All dressed up and no place to go

Wow it has been a fast week.  I can't believe its been 6 days since last post.

The week has been spent swimming at the beach, a golf cart outing, visits into the settlement of New Plymouth, and swimming in the pool here.  We have kept pretty busy.   We had a great cruisers get together last night for all the sailboats here.

This has been a windy week and glad to be in a marina.  The marina really filled up on Wednesday/ Thursday for the forecast big winds on Thursday and Friday.  The anchorage was packed.  The winds really piped up on Thursday and at least 4 boats in the anchorage dragged.  More did over night but no count available.  It was ugly but we were safely tucked in.  I don't trust this anchorage after my "never fail" Rocna dragged the other day here.

Watching the weather window this week my brain has been squirming  like a toad!  First we had no window then we had a great window beginning today through Wednesday. Great,  we started prepping for that.  Then that window began shrinking from 4 to 3 and now maybe 2 days.  This window had Sunday into Monday with 2 - 3 foot seas in the gulf stream and occasional 5 or 6 foot.  Then it was just 2 -3 as of this morning.  To use this window we would have to nonstop from here to Lake Worth in 26 hours and we would be crossing the gulf stream in the dark.  If the 2 -3 foot was wrong then it would be rough.  There wouldn't be any smaller seas.

So what do we do?  The rest of the week is all 10 - 20 knots with a few days at 15 - 25 and higher gusts.  We could go to Manjack Cay and anchor for this forecast NE wind but it would be uncomfortable and worrisome.  We could have gone today to Great Sale Cay and on to West End tomorrow but then we would stay there for at least a week.

I decided it is just better to stay put and be comfortable and worry free.  Hell a week here is only as much as a third of a weeks cost in a nursing home.  Why not spend it here.

Today the marina cleared out and we are the only sailboat here.  There are 3 megayachts here but they don't count.  Today is a very light day with winds beginning to build tomorrow afternoon and then strong winds Monday through Friday.  I went to the office to see if we could stay till next Saturday and they said they had a lot of reservations but they could still fit us in.  Seems unusal with all the empty slips but that is the nature of reservations.  Ugly weather coming this week and other cruisers know it.

The boats that left are split in their decisions.  Some will try this window to cross to the USA Sunday

and the others will go to Manjack and weather the blow there.  I suspect many of those will be back in here before Tuesday.

In the mean time we are the welcoming commitee here.

A plumber Mowing the grass

When you go cruising you have to have multiple skills.  Our kitchen faucet has been leaking at the stem.  I brought a repair kit for it while back home and that is probably the item that triggered a hand inspection of my carry on while in the security line at the airport.

The fix went smoothly and no leak now.

I wanted to finish cleaning the boat bottom now that I had my scuba tank refilled.  The water here at the marina is not too bad.  The task went well although I did find more barnacles then expected and the growth on the keel was long filaments much like grass.  Fortunately they brushed off easily.

I used 3/4 tank with air to spare.  Once done the hard work begins.  Flushing all the dive gear with fresh water and drying everything.

After relaxing a bit I walked up to the heavily chlorinated pool and went for a refreshing cleansing swim.  I feel really clean now although they probably need to add more chlorine in the pool.

It' s a beautiful calm evening tonight. -- perfect for relaxing after a grueling day in the water.