Living is easy -- at the DOCK!

It's a better day. The forecast high winds never materialized overnight. It was windier in the afternoon. Ohh well at least everyone slept well last night. This morning the wind piped up around 9am and started to blow pretty stiff. In the next 2 hours 3 boats began to drag anchor and had to reset. One little motor boat that was tied to a dock was swamped by waves - tied stern to the wind/waves.

On the radio we heard one sailboat had "broke" his mast - as reported by a large motor yacht in the Whale Cay Passage - but waved off assistance.

We had a nice easy morning. I played radio and propagation once again was terrible. I checked in no where today. Later we did 3 loads of laundry and while Karen was supervising that I worked on the dinghy motor. I had found a crack in the old fuel line and replaced with a new spare. Made no difference. I then removed the carburetor and drained all fuel thinking possibly water trapped and found none. I checked some passages and all looked clean. Reassembled and made no difference. I then checked the sparks plugs again and made no difference. It is useable but runs fairly slow. Will have to wait till in Florida before troubleshooting further. Suspect the ignition control module or spark coil.

We had lunch at the restaurant - have to eat our dockage!! We are a little behind but will have dinner tonight. No drinks though - the expense is a killer. Yesterday we had one Tipsy Turtle and a Margarita and it was $17.25 for the pair. We will be drinking water tonight.

After lunch and a little nap I tackled the main engine primary fuel filter. I want to change it before crossing the Gulf Stream. The removal went well and it had debris in it but the suction had only risen to 8lbs. With the new filter the suction starts at 2 lbs so it was not bad. Generally you replace when the suction reaches 15 lbs.

I ran the engine for 20 minutes to be sure no air had got into the system, which would have required bleeding the system. This main engine has a mechanical pump that will self bleed the input line but if air gets past it then the system must be bled or she no runny.

I filled the filter assembly before installing it thus eliminating a long start up on the pump. I got lucky - no air and we should be good to go..

It's blowing hard this afternoon but the anchored boats and ours on the T-dock are behaving. Dinner tonight at the restaurant and then cards on Born to Cruise later on.. Ohhh yes and let's not forget -- real high pressure high water volume showers.. If you never lived on a boat you don't understand this simple pleasure that dirt dwellers take for granted.

This is going to be tough to leave!!

Near Disaster!!

Whooooa that was a close one today. You just never know when an innocent task could turn very bad!!

We have some very strong winds coming in tonight and through the weekend so we decided we wanted a safe harbour. Thus we left for White Sound GTC this morning to either anchor or get a slip. The Sea of Abaco was in a snit with 3 foot wind chop. All the cuts to the ocean were suggested to be unusable. It was rough out there today. Fortunately we had to cover only 4 miles on the Sea of Abaco.

We entered White Sound on the high tide and it was fine except for meeting an outgoing large power vessel that was intent on keeping the center of the narrow channel and not sharing. What a BOZO. Well with the high tide I could hug one edge with no problem. The anchorage looked manageable but I was thinking with the dinghy motor on the fritz, lots of laundry, and a need to get some provisions, water and fuel before leaving for Florida we should go to the marina. That and the holding is not ideal in White Sound, it was crowded, and lots of wind 20 -25 SW - S - WNW predicted to begin tonight through Saturday and early Sunday - let's go to a Marina..

Well I called the Green Turtle Club and they had a spot on a T-dock for me - usually an easy access. Well there was a large mega yacht already there but room in front of it. The wind had died down to 10 or less so I just went right for it with the wind to my back which is not really bad but preferably you want it on the nose. Well we eased in and Karen threw a bow line to the dock master, I stopped the boat and left the cockpit to throw a stern line. The dock master says I'm still moving foreword - because of wing and he is leading the bow line forward like leading a horse.; He should have taken the line aft to stop and hold me. I jump back and reverse hard. The stern kicks away from the dock so I throw a midship line onto the dock. He is still fussing with the bow line, I say "you better grab that line before it pulls off the dock. He saunters to it grabs it and tries to pull me back but a big gust (20 kts reported by the boat waiting to come in behind me) catches me and is putting me perpendicular to the dock. I now about ready to wrap around the bow of the mega yacht. I yell to cast the line off and for Karen to cast off the bow line. I need to leave and in a HURRY!!. We are just inches from the bow of the mega yacht when my prop finally digs in and pulls me away - perpendicular - from the dock. Whew that was too close!! Even the dock master had big eyes!!

