Jane's reflections since returning from the tour . . .

At 3:00 PM on Wednesday, November 14, 2012, after three and a half months visiting family and friends ashore, we stepped back on to Voyageur, our luggage and persons delivered to the boat by the Marsh Harbour to Man-O-War ferry. Darren Sands, the manager of Edwin's Boat Yard # 2 who watched our floating home for us through Hurricane Sandy, moved her from her mooring to his dock a few hours before we arrived. We thought Voyageur had ridden out the hurricane in the island's well protected South East mooring field but in fact she spent the last three and a half months on a mooring just off the Man-O-War town dock. More than one person told us "she rode beautifully through the storm . . . stayed upright and didn't wander too much from side-to-side." We later learned that three boats in the East field hadn't done as well and had broken from their moorings. Luckily, they found their way to a soft landing ashore without doing much damage to themselves or to other boats. One deserted boat near the town mooring field and not far from Voyageur pulled loose and drifted up high and dry onto the mangroves.

Before we arrived Darren washed off all the salt the storm deposited on Voyageur so she looked pretty good. Two bungees that quieted lines on the mast were gone. We had removed the genoa and smaller staysail and stored them below but left the mainsail on the boom. It and its new stow pack were unharmed. The only real damage on the boat was that sustained by the wind generator. Its propeller hub cracked in the 100mph+ winds and its bearings were damaged as well. It is only rated to 110 mph and may have seen more than that. Haven't yet determined if we will try to get it fixed here or wait until we get back to the States. Also, our dinghy's Yamaha outboard motor, which had been removed from Voyageur and stored in a shed ashore, lay submerged for two days. So we'll have to replace the outboard as well.

Before we left the boat in July we carefully stowed everything inside so we found the boat's interior largely un-disturbed. A few books fell from a book shelf and there was a very fine dust on everything inside the boat, even inside lockers and cabinets, which must have come through tiny spaces in portholes and hatches too small to allow water to enter. Only one port leaked a bit causing some mildew on our mattress cover and a couple of pillows. But it washed out. Not surprisingly, after being closed up for more than three months, mildew was beginning to appear in a few other places as well. As I write this, much of the inside of the boat has been thoroughly cleaned. It's slow going though.

When we got aboard, we found one problem unrelated to the storm. The boat's fresh water pump that supplies the galley and both heads wasn't working. It had a dead short in the motor's armature so we were without running water for a day before it was replaced. Schlepping water jugs from the grocery store is a lot of work! Thankfully, a friend loaned us her golf cart (there are no cars on Man-O-War) for a couple of grocery shopping trips.

The quiet settlement of Man-O-War fared pretty well through Sandy with no buildings destroyed. But many beaches on the ocean side of the cay were largely washed away while a few others were made larger. Some of the houses on the north end of the island were damaged by a six foot storm surge. Apparently, many of the islanders thought Sandy would be a tropical storm when it went by rather than the Category 2 hurricane that it turned out to be. So they waited to start preparing until less than twenty-four hours before the storm hit. It seems that a few boaters may have known more about the impending hurricane from their sources than did the locals. With the passage of Sandy's eye, which lasted 10-12 hours, many of the town's residents and boaters thought that the storm was over. So many folks went back to their boats, homes and businesses. But some boaters warned that more was coming and come it did. The west winds continued to blow at hurricane or tropical storm force for four days after the eye passed while the long tail of the storm lingered over the Abacos.

It was good to be back in touch with our friends here including cruisers and the permanent residents of Man-O-War. We've attended Sunday services, been to the Dock n' Dine restaurant a couple of times and enjoyed cocktails at a beach house owned by a young at heart 96-year old woman from Millbrook NY, invited by friends of hers we met on the ferry when you-know-who struck up a conversation with them. The days spent on Man-O-War have been sunny, about 75 degrees and the starry nights cool enough for our old friend Pluffy, a down comforter. We've been in shorts and sandals. It gets dark at 6:00 pm which is a different Bahamas experience for us as we have never been here at this time of year before. When another month passes and we reach the winter solstice, it will get dark even earlier.

We both put on a few pounds during the sofa tour and got even farther out of shape than we were when we left Voyageur. We are experiencing the usual aches and pains that accompany the transition back to life on the boat due to what some cruisers call "boat yoga". But we have a built-in stair stepper (going up and down the companionway between the boat's interior and her cockpit), plenty of bending getting in and out of lockers, heavy lifting putting up sails, re-shipping the anchor, etc. etc. It's all good exercise. And we have modified our diet as well . . . less cheese (it's too expensive here) and maybe a bit less alcohol and very little bread except what I'm going to make aboard

We stayed on Darren's dock for a few days which made it handy for provisioning and other shopping. But when we visited the two small grocery stores in town to pick up a few items we spent more than $250. So a few days later we motored five miles across the Sea of Abaco to tie up at the Jib Room in Marsh Harbour (the Marsh Harbour Marina really). Things should be bit less expensive here. It's a larger settlement and the commercial center of the Abacos. We will buy staples like flour, sugar, cereals, bread crumbs, pasta, rice and crackers in addition to fresh veggies, fruits, meats and dairy items. And we need to stock up on a lot of canned goods that we'll need for the more remote Exumas. I am expecting a huge outlay.

Of course we'll visit the Jib Room once or twice or maybe more. Their Wednesday night smoked rib dinners and Saturday night steaks are hard to resist.

Bob & Jane Fulton
Nov 2012