February 8, 2010

A few days ago, we experienced an island tour in a fast boat owned by Phichael of Silvertail Lodge. He picked us up in the afternoon and we flew northward towards Double Breasted Cay, where we dropped in on friends. It was great fun to go that fast past these cays and through shallow areas where we would never venture.

On Saturday, the mail boat arrived and we made a trip to Duncan Town for supplies. The wind had picked up so that it was a bumpy ride. We had taken on extra crew from the sailing vessel Our White Magic from Sarnia. They have 3 daughters aboard and it makes quite a load in the dinghy. At Miss Maxine’s, I managed to get one dozen eggs from the 4 dozen that she had left. Also some butter, two grapefruit, a few bananas and a small cabbage. The whole group of us went to The Fisherman’s Lounge for lunch with a choice of fish or conch. Everything was fried except the coleslaw. We made it back to the boat just before the onslaught of the next cold front.

On Sunday, Phichael was putting on a Super Bowl party at his lodge in town. He agreed to pick everyone up and deliver them back afterwards. The trip in the boat and the time spent chatting to the locals was every bit as good or better than the game. Although most people were quite excited to see New Orleans win. Phichael’s wife prepared chicken wings, conch fritters, cracked conch and lobster. All deep fried, of course. The cruisers contributed snacks as well. There was no fixed price for all of this but the cruisers rallied around and passed the hat. The return trip was in the pitch black at low tide and our captain ran aground at the end of the channel. The local guys jumped overboard and pushed while us cruisers were directed to the bow, stern or side to help free the boat. Once free and into deeper water, the throttle was again opened up and we sped across the water, with no moon and no lights on the boat. That is a scary feeling! The boat is 30 feet long and has twin 250 hp engines.

Today we moved out of our hidey-hole but have two more cold fronts approaching in the near future. What a winter!

The Acer computer has been packed away to be used as a back-up when necessary. Mark on s/v Reach helped us resolve the charting issue on the Mac by updating some software. So the Mac is in full time use now and is working well. The refrig is still a challenge. Mur had given up last week after another session with vacuum pump had failed to give us positive results. The Captain Eddie, of the supply ship Captain C, is bringing in some R134a refrigerant for us on Thursday, so maybe we can get this working yet. The ship also took our propane tank to Nassau where it will be filled and returned this Thursday.

That is life aboard.
Hugs
Heather & Murray

PS the beer is NOT cold!!