Saturday, April 4, 2009

Listened to the weather forecast from Exuma Park then waited for the 9am radio call to see who was leaving and who was going to be able to get a mooring ball and in which part of the park. We heard Judy giving out assignments and one person wanted to move closer to the Park Headquarters so she moved them up to mooring 14 - our old one that I was hoping to get - drats! She did hail us and we had a mooring reserved though so I couldn't complain. I'm looking forward to having Internet access again and seeing if there's any news from back home.

Wayne hoisted the main and we lifted anchor and headed northward toward Warderick. The winds were lighter than predicted and we had a slow sail to the park. As we approached and got our mooring assignment I was shocked when she told us we'd be on mooring 14! We'd both heard her give it to someone else and weren't sure what happened to them but figured they moved up to the next one closer to the headquarters. Another boat was coming in and was asking for assistance picking up a mooring ball. He explained that he had an all female crew hence they had short arms and needed assistance "you know..." We chatted about how mega yachts always liked to have female crew - it's good for business. I was a little incensed at their captain's comments though and had to laugh when Wayne said yah - I've had an all female crew for years! It was definitely easier coming in this time and we picked up our mooring with no problems. Kind of like coming home... As soon as we picked up the mooring ball, 4 bananaquits flew into the cockpit looking for sugar. This reminded me to take the bag of sugar up to the office with me when we signed in.

As we signed in, Wayne commented to Judy - you know that Captain that required assistance because he had a female crew? I've had one for years! Judy said "and she picks up a mooring ball with no problems either". We had to laugh. Met a young lady here with her grand parents (there are a lot of kids here this time - must be spring break). She must be about 12 years old. Articulate as all get out and very outgoing. She and I chatted about the bananaquits and I explained how they like sugar and she talked about giving them breadcrumbs and kayak wars too. Her name is Maria, Larry and Kathy are her grandparents.

Once we got back to the boat I was extremely hot and changed into my suit, grabbed my fins and mask and jumped off the boat and swam about. I did a quick survey of the hull and it looks pretty good. There are some black spots where the mooring balls took off the top coating so the bottom layer was showing through. The zinc plate still looks good, and we have relatively very little growth. After snorkeling around I grabbed a shower, then Wayne and we discovered that the wash down pump is not working. The amps climbed up to 10 but the pump never kicked on so I have some water to bail out of the tub.

It looks like they were having another potluck on shore tonight but we didn't make anything to take over and stayed on board and made dinner (pork tenderloin, broccoli and apple sauce). Maria kept coming by the boat having kayak wars with other kids next to our boat (for my benefit?) while all the adults were having their get together on the beach. Good size crowd there tonight, the beach is packed with dinghies. I cannot believe how hot it feels here. There is no breeze to speak of and the humidity is pretty high. We had a glorious sunset and toasted it with Gin & Tonics as the conch horns blew.

This place is so beautiful