Mike
05/15/2009, Tahiti Beach, Abacos

May 9th Tahiti Beach, Elbow Cay, Abacos

We ended up staying here another day because there is a band playing at a nearby marina tonight that we like to listen to.

I made some blueberry muffins for a snack since we had skipped breakfast and spent quite of bit of time on the computer researching watermakers, water heaters, AIS and some other possible summer projects.

Kathy was reading, weaving and cleaning up after me most of the morning. When not on the computer I was studying Spanish which I've been doing from time to time. It's remarkable that I still remember most of what I learned 45 years ago.

My main job for the day, however, was to dive on the bottom of our boat. So after lunch, I got out my snorkeling equipment, grill cleaning scrub pad, the suction cup handle and jumped in....

The bottom wasn't really too bad. There was hair growing on all exposed metal like thru hull fittings, dynaplate, and rudder bracket but they were removed easily. There was also some scale on the prop that needed to be worked on as well. In an hour or so I had everything done except for the bottom of the keel that still needs some work. I almost need tanks for that and will wait until just before crossing back to clean things up again.

In an attempt to use up our canned hamburger from last year (which is bland) I made Spanish rice for dinner. It was edible but may have been better as a veggie dish.

At about 7 we dinghied in to Sea Spray Marina, which was mile or so to the north in White Sound, and listened to music for a few hours. With the full moon we had no problem returning to the boat and watched some video before turning in...

May 8th... Tahiti Beach, Elbow Cay

This journal must be putting you all to sleep. The weather is perfect. We walk the beach and play in the water. Reading is big and occasionally we do a little boat maintenance.

After Chris Parker and coffee, I picked up my new book on the ICOM 802 that Ellie and Matt brought down and reread the chapter on DSC operation. In order to operate the system correctly, we need the ability to transmit on the 2 meg. Normal HF antennas don't have that ability, so when we purchased the radio we bought the correct antenna and the fittings to attach it to the stern rail.

My task for the day was to run the coax and get things installed correctly. I knew that the antenna was in cardboard tube hung with my fishing poles. The coax was in the bottom of my hanging locker along with the extension cords. But for the life of me I couldn't find the bracket that attaches to the rail. I looked everywhere. Now you would think that one of the advantages of living in such a confined space would be that things don't get lost. For the most part everything has its place and in most cases is entered our spread sheet under....item, container, and location.

During the last 2 years, I've seen the thing about twice so I know that it was stuck somewhere that rarely sees the light of day. I worked most of the morning and found two or three items that I'd forgotten about, but no antenna connector.

I saw some in the Marine store in Marsh Harbour and will pick one up when we stop back there....a lost will be found, eventually and will be entered on the above mentioned spread sheet as a "spare."

After finishing off our conch salad for lunch we joined Steve and Kim on the beach at low tide. I found a nice conch and the ladies picked up sand dollars. After getting a little bored with searching the flats we just sat in the shallow water wasted some of the afternoon.

After a while we took the dinghies across the channel to Lubbers Quarters to "Cracker P's", which is a very nice restaurant / bar. We ordered beers and struck up a conversation with a couple of guys that were originally from Royal Oak which is suburb of Detroit. They now live in Florida but have a place on Elbow Cay and fly over whenever they have a day or two off.

Steve was going to grill a flank steak. We had a pork loin, so he invited us over for a mixed grill. We made a salad of tomatoes, Vidalia onions, and green pepper in vinegar / oil oregano dressing and then added some good Greek olives and feta after the vegetables had steeped for awhile.

Comments [0]

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.

Comments [0]