No room at the Inn and "Why is my boat so slow?"

Yesterday we tried to get back into HopeTown but no joy -- all moorings full. Karen wanted to play another game of Jack's Bingo. We anchored off instead just out of the harbour. The wind direction was fine and the Island protected us BUT the boat wakes were large and incessant. I had no idea so many boats went into and out of HopeTown.. It was rough on the hook.

Apparently scores of boats are making the migration from the Exumas to parts north. The radio is full of folks planning to cross back to the USA. It has been a tough winter here in the Bahamas and a lot of folks want to get back to civilization. I think they feel it is "owed to them" now because they are so RUDE. In HopeTown there are 54 moorings. All but about 12 are rented for the season by folks that just like it there. Unfortunately when they leave they put a reserve marker on their mooring and leave for a few days. Folks come in and can't pick those up and they are upset. What can you do? MAkes for a lot of hot tempered folks.

We went to Marsh Harbour to escape the boat wakes at Hopetown and to be ready to extend our 90 day immigration limit this Thursday here in Marsh Harbour. At 2pm today there were 54 boats on anchor here and more have arrived. It is crowded but at least minimum boat wakes. We didn't go to the dinghy dock today but I expect it is pandemonium there right now -- room for only about 12 dinghies at a time.

This morning -- early like before 9am -- I dove on the boat to scrub the bottom. WOW I couldn't believe all the growth on it. I'll try and post a picture later of the bottom condition. The stuff comes off with light brushing but there is a lot of bottom surface and I'm doing this while scuba diving. Very difficult. I got it about 980% cleaned when my tank ran out of air. I'm a heavy breather here and was at it for just over an hour. It looks pretty good and definitely ran better -- faster -- on the way to Marsh Harbour today.

Tomorrow is a large chore day with a BIG Laundry load -- probably 4 machines worth -- and some light grocery shopping. Got to get the air tank filled too. We will grab a taxi with all the laundry and go to a commercial Laundromat here in Marsh Harbour. The machines are bigger and faster than what you find at a marina, slightly cheaper but offset by the round trip $12 taxi ride.

Ohh it's warm here now. Hitting 80 degrees in the day and lows of only 75 at night. I might have to turn a fan on soon.

The Good Life in Treasure Cay

We finally cut the cord (released the mooring) in Hopetown yesterday and had a very nice sail to Treasure Cay. Even though the wind was from the wrong direction and velocity as forecast by both Chris and Weather Underground -- we had a nice ride. There were about 20 boats here but we found a spot near the main channel to anchor in. We are closest to the marina and expect a good WiFi signal from there.

Spent the afternoon wandering the village and going to the grocery store (foraging for food). Fixed burgers on the grill and had a nice evening although very warm. Not a breath of air was moving all night. The boat temp was between 79 and 76 degrees.

This morning we had a light rain as a cold front passed and then the wind picked up to the teens. It has been cloudy and windy all day. We went to the village this morning for the annual book fair at the Library and found that there was a full blown farmers market going on too. Pandemonium but lots of fun.

The book fair was great. This Library serves a very wealthy community and they have lots of great books and mostly hard backs. We bought about 15 books. One was a gilded hardback of all of Edgar Allen Poe's works. I've read most years ago but the book was just beautiful -- not one for the cruisers book exchange later.

At the MArket I found Kirk the Conch Man -- His banner says the "Da best Conch Man". He made up a big batch right in front of us. I got to watch his assistant pull the fresh conchs from the shells and clean them -- there was more to that than I thought.

They were going to serve barbecued chicken later. We decided to come back later and buy some for dinner -- well that didn't work out. We were back at 12:15pm and the chicken barbecue was sold out!! Got to remember in the Bahamas if you see something you want buy it now because later it will most likely be gone.

We bought some fresh chicken at the grocery and some of Sweet Baby Rays sauce to fix on the boat tonight but it is now too windy for the grill -- hopefully tomorrow.

It's quite blustery here today and forecast for tonight but the holding is good and the fetch is short so a good place to weather a blow -- and dream of barbecue chicken.

The Dragon Returns

We are back in Hopetown. Had a great time at Mangoes in Marsh Harbour, made a couple of Conch Horns while there and finally learned how to blow one. I gave the extra shell to Vickie on Victoria Gaye. We both had a great time blowing horns with the rest of the cruisers on the dock there in the evenings.