I turn around a lightly run aground just off the dock. I power away stirring up mud then come from behind the mega yacht and into the wind and work the boat into the dock where the dock master and friendly boaters catch our lines and problem solved.

Two things went terribly wrong and both were the dock master fault. First he should have taken that bow line and lead it aft to a cleat/piling and fasten it. That would have stopped my forward motion and allow me to power the stern into the dock. With that not done right he could have taken the midship line and fasten it rather than hold it and that would have stopped me from going forward and moving further from the dock. Grrrrr just total lack of experience and really knowing NOTHING about docking. NO TIP WAS PRESENTED.

Once in and relaxed we rented a golf cart with Born to Cruise and went to town for groceries and stuff. It was just too rough for a long dinghy ride and min e is not working very well. It was only $35 for a half day on a golf cart and we split it. Then after depositing the groceries we rode around a bit and visited different beach overlooks to watch the spectacular large waves coming in from the ocean and the real wind has not even arrived yet!!

Boy the showers here at Green Turtle Club are really nice and it felt GREAT. It has been a month since I took a real shower. Boy I smell good now..

Tomorrow will be dinghy motor work and changing diesel fuel filters in anticipation of a gulf stream crossing mid week next week. We will stay here till Sunday or Monday.

I'm going to sleep well to night tied to the dock!!

Ohh it is a bit expensive but they have a special on till the end of the month were I can subtract whatever I owe from the dockage from anything we spend in the restaurant or bar -- We will be eating out but not much. Food and drinks are quite expensive here. For example a Tipsy Turtle and a Margarita was $17.25 tonight -- that's just one of each!! Maybe we can afford lunch tomorrow.

Sea Glass Bonanza!!

Sea Glass Galore!!! We hit the "mother lode" today.

The day started a little bouncy. The wind laid down a bit but there was a surge in the anchorage that became irritating. Later in the morning Born to Cruise suggested moving near Rat Cay - just about ¼ mile to the East and try that. It was a good idea. Not only would it relieve the surge but we could test the fix to the prop shaft coupler.

I tested the prop shaft before pulling the anchor. Then we tested reverse and moved the boat. Anchor dropped easily and we backed it down smartly. A quick check of shaft and fasteners showed all in order.

During the morning we monitored the progress of several boats trying to get around the Whale today and up here to Manjack and GTC to stage for a crossing early next week. It was interesting hearing everyone's comments and none found it too difficult but certainly a handful.

Celtic Cross and Sweet Chariot joined us here at Manjack. Sand Castle went into White Sound.

After lunch we took dinghies to the beach - a "sweet spot" Jill and Wayne knew about. Ohhh it was sweet. The amount of Sea Glass was huge. Very nice large thick pieces and lots of colors. Ohhh we could not pull Jill and Karen away. Sharon from Celtic Cross and Laura from Sweet Chariot joined us. There was glass for everyone..

It was a difficult wet ride over in the dinghies but worth it. Or so I thought!!

The dinghy performed great going over but on the way back it would not come up to full power. It would go but rather slowly and it took awhile to get back. The cover is off and it is cooling right now. I suspect either clogged spark plugs or water in the carburetor. I'll check in a bit.

Tonight should be great fun. We are having dinner again with Born to Cruise but on their boat and then later the crews from Celtic Cross - Ian and Sharon and also the crew from Sweet Chariot will join us for some Mexican Train Dominoes.. Should be a great night - just need to get the dinghy going better first. Always something it seems.

Ahhhh Success -- Engine Drive train repaired!!

Whoa -- the wind has really piped up today. Actually it blew strong all night and I was a bit anxious and all seeing how I had no reverse gear in my boat in case we needed to do an emergency re-anchor.

Well it worked out just fine. Just like 99.995% of the time where these fears are really just that -- fears.

We had an enjoyable night playing dominoes over at Born to Cruise with Jill and Wayne and the crew from Whisper -- Pattie and Ray. Very enjoyable evening.

