We moved onto a dock on Saturday - but it was for a couple of good reasons - it always is!

Jim was up many times on Friday night (and me - just a couple), checking the anchor that seemed to be holding through the tide changes and the wind. When we traced it with the lookey bucket, the chain was curled all around in a u-shape past some rocks and chunks of unknown debris so we weren't entirely confident when we crawled into our berth. A night of poor sleep (although with no dragging), the need to do some plumbing, and the attractive figure of $1. per foot at the marina enticed us in.

The galley sink has sprung a leak and when Jim tried tightening hoses and clamps, the problem got worse. He took it apart yesterday and found that the drain had disintegrated completely and a more extensive fix is in order. He and Vic checked it over and took a walk to the hardware store, but in good Bahamian fashion, it closed at 2 on Saturday. (I can remember when stores in Amherst did that too - except they switched to Wed afternoon closures during tourist season.) The result of all this, is that Monday will be fixit day, allowing us to just hang out and have fun till then.

On Saturday, Marilyn and I dinghied over to a couple of little islands across the channel. We successfully anchored the dinghy in the mud flats and waded around picking up beautiful pink conch shells that had been abandoned once the meat was removed. (This year I am going to learn how to harvest, pound and cook those tasty pieces of shellfish myself.) One job today is to make a conch horn so that we can exercise our lungs with the traditional (at least among tourists) conch horn at sunset ritual.

In the evening, we joined a number of cruisers for a BBQ potluck on the dock. Marilyn and Vic - the unofficial marina hosts - have arranged a couple of these evenings and we were so glad to be here for this one. We bought some crawfish tails from a passing fisherman ($20. for 8 med ones) and grilled those. The shared dishes included a couple of good rice and bean mixtures, a delicious pea and corn in vinaigrette salad and my standard broccoli salad contribution. Tom, (Amity) our slip mate, brought out his concertina and we ended the evening with a good old sing-along.

Out in the anchorage, we met Alain and Judy (Ramha) with a homeport of Shelburne, NS and enjoyed a visit on their terrific lobsterboat/trawler. Those boats must make wonderful cruising vessels with their high bows and spacious interiors.

I must add a note to our crossing report now that we've talked to a couple of other cruisers and read other reports. Jim set a course for 20 miles south of Bimini when we left Port Everglades and we came in almost exactly on the Bimini waypoint. We adjusted it about 5 degrees near the end, but the Gulf Stream carried us along the rest of the way. It took about an hour longer than we expected, but the combination of motor and sail worked fine. One other item of note was that we passed close by a large floating "rafty type" piece of debris at one point. I was really glad it was daytime!