A lazy day on the mooring, somewhat preparing for our voyage south tomorrow morning... some reports have arrived of boats successfully transiting the "Whale Cay" and more plan to leave tomorrow on the high tide (ourselves included).

The usual shuffling back and forth to shore via the dinghy, and a quiet preparation for our departure tomorrow AM. High tide is 11am, but we'll leave at 9am in order to get a good start on a long sailing day, wind from the west, which should be great for going south, but we'll need to find a cosy spot to hide for the night....

With the protected harbour ever so flat, I watched a fascinating new activity within the harbour! Quite extraordinary really!

Virtually every sailing or power vessel in the harbour has a small "dinghy" which allows one to get to shore without the need to bring "mother" right up to the dock. These dinghies are usually 10-12 feet, inflatable with hard fibreglass bottoms, and a 10hp motor on the back.

We bought a used one in Florida, three years ago, and it's been fine. One sits on the inflated tube edge and steers the boat via a normal tiller on the outboard.

More experienced cruisers have added a white plastic PVC pipe to the tiller ( a tiller extension c/w stainless-steel clip) to allow them to move further forward in order to allow the dinghy to "plane" when one is alone in the dinghy ( in a moment of madness, I too have such an extension). Now the fun begins..... Imagine standing in the dinghy, holding a rope connected to the front of the dinghy, navigating through a somewhat busy harbour, holding onto the white plastic pipe (1.5") at high speed......

It gets better......

Today I witnessed several otherwise reasonable individuals (all senior citizens) standing in their dinghies, navigating through the mooring field without the need of the tiller! The task involves fixing the motor on the dinghy in terms of rpm and direction (ie: lock the motor in position), and standing no support whatsoever, and leaning left and right to control the direction..... snowboarding on water in a dinghy...... fabulous!

another great day.... hope the winds behave themselves....


glen