Today I did little this morning. With the wind blowing 20+ on my little Delta Anchor - which has never failed yet - I was uncomfortable working on the shaft coupler incase we needed to more abruptly. After lunch with no abatement in the wind and everything holding fine I went ahead and disassembled the coupler to see if possibly I could "finesse" it back into position rather than using my perceived brute force method of just driving the boat HARD until it reseated. I had little hope since last summer I had to drive the shaft into the coupler from the outside using a 3lb Ball Peen hammer.

Well I disassembled it and cleaned the shaft and hub with solvent. Then using a fine sand paper I polished the shaft and inside hub. I found a slight burr on the edge of the prop shaft so I removed it with light filing. Then I greased all surfaces using that white lithium grease with Teflon and tried to reassemble. It would only go on about ½ inch by hand. Then I found that if I took a 16" wonder bar and lightly tapped the face of the hub it slowly moved on the shaft. Surprisingly using only light taps I was able to get it all the way into position for the setscrews - ALL RIGHT!!

To avoid this problem in the future I got Wayne to come and advise me in how to safety wire the setscrews. Ohh I had done that wrong originally.. He showed me how to do it and with the help of some loctite on the threads this problem should not recur. I hope so.

After a celebratory beer or two it was back to reading for the afternoon. It is just too windy to leave the boat this afternoon. Fortunately moderation of wind is predicted for tonight and it will be downright nice tomorrow. Unfortunately listening to the VHF there is a whole pass ale of boats waiting to cross the Whale and come up here and GTC to wait for the next weather window to head back to the US.

There is a small window today through Friday but it is not ideal with a 7 foot swell and 3 foot wind chop so we will wait a little longer. That and I want to test my fix to the prop shaft a bit first before heading out across the Atlantic.

Even though it is windy - we plan another night of games with the crew of Born to Cruise, and Celtic Cross hopes to be here tomorrow night for even more games.. Yahoo -- I fell better now that my prop shaft coupling has been repaired!!

Mark of the Beast 6 6 6

Sailors as a lot are a superstitious bunch. I try not to but I'm doubly affected because of my Italian heritage. Now Italians are superstitious - big TIME.

This morning started innocently enough until I took my readings from my weather station for reporting on the Basra Weather net at 7am. The outside temperature was 66.6 degrees Fahrenheit or as the superstitious think "mark of the BEAST". I didn't think much of it at the time but as this day unfolded - maybe there was something there..

We left White Sound this morning at 7:15am to get away on the high tide and that went well. I tried dragging the dinghy using 2 lines and that worked pretty good but I wouldn't do it for more than a couple of miles. Manjack is only 4 miles away so why not.

We arrived in the anchorage around 8:30am and it was looking good. Nice spot near Born to Cruise. We dropped the hook - the CQR - backed down and damn - just drug back and would not set. Ohh well - pulled the hook up and dropped the Delta. It was biting easily and we backed it down but the line never went taunt. Karen said "Ahhh we have a problem here". She had reversed but no load on the prop. A quick look at the prop shaft showed the engine turning but the prop shaft Not Damn - it had backed out of the coupler and thus no longer connected to the engine but fortunately it stopped just shy of the coupler and had not pulled out all the way - whew!!!

We had a good breeze which seemed to set the anchor. I jumped in the dinghy and pulled with it against the boat and all seemed right. Ohhh well it happens.

Gosh it was only 9am so we just settled in. I opened the engine compartment to cool it and we visited with Born to Cruise. They said they found the mother lode of sea glass yesterday. Karen was excited so she left later with Jill and Wayne to hunt sea glass. I stayed to work on the engine.

The real gothcha once I removed the coupling hub was the shaft key was missing. Ohhh that is bad since there is no way to lock the coupler to the shaft. Aaaack!!.. I looked around thinking it was thrown when the shaft pulled out. I finally reached under the engine and just felt with my fingers since I couldn't see anything and - oh boy - I found it!!

I then tried to put the hub back on the shaft. It would start about ½ inch then stop. When I had it off before I had to beat it on with a 3lb Ball Peen from the outside - that option was not available today. I tried to work it on but it just would not go.

