Docked - Slip C-17 port side to, bow in Old Bahama Bay Marina, West End, Grand Bahama Island

((I tried to post this blog last night and the internet connection kept dropping. I believe they are using satellite connections and clouds and wind can shake the dish antennas)

Not moving again today. The weather is supposed to be thunder storming and windy when it’s not. Two boats left today! They were only going about 4 hours around the southern side of Grand Bahama Island to Lucaya. It still was not a wise idea in most of the other boats that are staying for at least one more day. I watched them go through the inlet and immediately start bobbing like corks. But at least the two of the could keep company with each other while they pounded their way south in the 6-8’ seas. We had gotten a pretty good lesson in the 4-6’ seas when we crossed last Tuesday for 10 hours. So, we still couldn’t understand the urgency.

While on the dock I was speaking with a boater with a Scottish accent and he told me that last Monday he had left Florida to come over here last Monday and it was so rough he could only make 1-2 knots. He had a woman crew member he had gotten on www.findacrew.net . That is a website to find a person to help you crew your boat. So, he didn’t know this woman very well. She seems pleasant. Anyhow you get the picture, he doesn’t know her very well and is out in bad conditions for 30 hours to get across. You remember I said it was bad for our 10 hour crossing. He was running into all kinds of headwinds and seas. And, he ran out of fuel! The woman is scared as anyone would be that the end of her life could be soon. The guy calls a nearby freighter and somehow they maneuver along side his wildly pitching boat and lower two pails of diesel fuel down to his boat. He said the woman told him if the freighter had lowered a ladder she would have gone up it. With the language he was speaking I’m imagining they lowered fuel cans down. But his words were pails of diesel. Anyhow, he got the boat started and got on in here to the West End marina. Everyone was talking about how bad their crossing from Florida was last week, with microwaves being tossed about, refrigerators moving and things secured becoming not secured inside their boats. But no one’s stories beat that guys. He said the crew woman wouldn’t speak to him for one whole day. Hey she is still with him and here in the Bahamas one week later. So, maybe she will stay the duration of the cruise.

Yesterday Susan bought a postcard to send to a friend that likes and collects post cards. The gift shop here didn’t have any stamps. So, today we took the shuttle into the village to the post office. I go in the post office and a woman says that the post office is only open Tuesdays and Fridays. I said OK I’ll come back tomorrow for stamps. She says, this post office doesn’t have any stamps. ( I figure they are just temporarily out of stamps ). No this post office does NOT sell stamps. The lady says I should get a stamp from the marina office. I’m not sure where Susan is going to get her stamp. Maybe she should write the post card, take a picture of the front and back of the post card, and email it to her friend. Actually, her friend is very old and doesn’t use a computer. On a similar note, we have friends opening our mail at home and emailing us pictures of the pertinent mail.

The weather just will not let up. Today we had forecasts for thunderstorms and strong winds out of the South. It was too windy and raining off an on to ride bicycles into town. But no thunderstorms. The two boats that left the marina did so in one of the few showers that we had all day. It was windy 22-26 knots out of the South. But about 4-5 PM it calmed down. I was thinking that maybe we should have left today and the anchorage would have been calm. That all changed in about an hour as the wind direction changed from south to north and started blowing 13-15 out of the NW. We saw the clouds that had been coming up from the South all day get blown away to the South. I’ve never seen such a rapid change in wind direction. Anyhow, it’s going to be too windy to leave Tuesday. Consensus is that Wednesday will not be a nice calm day. But it will be a travel day with 10-15 out of the NE. I will be heading NE for about 40 miles. It will not be fun. The Great Sale Cay anchorage we have selected will shelter us from the NE wind. Or, at least it should. We will see Wednesday night. I’ll probably stay awake all of that night.

Today’s picture is one I took on my bicycle ride around the old Bahama Bay Property. I took this picture looking north from the most southern tip of land. This is prime real estate with the Atlantic fronting on the left side of the picture. Behind me is the Northwest Providence Channel. It is like a ghost development that never got built. I cannot believe there aren’t houses built along the ocean here. Something is wrong.

PS - I walked over to the beach, gazed out into the Little Bahama bank about 5PM today to look at the clouds and water. In the distance I could see Gary, from yesterday’s blog, out in the bad weather swimming, towing his cooler behind him. I took a picture with my iPhone zoomed and could not see him in the picture. I was told he goes out no matter the weather.