Photo: Refuelling a la Mayaguanan

Our first foray ashore yesterday to look for supplies was partially rewarded when we met up with the local "Go To Guy", who arranged to have some diesel delivered today at the government dock. Our man was there at the appointed time, along with a mate driving a flatbed truck with no visible fuel on board, except for what would was in the fuel tanks....and that's when the lights came on... After several tries at siphoning, the fuel started flowing into our jerry cans. There is no gas station on the island, and we found out that fuel was at a premium because there had been no oil or gasoline delivery to Mayaguana in almost a month. Still, we were getting cut-rate price of $3.50/gallon ($1.50 less than the normal price), and we figured that the fewer questions we asked, the better.... After we paid our "fuel broker", who extracted his share ("Gotta run a business, mon!"), we hopped in the back of his pickup truck and he took us over to the town well to get water, and then for a short tour of the community, which lasted all of five minutes. Still, along the way we met one of the locals who was just starting up a bakery, and he sold us a few delicious cinnamon twists that he had just baked (they were still warm on the baking sheet!).

Today we topped up a couple of more jerry cans with diesel, and gave our Fuel Broker two gallons of gasoline from our outboard motor jerry can; this was immensely appreciated as his truck was running on fumes. Anyone who flagged him down on the road for no reason in particular other than to say "hi" got an earful from him as he didn't want to waste gas by stopping/starting for no reason.

We had a great afternoon snorkelling on the reef, although swimming back into the bay over the reef was a little dodgy as the tide went out, and the waves bounced us on the rocks a few times (no injuries, just heightened adrenaline). In the meantime, I continue to be frustrated in my attempts to kill something for dinner. Kevin (from Windborne) and I have dived twice on the reef now in search of lobster and grouper or anything else edible, with nothing to show, even though David has had good luck earlier in the same area. Obviously someone alerted the local fish and crustacean population that we were coming. The only big fish that came close to us was a five-foot barracuda that shadowed us for a while to see what we were doing. Meanwhile, Judy and the girls explored a coral head teeming with tropical fish, and Judy saw a five foot nurse shark.

Semper V, Kama, and Windborne have been taking turns hosting dinner these past few days, and we will sail to George Town with Kama once the weather breaks, while Windborne will remain at Mayaguana a little longer to do some more fishing. Given our timeline to move north, it is unlikely we will hook up with Windborne again, and Marine will miss her swims and visits with Daphne, Kevin and Myriam's nine-year-old daughter. Our "Quest for Kids" will continue!