spaced quite far apart.   Crossing the banks, which are shallow, somewhere between 15; and 25′ deep, was a little choppy but Pandora did fine motoring into them.   As the sun set to the west we were treated to a spectacular sunset.  And, until the moon rose around midnight, the stars were amazing.  For some time now, I had been noticing that a small amount of salt water had been finding it’s way into the pan under the engine and after about 8 hours of motoring I was distressed to find that there was a few cups of water sloshing around in the pan.  Bill, who is very good with mechanical stuff, took a look and discovered that the tube on the vacuum break for the exhaust was dripping.  This isn’t a major problem, although it shouldn’t be happening.  Solution? He relocated the hose to drip into a part of the bilge that drains to the bilge pump.  Problem solved!

I had been trying to identify where that leak was coming from for weeks, with no luck. Great job Bill!   The elbow has a check valve that appears to have failed causing a slow drip.  Fortunately, it’s not a big deal but it has to be replaced in the spring.   This is quite good news as I was fearful that the problem was much worse.  The leak has probably been there for years given evidence of some rusty spots on the engine.

By the time we arrived at Great Harbor Cay yesterday it was early morning and we anchored outside of the cut that goes into the marina.  I hailed the marina and they had us come into the dock to clear customs.  The two officers that came out to do our paperwork couldn’t have been nicer.  All settled and legal now.  It’s good to be here at last. 

Great Harbor Cay Marina is very nice and after sitting at the dock for a few hours waiting for customs to arrive, I got to wondering if I should just sign up to stay for a few weeks after all.  Brenda and I had been planning to be here for ann extended visit and had booked a reservation months ago only to change it several times as weather delays kept us in Florida.

When Brenda had to fly out last week for a funeral of the son of her very oldest friend, we both felt that perhaps a stay at the marina wasn’t in the cards and I reluctantly canceled it.   However, after speaking with Brenda yesterday and hearing how exhausted she sounded, after such a difficult visit, I decided to try and re-book our stay.  The marina is completely full but happily, with a bit of shuffling, Kimberly, the dock master,  was able to accommodate us.

Brenda flies into Nassau on Wednesday and I have arranged for her to to Great Harbor Cay, a 15 minute flight.  The connection is very tight as she has to make here way through Customs and get her luggage in Nassau before heading to the “puddle jumper” flight.  I hope she makes it.  If not, she can stay in a hotel for a night and fly in the next morning.

As Bill and I were sitting in the cockpit last evening enjoying the comings and goings in the marina, a small runabout came by loaded, and I mean loaded, with lobsters and fish.   The fishermen moved their catch to the dock to clean and sell what they had and they had plenty.   Bill and I just had to have lobster for dinner.  I think that we picked the three on the left, you know, the second, third and fifth from the top center.  No wait, perhaps they were the 17th, 31st and 38th from the right?  Not certain.  Which ever they were…they were excellent. With all the changes I have had to make,  the staff here at the Great Harbor Cay Marina have been very understanding.  They happily do everything that they can to help out.   Last night they even called the “liquor store” for me to check and be sure that they had coconut rum before I rode a bike over there.   I put “liquor store” in quotes because it’s a relative term.  In reality, it’s a bar, grocery store, pool hall and liquor store all rolled up in one with the “liquor store” selling what they have stored under the bar itself.  I expect that the locals get a better price than I did.  However, I did get the rum.

I will see Brenda in a few days and I am excited.  Bill has been great company but I have missed Brenda and it’s been tough having her away.  I expect that she will need some time to decompress from her trying week but hopefully being in the sunny Bahamas and enjoying the friendly smiles of the locals will help her get into the “Island spirit”.  Perhaps an “adult beverage” will help too.  Yes, I expect that it will.

This is very friendly place indeed.  Perhaps this sign at the entrance to the airport says it best.   “Please Come Back Again. (OK?)”.  And yes, “OK” it is.   No, make that “Plenty OK Mon!”

Brenda… See you soon.  🙂