{"id":2770,"date":"2014-02-22T21:08:17","date_gmt":"2014-02-22T21:08:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=2770"},"modified":"2014-02-26T01:25:13","modified_gmt":"2014-02-26T01:25:13","slug":"yikes-pandoras-head-gecko","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=2770","title":{"rendered":"Yikes! Pandora\u2019s \u201chead\u201d gecko?"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s Friday morning and we are anchored off of a lovely little cay, Hawksbill Cay in the Exumas.\u00a0\u00a0 The wind has been howling all night long and it looks like the best plan for today will be to stay put for another day.<\/span><\/p>\n

This morning when I went into the aft head I was greeted by a very alarmed gecko, a small lizard about 3-4\u201d long.\u00a0\u00a0 As I picked up something from behind the water spigot this little guy jumped and ran for cover.\u00a0 He ran up the wall of the shower trying to find somewhere to hide.\u00a0 \u00a0\"\"<\/a>Unlike most lizards, geckos have little suction cups on their feet that allow them to crawl up slick vertical surfaces.<\/p>\n

So, exactly where would a gecko find his\/her way aboard Pandora?\u00a0 I doubt that geckos swim and we haven\u2019t been anywhere near land since leaving Nassau.\u00a0 But wait, we were tied up to a dock for nearly a week in Nassau so he might have come aboard there. \u00a0Perhaps he came aboard in Ft Pierce where Pandora was tied up for several months.\u00a0 One way or the other, he must have run along the dock and then did a tightrope walk along one of the dock lines to his new home aboard Pandora.<\/p>\n

Well, as \u201cstowaway\u201d critters go, I can\u2019t think of one that is more appealing to have aboard.\u00a0 On the \u201cless appealing\u201d side, it could have been a spider (we\u2019ve had those before), or a rat (now that would send Brenda screaming), or perhaps a roach or other nasty little bug.<\/p>\n

To date on this trip, the only wildlife we have only seen on the good ship Pandora has been a few fruit flies hovering above a bruised tomato in the galley.\u00a0\u00a0 So, now the question is \u201cwhat to do with our newest guest, Gecko?\u201d.<\/p>\n

As one would expect of a \u201cgirl\u201d, Brenda has a strong opinion on the subject.\u00a0 It went something like this\u2026\u201d I WANT TO TAKE A SHOWER AND I AM NOT TAKING IT WITH A LIZARD!\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0 Well, I guess that about sums it up.\u00a0 GECKO GOES!<\/p>\n

Me, I\u2019d love to have him become a permanent member of the crew.\u00a0 Besides, he\u2019d surely put a dent in the fruit fly population and so much easier than patrolling the fruit basket for signs of spoiled produce.\u00a0 However, it would be a shame if we were to squish the little guy by accident.\u00a0 Sitting on a gecko wouldn\u2019t \u201csit\u201d well with Brenda, that\u2019s for certain.\u00a0 Besides, Gecko is very little and we are so BIG.<\/p>\n

Ok, so now that I have thought it through carefully and Brenda has hinted at her position on the whole thing I guess our friend gecko headed for shore.\u00a0 Christopher and I found a spot, a sort of semi-damp microclimate in the middle of the island and let him go.<\/p>\n

I do so hope that he is able to find other likeminded critters to be friends with.\u00a0\u00a0 Having said that, perhaps I will be arrested for importing invasive species into the Bahamas.\u00a0 I sure hope that I didn\u2019t upset the ecosystem too badly.\u00a0 My guess is that Gecko won\u2019t survive too long as it\u2019s a lot dryer here than where he came from, wherever that might have been.<\/p>\n

However, I did have to \u201cliberate\u201d Gecko as Brenda had made her position pretty clear and, as far as pets on board, I had a pet aboard when we cleared customs in Chubb Cay.\u00a0 Who knows, he may actually be a legal resident of the Bahamas.<\/p>\n

In any event, he\u2019s \u201cfree\u201d now.\u00a0 Hope it goes well.<\/p>\n

A highlight of our visit to Hawksbill was a visit by a seaplane that landed just along side Pandora. \u00a0I went to the \u00a0beach to talk to the pilot who was waiting for his passengers that were delivered from a nearby island by boat. \u00a0It was a pretty neat plane. \u00a0I wish I could have gotten a ride. \u00a0The pilot was nice but not that nice.\"\"<\/a>It\u2019s now Saturday morning and we are headed, under power as the wind is right on our nose, over to Wardwick Wells, in the Exuma Park.\u00a0 This is a little jewel of a harbor in the center of the park and the park\u2019s headquarters.\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s a great spot and was where Brenda and I spent Easter last year, as guests of the ranger and his girlfriend. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As an aside, if you follow this blog, that I was having some problems with vibration in the propeller shaft.\u00a0 After much back and forth with the yard in Deep River, CT, and a number of trips in and out of the water, we were unable to pinpoint the source of the problem.\u00a0 I even had my Maxprop reconditioned by the factory.\u00a0\u00a0 Some weeks ago I was speaking with my friend Chris and he wondered if perhaps it had something to do with my shaft zincs.\u00a0 These are sacrificial metal anodes that are designed to dissolve and attract any stray electrical current so that the propeller and shaft are not damaged.\u00a0 Anyway, having exhausted every possible solution to the problem, I took a look at the zincs.\u00a0 They were attached to the prop as normal but I decided to loosen them and move them closer to the propeller and shaft strut.\u00a0\u00a0 I also opposed the seams on the zincs so that any inconsistency in the weight distribution would be canceled out by the other.\u00a0 I also replaced the zinc on the prop itself that had corroded away.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So, what happened?\u00a0 Amazingly, the vibration is gone.\u00a0 After investments of well over $1,000, now much I don\u2019t want to be too specific about, the problem was solved by repositioning the zincs.\u00a0 Thank you, Chris.\u00a0 Nice idea and it worked.\u00a0 It\u2019s not the first time that Chris has offered up a solution to a vexing problem.<\/p>\n

Frankly, I do wonder why the yard didn\u2019t mention this as a possible solution.\u00a0 It seems so logical now.\u00a0 With a few pieces of metal bolted to the prop shaft the idea of repositioning them is just so simple.\u00a0 Oh well, live and learn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s Friday morning and we are anchored off of a lovely little cay, Hawksbill Cay in the Exumas.\u00a0\u00a0 The wind has been howling all night long and it looks like the best plan for today will be to stay put for another day. This morning when I went into the aft head I was greeted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","_s2mail":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2770"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2770\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2774,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2770\/revisions\/2774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}