The weather has really improved. Still plenty of wind which makes the outside anchorages bouncy but nice and calm here in Hopetown. When we arrived Monday there was only a double blue float mooring available. We took it and waited for someone to collect -- didn't know who had the blue ones. Well today the Hopetown Inn and Marina shuttle (pontoon boat) stops by and I'm wondering why he is so close -- well the mooring belongs to the marina and he was here to collect. Mystery solved.

Yesterday was a great kite flying day so I took the 30 foot Dragon out and the Tristar and went to the beach. This time I kept the kites from sailing over the sand dunes and they were both quite behaved. The Dragon looked great up against the clear Blue sky yesterday. Today I'll take the rotating kite over there.

Tomorrow we expect to take the big boat to Tahiti Beach and anchor off. Got to fly kites there and tomorrow night we should be able to take the dinghy over to Lubbers Quarter and Cracker P's for the full moon party. Never been to one before so looking forward to that.

Should be a great day at Tahiti beach with low tide at 2:21pm tomorrow and maybe we can find some sand dollars.

Mangoes Marina -- the Cat's Meow!

Wow -- we haven't been into a marina since December 26 so it was with great pleasure that we tied up in Mangoes Marina in Marsh Harbour the other day. Gosh they all run together now but I think it was Tuesday this week.

Mangoes is the least expensive marina here at 90 cents a foot till the end of February and is just full of nice cruisers and Ray the manager who is the best -- friendly and accommodating.

Ohh man no worries about a dragging an anchor or a poor mooring line. Just tied up with 5 lines to pilings. On the flip side there are all kinds of shopping and restaurants available. Well we did them all. The first day was like a vacation and we did nothing,then we worked hard and cleaned the boat from stem to stern the next day, then it was provisioning time, then we went to Snappas Bar and Grill for lunch and a GREAT Cheeseburger....

Then back to reality today -- it is the Bahamas. We did laundry. Well first off you can't start early enough because some one always starts earlier than you do. We ended up waiting till noon for a washer to become available -- they have 2 washers and dryers here at Mangoes. we started the wash and it ran fine then Karen started the drying. Around 2:30pm she awakes me from a nap to says that the dryers are not drying -- no heat. I investigate and sure enough no heat. I inspect the dryers and they are gas. I tell Ray the marina manager and he checks and sure enough they have run out of propane -- no more till Monday at the earliest.

Well there is a taxi stand right next door at the Ferry dock so I get a cab to take us to the commercial laundry in town. Only 7 dollars but a long walk with wet laundry. Once there it only takes us 20 minutes in the big commercial dryers to dry everything. Then a call to the taxi to go back -- too far to walk with all that laundry. Thus the cost was an additional $14 dollars for the taxi but worth it.

The dock and tenants are great. Each night near sundown many gather on the dock to blow their conch horns at the setting sun -- should be done just as the curve of the sun drops below the horizon. I got caught up in this and bought 2 nice conch shells from Hollywood George who does the conch salad just outside the marina here -- only $5 a apiece. I had to cut the tip off and clean out the end so you could blow in it. I had to repair the hole they make to get the conch meat out with some epoxy putty then clean and test. They both sounded fine so I gave one to Vickie on Victoria Gaye. We joined the crowd and enjoyed blowing our horns with them.. We were not great but acceptable to the crowd. Practice will make us both better.

Tomorrow we hope to leave in better weather and enjoy more of the Abacos -- maybe Great Guyana Cay and Nippers tomorrow and Man O War on Monday and Tuesday and then back to Treasure Cay for the weekend -- yippee.

It's back on the anchor for us.

Sorry -- interrupting cruise for a vacation

That's right -- enough of this cruising thing we went on vacation today!

We were going to the Harbour View Fuel dock for water and fuel and I was thinking the water alone was going to be $35. Our mooring lease in Hopetown expires today and I didn't really want to go back there just yet. Orchid BAy Marina has a 50 cent per foot till end of February -- through this Sunday so why not go there and pay that and get free water there and stay through Sunday. Well all they have on Great Guana Cay is the beach bar Nippers and a great beach to walk -- not much for 5 days. Victoria Gaye -- Buck and Vickie went to Mangoes Marina yesterday for a few days and they just raved about it and it was just 90 cents a foot.

