This is definitely the calm before the storm...at 8:00 am this morning it was 85F and dead calm in the anchorage, everything dripping wet with 90% humidity! The wind is supposed to increase just after sunset and settle in for several days, but at least we are in a safe and protected anchorage with about 32 other cruisers. Mr Pinder phoned to ask us to meet him at the dock with our repaired engine, and we were able to beg another dinghy tow into the dock. With the higher tide it was easier to put the engine back on and Brian did a test drive...the engine ran well...until it stopped! This happened several times and the new diagnosis was a bad fuel pump but Mr Pinder didn't have the parts. Luckily, Mr Pinder's daughter could pick up the parts before she caught her flight here from Nassau...except there were no parts there, or anywhere in the Bahamas! Long story short...we are able to use the outboard if we squeeze the pressure bulb in the fuel line to force the fuel into the fuel pump. This will work well for short jaunts, but will be a pain for a lengthy trip...but that's the way it is!

There was a flurry of activity as a several of us walked in the rain to the grocery store for provisions, which took way longer as we kept bumping into other cruisers and chatting in the aisles. Back at the boat, we stored all the groceries and got ready for Wild Orchid's weekly Happy Hour. We went ashore and joined Jack & Diane, Mike & Roberta, and several other crews all enjoying socializing before we become isolated on our boats during the forecasted days of high winds.