I had a little light lunch then put the wet suit on and headed for the water. Damn - I could wedge myself between the rudder and the prop but still no movement. Unfortunately no one available to help since they all went sea glass hunting.

Ohh well a couple of beers and my new Barefoot Man CD and the issue was not so bad anymore. Heck - the shaft is started and will turn from the engine so even though it is not locked I still can go forward but no reverse - that will work in an emergency.

Since the prop pulled out while in reverse maybe I can drive it back in by going forward. Hell it's worth a try and I'll try it when the glass hunters return. Gosh hunting must be great because it is 4:30pmn and nobody back yet!!

Ohh the other issue was when I sent the position report this morning and tried to shut the PC down it would not turn off. I had to force it down via the 6 second power switch.

I sure hope bad things are not happening in 3s today. I'm one short right now.

Shellin' on Gilliam Bay --- GTC

Another fine day in Green Turtle Cay (GTC). The weather forecast has stiff winds of 20+ coming most of the week. We decided to stay another day at GTC. We could have left but I had to make the decision by 8am because of the tide and I was not comfortable leaving just yet. Later in the day I was but then I would need to wait until 5pm before leaving tonight --- so we should leave tomorrow unless there is a drastic change in the forecast.

Several boats did leave this morning with plans to cross on Wednesday back to the US but with a 7 foot northerly swell and 15 kt SE winds (opposing) – we will stay put a bit longer.

This morning I topped off the dinghy fuel tank – we burn a lot here at GTC with that long ride to town and we did some grocery and souvenir shopping this morning. I had it in the back of my mind to do laundry but since it seems we will need to be back here by Saturday for a cold front – we will do it later.

Low tide didn’t come till 1pm today so we went over to Black Sound by dinghy and docked at the pseudo public dock and walked down to Gilliam Bay to hunt shells. It was beautiful but quite windy. We had a very long but enjoyable walk and found a few shells. Mostly we found Frenchies!! You can spot them a mile away – 50 something and they wear very compact Speedos for men and European cut bikinis for women. Karen would not look.

We walked the beach for a couple of hours and got plumb wore out. Back on the boat by 4pm and time to veg out till I cook some burgers on the grill tonight. Time to get back to simple fare.

We did go to the Green Turtle Club restaurant for dinner last night and it was great. But my simple tastes do not allow me to comfortably digest these fancy sauces they use so I had an uncomfortable night sleeping – that and the wind blew pretty hard again last night.

Tonight the wind should be milder but still fresh – near 20kts. Great for the wind generator but bothersome to those who have to listen to all the creaks in the boat.

Born to Cruise left this morning for Manjack Cay and we expect to join them tomorrow morning for a few days before darting back into here.

Blowing in the Wind

Windy, Windy, Windy -- boy the night really piped up. It was not too bad but it was difficult to sleep because of all the noises coming from the enclosure last night. It was definitely blowing mid 20s around midnight and for a couple of hours but then settled down to just a nice breeze by morning. Surprisingly the morning was not as forecast at all. Shouyld have been blowinbg hard but was not.

We took a nice walk on the Bluff House Beach and the Sea of Abaco was just flat - no white caps. Surprising. We took some pictures of Jill and Wayne around the Bluff House with the Sea of Abaco as a back drop then over to the Green Turtle Club to see what was on the menu for dinner tonight. We just feel like splurging tonight.

The weather forecast has the winds moderating but still strong most of the week. With a direction of NE - E it will be okay to island hop so we will most likely leave early in the morning tomorrow. High tide is 6:45am so I need to be through the entrance by 7:30am. Plan is to anchor off the Settlement here and do a minor provisioning run then head up to Manjack Cay for a day or so, then Powel Cay for another day or so. Depending on the weather we will either head to the USA after that or come
back to GTC and await another weather window. Chris is saying don't go till the weekend.

This afternoon I jerry jugged 40 gallons of water and 12 gallons of diesel to top everything off. Then a little shopping at the Green Turtle Club gift shop (Karen's idea) then back on the boat for showers and get ready for dinner out tonight. Ohhh they have a dress code here and shorts are fine but need a colored shirt. I believe I have one but it is wrinkled!! Maybe most will come out by dinner time.