We brought our laundry of towels and sheets to the local laundromat. It was a very nice establishment. Only $15 for two loads. :-) This island is on the poorer side, with run down houses, maybe goats or chickens in the yard, etc. But they are building up their tourist trade, so there are some nice restaurants, and places to rent. One couple is visiting the Bahamas via their own private plane. The anchorage emptied out yesterday and today, but it is a nice stop.

Yesterday, Roger, Tari, Bruce and Chris took dinghies to the sandbar and then walked through the knee deep water to shore, where they explored. Why stop far from shore on the sand bar? Because when they got back, their dinghies were high and dry, but still close enough to water that they could drag them back into the water.

Bruce has steps going up his mast, and used them yesterday to determine why his wind instrument at the top of the mast didn’t work. He decided the issue must be a loose ground at the base of the mast. A trawler anchored next to Bruce needed a belt for his engine, which Bruce happened to have, saving the day for the other boat.

The Great Bahama Bank was calm today. We motored three hours to our next anchorage, seeing bottom the entire way as the depth was only 9-12 feet. From here we go through a cut to get to the eastern side of the Exumas and down to Georgetown. A cut is the water between two islands connecting the water on the east to the water on the west. They are generally narrow and there is a current running as the water rushes through the cut as the tide rises and falls. When there is wind against the current, they can be dangerous to go through. Our cut is on the wider side and there is very little wind tomorrow, so we should not have any adventures. Plus we are leaving around slack tide, so it should be boring. We got a taste of the fun going through the cut at Rose Island.

Roger is back fishing, and had more fish stories. He gets a bite every time he puts a line out. Today two got away. The fish fight hard, and one today put up the biggest fight yet. But alas and alack, he came up empty today ... you know ... the one that got away.

I am getting more relaxed about the shallow water passages as we go into the anchorage. Apparently my instruments weren’t done torturing me yet, however. They felt I was too calm. So at a critical moment entering Black Point, the shrill alarm goes off - now what! The calmness shattered, the alarm is due to no depth data. I push a button, any button, it does not matter, to silence the alarm. That brings back the depth data - it starts up at 6.6 feet. That then triggers the shallow water alarm. Push a button to cancel that. Then all returns to normal, about 8-9 feet, just like before all the nonsense started. What the heck was that all about, I wondered, now a little less calm ... and I had been doing so well.

Today I replaced the joker valve on the toilet - a job long overdue, but one I had been avoiding. If you don’t prep properly, it can be a very messy, stinky job. Everything that goes into the toilet gets pumped through the joker valve. The valve then keeps whatever was pumped through from coming back into the toilet. When it is working, that is. Anyone having any trouble imagining why it might be a very messy, stinky job? If I explained it properly, there shouldn’t be any hands up.

Belts and joker valves are some items that should be in your must have spares kit. And plastic/rubber gloves.