Departing West End,
After just over three days here, we plan to depart West End this morning. The winds picked up Friday as we were arriving, and "blew like stink" all day Saturday, with heavy rains to boot, and into Sunday. Finally, they abated on Monday and the sun came back out. The Bahamians we have met all say this is the coldest weather they have had since the late 1970s.
Our time on the boat has been peaceful, despite the winds. And, we completed some tasks that needed completing, some not of our choosing. We have noticed a periodic "brrlllp" of the fresh water pressure pump, but could not find any leaks. On Sunday night, Lauren heard the pump running frequently, so shut off the circuit and told Van Monday am. The culprit - a leaking hot water tank. After removing it and deciding it could not be repaired (or at least easily), Van decided to bypass it, but needed some plumbing parts. He chatted with another boat and the captain disappeared and came back with a bag of plumbing parts, a combination of a few doing the trick. He refused compensation, and all agreed the best was to "pay it forward" to someone who needed assistance from Gratitude. (We gave him a small bottle of maple syrup nonetheless.)
We had thought about going out to dinner here, but the resort prices seemed a bit more than necessary, and we were told the food was not outstanding. One of the other couples told us about "Ella's Take Out", so we got ride into town last night and had cracked lobster dinner, french-fries, and a salad, for $12.00 each. The lobster was deep fried with a light batter. While we might have preferred another cooking option, it was good, plentiful (two lobster tails each), and fun to try it the Bahamian way. Miss Ella died several years ago, but her daughter, Avodella, runs the restaurant, another daughter did the cooking, and their brother, Harold, drove us back to Old Bahama Bay.
This is turning out to be quite an ecumenical trip. On Sunday, we were driven to the Baptist Church for the 11:00 service. (There are several churches in the area, but we thought this one might be the most interesting as we were told "it is the church with the drums." Harold told us last night "There are more churches on the Island than people.") It was a small building, but with HUGE speakers. We knew we were in for a loud time. Few congregants appeared, evidently because of the cold. While we were relatively comfortable in sweaters, the kids all wore hooded sweatshirt, ski parkas, and some had gloves on. We were very warmly greeted with hugs all around. As the service continued, more people drifted in. The pastor was visiting the US so the sermon was delivered, with full force, by a tiny woman, perhaps 75 years old, who punctuated her delivery with a sing-song "Hallelujah". The service lasted about 1½ hours, and then we were driven back to OBB in the "church bus", which makes the rounds to pick up and deliver folks who otherwise would have no means of transportation.
Our destination today is Great Sale Cay (pronounced Key) about 50 miles away. The beginning portion is through a shallow, narrow channel called Indian Rocks Pass. The cruising guide tells us that "the channel markers may - or may not - be there, so proceed with caution." Yesterday, Natasha (a 45 foot sailboat with two couples on board - from Geneva and Miami, born in Colombia of Russian born parents - a veritable floating U.N.) made the passage and radioed back that they proceeded in good order. Van and another captain consulted with Luther for local knowledge and we have our way points carefully plotted from the Explorer Charts, so we hope we are well prepared. We will let you know.
Bon voyage!