05/15/2009, Tahiti Beach, Abacos

May 7th... Tahaiti Beach, Elbow Cay, Abacos

We listened to Chris Parker at 6:30. The weather here is remarkably settled with highs everyday about 85 and lows at night around 75. The winds are 5 to 10 knots from the southeast. There is enough of a breeze that we keep cool if we stay in the shade.

After some breakfast, we read for a while and then I attempted to locate the screw that functions as the air-bleed for the engine heating coil in our hot water heater. I was trying to bleed the system on our way here yesterday and dropped it under the sink. It must have rolled down into the bilge. I spent about an hour searching to no avail. I was able to find another in our misc. nuts, bolts and screws container and put things back together.

Low tide was around 1 pm today so we motored over to Tahiti Beach and searched the flats for shells. We were here last year and loved the place. At high tide the beach is completely under water, but at low tide there is probably about 20 acres of sandy flats. Our tides right now are called spring highs and are have and have the biggest swing of any tide all year. The fact that there is a full moon makes the tide about one foot below and above chart datum. Anyway that one foot adds a few more acres of dry land to explore here.

We wandered around the shore and found Kathy a few fronds to complete a basket that she is making for the nav station. Her attempt is to hide some of the exposed wires.

We got too hot in the sun, so spent an hour or so just laying in the shallows cooling and watching people. There were about 10 folks here today. Some were snorkeling but most were looking afor shells or sunning. There was one white couple that unfortunately forgot their sun screen and will pay the price tomorrow.

After enough of the beach, we took the dinghy north into White Sound. We'd been there by golf cart but wanted to work our way in to be able to find the restaurant at the Sea Spray Marina by water as a possible lunch site. Today was out due to lack of money but there is always tomorrow.

Back at the boat Kathy got busy with her weaving and I tried to finish my book. I made a conch salad for dinner and got it safely cooing in the refrigerator. "Fine Lion" called us on the VHF to say that they were heading our way. An hour or so later they anchored next to us and jumped in their dinghy for a visit. We hadn't seen Kim in 10 days and it was good to hear about here trip.

We had a nice visit and then a great dinner.

Comments [1]

Mike
05/06/2009, Marsh Harbour, Abaco

May 5th.... Marsh Harbour

After months of wind... the weather here is perfect these days. There is just enough of a breeze to keep things cool on the water...in town it's another story. The anchorage is filling up with Florida boats who come over for the summer.

I fired up the Honda this morning and sanded the trail boards for a coat of Cetol. We have not been happy with the new finish that we applied last summer and have begun the long slow process of going back to the regular Cetol that seems to hold up a little better in this climate.

Steve heard on the VHF net this morning that Snappas was celebrating Cinco De Mayo with Mexican Food and $2 Coronas so we headed in around 1pm only to find that the special started a 5pm and that the beers were actually $3.

We had some lunch anyway and then walked to the bank, the Marine Store, and the Batelco office. We have a water separating filter mounted on the transom of our dinghy and I needed to find a replacement screw-on filter. They actually had one that fit for $12 which is less than they cost in the States.

Back at the boat I put another coat of finish on the teak and then floated over to "Fine Lion" for a visit. We returned to "Sapphire" after floating across the harbor and were joined by Larry of "Lapidus" who had decided to take their dinghy to Man of War Cay today. It's probably about an 8 mile trip form Marsh Harbour. Unfortunately they aimed at the wrong island and ended up at Guana Cay. After figuring out that they were in the wrong spot, they hiked around a while and then motored south to Man of War. It was a lot of dinghy riding....and Paula took a nap on their return.

With the longer days we seem to be staying up later. Steve and Larry left well after dark and we had some dinner and watched some video before bed as usual.

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Miike
05/05/2009, Marsh Harbour. Abaco

May 4th.... Marsh Harbor, Abacos

This morning I cut the GPS wires that are located at the base of our mizzen mast and hauled the remaining wire up and out where I could work on it. There are 8 wires in the bundle but they were too short to work on so I spliced on about 3 feet to each of them and ran the wire back down the mizzen. The whole process took about 2 hours but really needed to be done.

Then, with working room galore, I wired in the GPS antenna, power, and
ran 4 DSC out lines. (Another two hours) I forgot one wire momentarily so that when I tested the GPS ... there was nothing, but it only took a minute to figure out the problem.

With the GPS back in order we can breath a little easier. We do have a back up, but it doesn't have the good charts that we are used to.

Meanwhile, Kathy (who is out of palm fronds) went to work cleaning the cockpit and as the afternoon progressed cleaned all the rust off the stainless steel. I continued to work on hooking up the DSC... (radios talking to the GPS) but failed miserably to get them to talk to each other. I have everything right... and have checked on line, but something is wrong.

At about 3pm I went in to one of the marinas and loaded up 25 gallons of water which filled our tank... and should last at least two weeks.

I made dried beef on toast for dinner. It used to be a lunch time staple growing up but we've never made it on the boat.

Steve came over after dinner and we talked into the evening....

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