We took the computer in to Staniel on Thursday, but I was unable to upload the blog. I don’t know when these will get published, as we aren’t going in today. We went yesterday in the morning because it was supposed to get windy in the afternoon. After we went to Staniel Cay Yacht Club to use the Internet we packed up and took the dinghy over to the Isles General Store to get our propane tank filled. We had been warned by another cruiser that we’d have to leave the tank and pick it up later, as they use a gravity fill system, and it takes hours to fill one tank.

Bud bought a few groceries while we were there. He skipped the milk; at almost $9 half- gallon, milk is not going to be a staple going forward. With the groceries loaded and the tank left behind, we returned to the boat. As we passed the government dock on the way out, we saw the Police boat had pulled in. That may be the only police vehicle on the island. The photo shows the Police boat and the local church. The ride back was still pretty smooth. The wind had picked up a bit, but it was behind us so we were going with the waves, and that made it easier.

The wind did start to blow during the night and it was fairly windy this morning (Friday). We don’t plan to leave the anchorage today. I went out in the late morning and washed the hull of the boat. We don’t have any official hull cleaner, so I used Simple Green. It didn’t get all the dirt off, but it does look quite a bit better. Bud has been working on the new windows. Water had gotten trapped between the screens and the windows and without oxygen the stainless had started to rust. So he’s taking the screens off, cleaning off the rust and putting a corrosion inhibitor on them. I’ve been washing the screens, wiping the rubber gasket with a rubber protectant and putting petroleum jelly on the sealing surface before reinstalling them. I’m hoping the petroleum jelly will keep the water from sitting between the outside rubber gasket and the window.

I’m going to take a saltwater bath again this afternoon. We’re running the generator now because the wind has stopped again. Since we have the generator on we always turn on the water heater (the generator should be run with a load on it, and that helps). I would rinse with cool water, but now I’ll have hot water to rinse with – an added bonus. I’m also writing this while the generator is on. I take every opportunity to try to keep the computer battery charged.

That’s just about our agenda for today. It is really nice not to have to go anywhere!

Addendum: We met some people on a kayaking/camping vacation when we walked Fuzzy the other evening. When we went back this evening they were still there. We had talked to them a bit before and they said (especially the woman!) that this would be their last paddling vacation. We talked to them about sailing as an alternative. This evening we were going to invite them on board for dinner, but they’d just gotten back from treating themselves to dinner at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club. We did invite them aboard for sundown drinks and had a very nice visit until long after sundown. They are Kim and Mike from Calgary. The high in Calgary when they’d called home was minus ten Celsius. Their dog sitter wasn’t sympathetic when they complained of the relentless sun, since there are no woods tall enough to cast much shade. It’s chance encounters that really add the spice to cruising.