Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Maho Bay

Yes…Backseaters, we have returned to the scene of the crime! And without a north swell it is an especially lovely place, which is the reason that we chose it in the first place!

We have been busy the last few days – no really! Monday morning, bright and early ( ok…8:00am) Jim got started on rebuilding the starboard head which has been funky for quite some time. It’s a really nasty job anyway, but added to that Jim is not really the optimal size to be working on it, as you really need to be an underweight Jocky to work in most boat compartments. Additionally, he has to do the work on his knees, which just makes it extra challenging for him right now. However, all that said, by 10:30am he was finally done, had the new parts in, and the thing put back together…and not leaking, and flushing like a champ! Hallelujah! (neighbors…get ready to pump!) Since it has been raining on and off all morning, I decided to get the Water catcher ready to deploy. We had a zipper installed last year while we were gone, and when we put the thing up a few days ago discovered that they also made it smaller…which was NOT a good thing. So, we need to reconfigure it in order to make it work. Put it up, measure, get the other material out, measure, cut, turn on the generator, haul out the sewing machine, fix the flywheel, blah, blah, blah…See, I told you we were busy! Finally, the extra material was sewn on, kind of like a wing, and we redeployed the catcher. Now we wait…and wait, and wait for the rain, so that we can make the final adjustments, and see that it all works. Here it is Wednesday, and we are STILL waiting as it has not rained a drop on us since we deployed the catcher on Monday! There were a few promising clouds, but, well, Nothing yet… While we were watching the sunset, two Dolphins came in for a snack, and wandered all around the bay – really lovely to see.

Tuesday, we dropped the Kayak, and took a cruise around Francis Bay, and over into Maho. While here, we saw lots of snorkelers and one told us there were turtles right under our Kayak that she was watching. It’s prettier over here, and shallower, so when we returned to the boat, we dropped our mooring and came over here instead. It was the right move. As there is no north swell, the sea state is comfortable, and the view is really lovely, with palm trees swaying and people on the beach and in the water, much more our style. We took a snorkel and while the water is a bit cloudy and churned up we still saw Rays and turtles and even a small Nurse shark. Ok…really, this is much more our style!

Today dawns clear and bright, with the waves lightly lapping along the white beach and it is quiet in the anchorage….we’ll enjoy it, while we hope for a nice rain storm.