Tomorrow morning at 6:30 the tide will be less than half way from high tide to low tide, so we should have plenty of water to get out the channel. Bud went with two of the other boaters here in their dinghy and looked for our magnet. He didn't find it, but he did further check out this channel. We also sounded the depth at the boat and offset our depth finder to read actual water depth (from the surface, not from the transducer).

We've figured a few other things out this week that should help us on our travels.
1. We know how to set an anchor alarm on our handheld GPS, so we can use that in the aft cabin where we sleep. (An anchor alarm lets you know if your boat has moved more than a set distance. It will sound if your anchor is not holding the boat.)
2. We got an answer from Raymarine on how to set an anchor alarm on the chartplotter (it was NOT in the manual) so we can use that if we sleep in the cockpit.
3. I figured out how to turn the readings on for our AIS, it now not only tells us if a boat with an AIS transponder is close, it shows all boats with AIS transponders on the chart and gives all the information about the boat - name, tonnage, speed and direction if it's moving, the port it is headed for and more.
4. We installed and checked out our new map chip for the chartplotter. We now have maps for all the Caribbean and all of South and Central America.
5. We've been practicing with our SSB radio and now are getting the weather broadcasts that one of the forecasters puts out at 6:30 each morning.

Late in the morning we checked out bicycles from the marina and cycled over to Lucaya proper, and the Port Lucaya Marketplace. It's a tourist area about 6 miles from here. I was looking for Guidebooks for the Exumas. We have chart books, but also wanted guidebooks that gave more information about the anchorages. Bud wanted to re-supply the liquor cabinet. Before we did any shopping we stopped at a restaurant and had cracked conch for lunch. It was very good and they let us sit outside with Fuzzy. There were no guidebooks, but there was cheap booze. The only problem was that Bud had to ride the bike back with 5 liters of liquor in a bag slung over his shoulder and around his neck. He said his shoulder was fine, but he was cutting off the circulation to his brain!

We arrived back safely and attended our last happy hour at Sunrise. The three other boats that we've been here with are also leaving tomorrow, although they are leaving later in the day and heading northeast to the Abacos. The two trawlers are going to anchor at the beginning of a small canal that cuts the Island and then go through the canal on Saturday. The sailboat is going back around West End, where Bud and I came from. Hopefully we'll see them all again sometime.

If we do take off as planned, we won't have Internet access for a while. I'll post again when I can, but our route probably doesn't bring us in Internet range for 5 days or more, unless for some reason we head into Nassau, instead of staying on Rose Island as we plan now. Anyway, don't worry if there are no new postings, I'll update it when I can.