Big Surprise

It’s April 15, I think.

So we are sitting on a mooring in Man O War harbor, Abacos. Normally we’d prefer to be at anchor, but there’s no room to anchor here, so a mooring it is. And it’s worth it, because this is rapidly becoming another of Linda’s and my favorite places. A pristine old Bahamian community, and it’s not much about tourism, in the sense that there are no bars or nightspots or alcohol served here, and the lights go off early. There are, though, a fair number of charter boats that come through here from Marsh Harbor.

But the boat building history here is very cool, dating back to the late 1700’s. These people were both hard working and talented. Impressive. And speaking of boat building, I think I have another boat to lust for. I’m not really a power boat buy, but the Albury skiffs that are built here really strike my eye. And maybe Santa will bring me an Albury 23 next Xmas. That would make me a pretty happy camper, though we are hoping to be back down in the Bahamas about next Christmas time. We can figure out the details.

There’s another reason Man O War Cay is on my favorites list, and it relates to the perpetual Boat Repair experience. After we crossed from Eleuthera to Great Abaco Island, we dropped anchor at Lynyard Cay. Nice anchorage in prevailing winds. I was on the bow dropping the anchor with the windlass, and asked Linda for a little reverse as I paid out the chain. She basically held up the disconnected gear shift lever and shrugged her shoulders! OK, not quite that dramatic, but the gear shift
stopped shifting, leaving us shiftless. Anchor was down, so no problem, and the next morning I discovered the little ball joint thingie at the end of the cable had failed. I used some wire for a temporary and successful repair. Please note, that NO duct tape was involved, and that I’m getting to the point of the story. The temporary wire repair held, and we pulled into Man O War with out issue. Not only did Edwins Boatyard at Man O War have the correct replacement ball joint thingie, but I actually accomplished a proper boat repair for the total cost of $17.55. That, my friends, is a new record for a properly done boat repair!

We love Man O War.