{"id":2958,"date":"2014-04-12T12:46:08","date_gmt":"2014-04-12T12:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=2958"},"modified":"2014-04-12T13:47:47","modified_gmt":"2014-04-12T13:47:47","slug":"better-weather-on-the-way-pandora-on-the-move-again-soon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=2958","title":{"rendered":"Better weather on the way. Pandora on the move again, soon."},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s Saturday morning and I just listened to Chris Parker, the weather router to hear what\u2019s in store for the weather for the next few days.\u00a0 Yes, there\u2019s yet another cold front coming but it doesn\u2019t look like it will penetrate far into the Bahamas.\u00a0 That\u2019s good as we would very much like to leave Georgetown and head up to Cat Island, about 50 miles NE from here. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While the wind angle is not particularly favorable for a run to Cat, it looks like we will have better conditions by Sunday or Monday to Make the run. \u00a0 Another consideration about going to Cat is to find out how long the winds will continue out of the east as we would like to stay\u00a0 there for a few days, at least.\u00a0 The winds have to have an easterly component the entire time we are there as there is NO protection from any sort of clocking winds, such as we have lived with much of the winter.<\/p>\n

Now that spring is here, it seems that we are seeing some more moderate conditions.\u00a0 Let\u2019s hope that it holds.\u00a0 That\u2019s not to say that all is easy on the east coast of the US as there will be gales off of Cape Hatteras later in the week.\u00a0 Fortunately, the conditions that are causing those strong winds won\u2019t be a big factor here in the Bahamas.\u00a0 Hopefully, when it\u2019s time for me to run Pandora back up to CT the weather will cooperate.\u00a0 Gales aren\u2019t much fun and getting home with a minimum of fuss would be nice.<\/p>\n

Last evening Brenda and I were invited over to Cat\u2019s Meow, the 80\u2019 catamaran that I mentioned in my last post.\u00a0 Don and LaVonne, were great hosts. \u00a0They also invited two couples from other boats in the harbor, one from Annapolis and the other from Belgium to join the festivities.<\/p>\n

It was a very pleasant evening and listening to heavily accented English spoken by the couple who\u2019s native tongue was French was very interesting.\u00a0 Brenda and I have been talking about visiting that part of Europe later this year but have been having difficulty finding how we will fit it into our plans.\u00a0 It would be great fun to visit there in the summer but we really don\u2019t want to be away from our land home during the time of year that the weather is so wonderful. \u00a0Alas, such are the trials\u2026<\/p>\n

While we were aboard Cat\u2019s Meow, I was offered the opportunity to take a look around the boat and what a boat she is.\u00a0\u00a0 To head up onto the bow is like stepping onto a basketball court.\u00a0 As the boat is 40\u2019 wide. \u00a0It\u2019s just massive.<\/p>\n

We had cocktails and dinner on the aft deck and the 8 of us were not cramped at all.\u00a0 I mentioned that they have a Wolf oven on board and to see such a massive stove on a boat is amazing.\u00a0 I had mentioned that it was 6 burners but it\u2019s actually 8 or perhaps 9.\u00a0\u00a0 Huge.<\/p>\n

Their master sleeping cabin is quite large, about the same size as our bedroom at home. Bigger actually.\u00a0 And, they have multiple cabins, several with queen size beds, in the two hulls.\u00a0\u00a0 And, all are beautifully decorated with wall hangings.<\/p>\n

I can only imagine how much machinery is tucked away behind panels and under the decks to run a yacht of this complexity.\u00a0\u00a0 Oh yeah, the mast is so high, at more than 100\u2019, that they are required to put a red 360 light at the top of the mast to warn away low flying planes from bumping into them.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a really big boat, no, make that a really big yacht.\u00a0 I have heard that the definition of a \u201cyacht\u201d is any boat that is bigger than yours.\u00a0 Well, I expect that most, would say that Cat\u2019s Meow is a yacht, for sure.\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s BIG and there\u2019s just so much room and then some more.<\/p>\n

