Doing chores in paradise
06 May 2017 | Waderick Wells Exuma Land and Sea Park
Sally
We turned the fridge off last night before bed and Scott was able to run his machine all night. We did have the predicted thunderstorms last night with heavy rain and wind shifts. Even with the storms we both slept really well, so well that I missed Chris Parker and our scheduled talk with Roger and Sue. Chris doesn't broadcast on Sunday so we won't have a revised forecast until Monday. The front that came last night hopefully will pass by the end of today. Yesterday's forecast looked good for our planned move tomorrow.
Lest you think all we do is swim, snorkel, walk beaches and sleep, today was a work day. Clean, laundry, make water in addition to the normal beds and heads routine. We needed to run the water maker. It has to be run every 5 days and we had last run it on Monday. I take the first gallon or so that we make to do laundry. The first gallon is needed to flush the membrane and bring the salinity down. Hence we wash with water that is a bit salty, but it works. We had a pretty good size bag of clothes waiting to be washed so I hauled out the trusty HD bucket and my plunger. After a couple of hours the task was done and the clothes were hanging on the life line to dry. The clouds were looking a bit threatening but I figured an extra rain water rinse wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.
We decided to take the dingy out for a tour of the other side of the island. The ranger's residence looked really nice. We aren't sure how many staff members are on the island. The residence looked to have perhaps 8 apartments. Air conditioned with satellite TV and balconies overlooking the water. Not a bad gig. There is also a dock and maintenance building. We've only seen one other worker besides the ranger. It's later in the season so it might be that they have reduced staff for the summer.
There are a number of gorgeous beaches on the banks side. We attempted to go into one and grounded the motor. Ooops fortunately it was soft sand and didn't damage the prop. We decided to pass on landing but we did find the other mooring field near Emerald Rock. There was only one boat moored there.
I wanted to check the weather at the ranger station and Scott wanted a tee shirt so we landed the dingy at the ranger station beach and walked up. We spoke briefly with Sherry (the park ranger). She is on four weeks straight and then gets a week off and has been at the park for 3 years. Her family lives in Nassau. She seems to enjoy the job but does look forward to her breaks. I would imagine it can get quite lonely.
Scott got his t shirt, the first souvenir of the trip, and I checked the weather which matched the notes I had take Friday when listening to Chris Parker. We sat under the tiki hut for a bit watching the kids play in the water. There were 3 boats with kids in the harbor. It's a big deal to meet other kid boats and have someone to play with other than your siblings. They were having a blast but I was glad they weren't mine as I watched them take a paddle board into the channel. The current here is swift and strong. The parents didn't seem to mind. The one boat was from Barnegat Bay NJ, a big Sea Ray motor vessel. They had been out a month and brought the boat down from New Jersey. I think he was ready to head home but the wife and kids not so much. Nice family.
The winds are supposed to lay down somewhat tomorrow and we only have 15 nm to travel so we opted to wait to bring the dingy and motor up until morning. There was supposed to be a happy hour at the beach at 4:30 but when we checked there was nary a dingy is sight. I suspect after celebrating Cinco De Mayo yesterday most of us felt another dinner of snacks wasn't what we wanted. We had pretty much decided to pass on it anyhow.
The picture is Boo Boo beach which faces the Sound. The real reason it is called Boo Boo hill is because of a ship that wrecked here in the late 1700's. All souls were lost and no bodies recovered. On nights when there is a full moon you can here the ghosts singing.....