Mike
01/28/2010, Water Cay, Jumentos

January 23rd 2010 Water Cay to Thompson's Bay
We had a good night anchored at Water Cay. The wind was forecast to clock from south to west to north but not with enough strength to make very large waves. At 4:30 it did pick up a little from the north but we had a little protection from that area. Anyway we took off at about 7:30 heading north to Comer West, which is the waypoint that marks the entrance to the Comer Channel. It's about a 10 mile east to west run where the deepest water at low tide is about 6.5'. The shallowest is 5.5'.
Jay and I had discussed hitting the channel at a half rising tide to give us a little more water to play with. The last time we traversed this area... on the way south, I followed the coordinates and watched the water... never once looking at the sounder. This time I watched the depths.
The Spartans played at noon in Minnesota, so we tuned the game in and had a pleasant motor sail. (winds were about non-existant) We did sail the last hour or so to insure that the game would end before we found ourselves anchoring.
There were about 20 boats in the anchorage when we arrived, but there is lots of room and we ended up anchoring in almost the same spot as we did on our last stay here.
The remainder of our afternoon was spent listening to basketball and reading. We were invited to go into town to have dinner with some friends but had some fish that really needed to be eaten so we passed.

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01/28/2010, Johnson Cay, Jumentos

January 22nd, 2010 Johnson Cay to Water Cay, Jumentos
Steve and Kim came over to say good-by at around 6:30 and gave us the update that they had received from "Night Hawk" via email. Their boat is fixed and they are on the way south. They left us to ready the boat and while below, there was a knock. Steve was back to purchase 5 gallons of gasoline which he transferred to his jerry can and said good bye for the second time.
We weighed anchor and headed out the cut a little before 8am. Once beyond the protection of our cove and out in the Ocean we were greeted with waves from the SW and no wind to speak of ... it made for an uncomfortable ride. I raised the main to act as a shock absorber and that smoothed us out a little. As the morning progressed the waves flattened a little but the wind stayed at about 8 knots behind us.
We had four fishing lines out most of the way north but failed to have any action.
Arriving at Water Cay at around 2, we got the anchor down at the north end of the island and spent the afternoon reading. I made meat-loaf for dinner which we had with beans and a baked potato.

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Mike
01/28/2010, Raccoon Cay, Jumentos

January 19th, 2010 Raccoon Cay, Jumentos
After coffee and some breakfast I took my tools and carb cleaner over to "Far Niente" to work on the carburetor again with Jay. We took everything apart again, and cleaned the needle valve area which seemed not to be working.
When I put it back together the outboard ran but not at a slow speed. On Jay's recommendation, I loaded up the gasoline with Sta-bil and ran around the anchorage for a while to see if it would clean some places that we didn't get to.
In the afternoon we defrosted the refrigerator and I worked on the old 2 horse outboard that has been in our anchor locker for the last three years. It is probably beyond my ability to resurrect.
Roland and Leta from "Kokomo" stopped by for a visit in the afternoon for a couple of hours. He is a retired teacher/administrator and had much in common with our experience and lots of stories.
Steve and Kim returned from hunting with a few trigger fish and three lobsters. We invited them over after everything was cleaned up for a planning session. Bill also stopped by with a gift of lobster... I rode into shore with him and we helped Jay get his dinghy back in the water. He has been working on patching the bottom for the last couple days and things should have been dried by this afternoon.
With that done we returned and had a nice visit with Steve and Kim...trhey have to get back to Long Island at some point in a couple of weeks. We were going to stay here but may head back with them to purchase a new outboard. We'll have to wait and see. We also decided to move to a different anchorage tomorrow for a change of scenery.
We had sautéed trigger fish for dinner with the last of our lettuce for a salad and some green beans. Then we turned on the radio and listen to Northwestern get clobbered by Ohio State and the first half of the Purdue / Illinois game
January 20th, 2009 Raccoon Cay to Johnson Cay, Jumentos
After coffee I worked on the outboard again and found at least one of the problems. The intake manifold was cracked, allowing too much air into the fuel mixture. So I got out the JB Weld and after cleaning things up with some solvent, globbed some on the cracked/broken area.
With that done I jumped in with Steve and Kim to make the rounds of the anchorage saying good bye to our friends. We weren't moving that far, but don't know when our paths would cross again.

We weighed anchor around 10 and went west around a shoal on the south end of Raccoon Cay and then southeast to Johnson Cay about 3 miles away. It is a nice cove that has a beach about ¾ of a mile in length. There is room for about 3 boats and has good protection except for the north.
After some lunch we went ashore and explored the ocean side of the island and found one beach where we searched through the trash for treasures and seabeans. After an hour or so we returned to the dinghy and sat around in the water while Kim walked the beach.
Back at the boat I added some more JB Weld to the outboard's intake manifold and had Steve look at the problem to see if his wire tightening tool would work to hold things together when I put things back together in the morning.
We got a flank steak out of the freezer and after thawing, into the marinade. Kathy put in a potato to bake and around dusk I fired up the grill and seared the steak to medium rare and along with some corn and sliced tomatoes, had a great meal.
We listened to the Spartans play Iowa but fell asleep before the end of the game.
January 21st, 2010 Johnson Cay, Jumentos.
After coffee I organized the tools to replace the carburetor and eventually, with Steve's help got everything back together. The repair of the manifold held but when I started the engine the flooding problem remained. Although it won't run, we can operate the motor at higher rpm if I remember to disconnect the fuel line when I stop.
But...we're a long ways from anywhere and undependable vehicle is not acceptable. So after talking to a couple of our friends who have purchased outboards in the Bahamas recently, we have decided to return to Long Island and have one shipped there on the mail boat. There is a Yamaha there and we can get the outboard we want for about $500 less than in the States if we pay cash.
Steve, Kim and I went hunting before noon even though both of our freezers are overflowing with seafood. Steve shot a lobster and a hogfish while I got a nice trigger fish.
Roland and Lieta had anchored next to us about the time we were heading out and the six of us met on "Fine Lion" for snacks, actually dinner, at about 5pm. I fried up some trigger fish fingers, Steve made pizza and Lieta cheese spread that we will definatley attempt to copy.

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