So we decided to go into Mangoes till Sunday and enjoy Marsh Harbour and work like dogs to clean the boat.

Well after getting in and tied up this morning around 10:30am we checked in at the office back then back on the boat tried to decide where to begin the long overdue chores -- we haven't been tied to a marina since December 26!!

Sitting there I couldn't decide where to start and it felt so good to just sit and not worry about battery management with Solar, and wind, and the gen set.. no worry about anchor dragging, no worry about too close boats picking up moorings it felt like it did when we would go on a weeks summer vacation back home. Thus we decided today we are on VACATION -- and did absolutely nothing but enjoy a beautiful sunny 79 degree day in the Abacos. I hope to keep this up for few days..

My Rocna anchor got put to a test yesterday. It bit in as usual and w set it normally. Today when I picked it up it came right up! Usually we need the engine to force it out. After bringing it up I found a large rag wrapped around the tip of the anchor. WOW that could have been bad but the ol Rocna handled it well.

Well to continue the vacation theme tonight it is a lobster dinner prepared on the boat of course -- what you think I'm made of money!

Bubbles Bubbles Boil and Trouble

We finally have a nice stretch of days for moving about.

Yesterday we left Hopetown and just went out about a mile and half to the Parrot Cays and dropped the hook. I had to dive on the boat and check the bottom. Wow what a hassle getting all the gear ready for the dive and it was a bit bouncier more than I liked -- tough in the dinghy.

Karen helped me get my gear on in the water -- BC and Tank. Unfortunately the tank regulator leaked horrible. I had to beak it down and founds the o-ring in rough condition. I flipped it around and got it to seal -- then back on with the gear and into the water. We had anchored over a stretch of white sand and when I went under oh boy the bottom was a MESS!! It had slime and round red patches and growths like rough moss growing on it -- no wonder it was sluggish. I checked the prop and zincs and they were fine. I started to brush the bottom and the stuff came off but it took a lot of scrubbing. I worked nearly 45 minutes and used a good half tank of air and I was getting pretty tired so I quit. While waiting for Karen to help me out of the BC/Tank my weight belt suddenly released. and fell to the bottom in about 12 feet of water. I tried to dive down to it but I was too buoyant. I had Karen get a lighter weight belt that I use when only wearing the lycra suit and I was able to swim down with great effort. While grabbing my belt I noticed my metal scraper was down there too!! Now who kicked that in? It took a couple more attempts and I retrieved it.

I was whipped now. rested awhile then decided instead of going over to Nippers this afternoon we would just go to MArsh HArbour and I would clean all the dive gear there. It was a beautiful day..

Skat and Bubbles came into the harbour later in the afternoon and they planned to head south to Lynyard Cay tomorrow then onto Elutheria on Tuesday.

We decided to have a get together on Temptation that night. It was fun but I didn't win at Farkle. In fact I did not get one conversion to work for me and I had the most Farkles. Bummer for me.

Today we did grocery shopping and other provisioning. Got a tub of Conch Salad from Hollywood George. Spent the afternoon relaxing and plan to fuel up and water up in the morning then head back to Hopetown for the next cold front to come through.

The weather is breaking and I expect to only hang at Hopetown for another week and then give our mooring up and explore more of the Abacos.

Trapped in Paradise

Not really but it feels like it.

The weather forecast for this week is poor for traveling. If you want some time to just sit and contemplate then it will be good for that. Nothing horrendous but wind forecast is for too much for pleasure boaters and squalls and thunderstorms for Tuesday night and Wednesday. We need to make plans for what to do this week here in "Paradise". I won't bore you with the lows and highs of temperature because you would kill for these temps this time of year.

The big event yesterday was going to the Hopetown Lodge for dinner last night -- a belated valentine celebration. It was Prime Rib night and it was delicious. This was our first time in the lodge and it was very nice. Very tastefully decorated and a very pleasant staff. They have a wall of photos from Hopetown through the early years -- mostly 30s, 40s, and 50s. Very nice and note -- none of the men had "beer guts". That is a modern day affliction even if men don't drink beer.

Even though we might feel trapped here this week at least we can get off the boat anytime we choose and walk the town and explore different places we haven't visited yet. Might do some more kite flying if I can get some winds going out to see -- I don't like the winds going over the dunes -- kite is too squirrelly.

The big event tonight is -- Monday JAcks BINGO night. Wish us luck!