When it came time to help clear dinner, I had to ask if the dirty glasses were to go in the galley or in the butler\u2019s pantry.\u00a0 So much choice\u2026\u00a0 Cat\u2019s Meow is clearly the largest yacht, and it is clearly a yacht, here in the harbor. \u00a0 It\u2019s amazing to think of handing such a large \u201cship\u201d with just two adults.\u00a0 I asked Don about that and his answer was that they just have to be very careful.\u00a0 No kidding.<\/p>\n

It was a lovely evening and with such an eclectic group of guests, very entertaining.\u00a0 \u00a0And, once again, it was fun to have old friends, yet again, enter our lives. \u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s these chance encounters that are such a wonderful part of the cruising lifestyle.<\/p>\n

We are looking forward to what I expect will be a good run over to Cat Island. \u00a0It will be nice to do a bit of sailing again.\u00a0 Perhaps we\u2019ll do some fishing along the way.\u00a0 It would be nice to catch something for dinner.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll likely head the 50 miles to Cat tomorrow.\u00a0 There\u2019s a very nice resort, Fernandez Bay Resort<\/a>, where we hope to have dinner. \u00a0In case you’re in the mood to have your own island retreat, the resort is currently for sale for $4,900,000. What do you think? \u00a0Good deal? \u00a0You can always rent a room for about $400 per night. \u00a0It would take a LOT of nights at that rate to total up to the purchase price. Hmm…<\/p>\n

Last winter we anchored off of the resort and enjoyed a lovely lunch with our friends on Ariel.\u00a0\u00a0 Nice place. \u00a0There’s Pandora on the right. \u00a0 Great view.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019ll also likely visit the Hermitage again, the retirement home of Father Gerome. \u00a0When we last visited, \u00a0we hiked up the path to where his home was located, the highest point in all of the Bahamas.\u00a0\u00a0 My post last year spoke at some length about the history of Father Gerome and his home. \u00a0His\u00a0story is quite entertaining.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span>Well, it\u2019s still early and I am hopeful that we\u2019ll be able to go for a walk on the ocean beach later today.\u00a0 \u00a0Perhaps with all the wind of the last few days there will be some good shells to pick up.<\/span><\/p>\n

Oh yeah, yesterday I had a healthy dose of \u201cboat repair in exotic places\u201d when I spent several hours tracking down the cause of an electrical problem that affected one of the pumps on our watermaker and a seemingly unrelated battery monitor. \u00a0I won\u2019t bore you with the details except to say that even once I fixed it, I still had no idea how the problem happened at all.\u00a0 Alas, fixed\u2026<\/p>\n

I also took my bent anchor in to town, a 20 minute run, each way, across a very bumpy harbor, to a machine shop to see about having it \u201cunbent\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0 After talking to the shop owner I decided to \u201cdonate\u201d it for scrap.\u00a0 Recall that I bent the stock a while back in Staniel Cay.\u00a0\u00a0 Nice shot of me \u201cpost recovery\u201d earlier in the season. \u00a0\u00a0<\/em>If you missed that gory details of that debachle, check it out here.<\/a>\"\"<\/a>Anyway, I had a line on a recently re-galvanized CQR anchor that someone on another boat in the harbor wanted to sell so I bought it. \u00a0 It took some doing to take off the Fortress anchor that I have been using and replace it with the \u201cnew\u201d anchor but I got it done.\u00a0 I won\u2019t bore you with the details but my back is a bit sore today.<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, as usual, an eclectic mix of ramblings.\u00a0 Perhaps it\u2019s time to break for coffee.\u00a0 Enjoy your day.<\/p>\n

Ok, ok, one more photo, taken from on top of my radar arch, a precarios perch.\u00a0 Now that\u2019s clear water.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And, that\u2019s why the Bahamas are a great place to visit, fronts or not\u2026\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s Saturday morning and I just listened to Chris Parker, the weather router to hear what\u2019s in store for the weather for the next few days.\u00a0 Yes, there\u2019s yet another cold front coming but it doesn\u2019t look like it will penetrate far into the Bahamas.\u00a0 That\u2019s good as we would very much like to leave […]<\/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-2958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2958","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=2958"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2958\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2971,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2958\/revisions\/2971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}