May 5, 2012

We're starting to make our way back home now with our first stop of the return trip in Eleuthera. Won't be making many stops in Eleuthera because John wants to get to Spanish Wells to have the bushing repaired on the boat. Once we get the work done, if we can get the part that is, we'll head for the Abacos and spend the rest of our time sailing there and the nearby islands with family and friends! Yes, we have several visitors coming to stay with us on the boat over the next few weeks. Steve, my brother-in-law, Owen's friend Sam, Evan's girlfriend Lisa and John's sister and brother-in-law Patsy and Rob will all be coming down at different times to help us finish our time here in the Bahamas. Looking forward to seeing everyone!

Michael and Deb rented a car for a day and we drove from Rock Sound to almost the Northern part of Eleuthera. It's a big island with lots of little settlements along the west coast to visit. We drove through most of the settlements John and I had anchored during our first trip to Eleuthera.

We took Deb and Michael to the little bar in Hatchet Bay for a drink, lunch at Cocodimama and a walk on the pink beach where John and I recreated the scene from the movie, "Here to Eternity".



When we returned to the dinghy dock after a wonderful day touring the island we found the pier filled with locals watching the fisherman clean their catch of the day. I was happy to see so much conch because it had been a while since I was able to buy any.



John was worried about the propeller falling off because of a bad bushing so we sailed up to Hatchet Bay for an overnight anchorage. We didn’t go ashore because it was about 5:00 pm when we arrived and planned an early departure the next day so the tide would be in our favor. We motored through the cut when we left Hatchet Bay after an overnight anchorage heading for Spanish Wells.



Michael and Deb's boat sailing along side us on the way to Spanish Wells.



It took us most of the day to get to Spanish Wells but once we did John was able to find a boat yard to order the part and schedule an installation to take place in a couple of days – just hope the weather holds.

Once we were settled in we knew it was going to be a few days before the part arrived so we set out to catch up on some chores – laundry mainly with two weeks of laundry waiting to be done. The only place in town to do laundry was at CW Groceries and after buying tokens were told that we could locate the machines in the back of the building – much to our surprise we found a washer and dryer in a shed in the back of the building. It’s always a challenge when doing the laundry.

Of course the arrival of the part was delayed and would take a couple of extra days to come by ferry but John did manage to make arrangements to installed the part the same day so we could leave that afternoon. John got to test out how well the part was installed first hand on the way out the channel when we hit a large rock or coral, hard! I nearly went over the side while putting the fenders in the crew cabinet at the bow of the boat. The guys jumped into action and started checking around inside the boat for any major water leaks. After a quick check of the boat found that we weren’t taking on water but we were however stuck on the rock. Luckily several fishermen were on their way back to Spanish Wells and stopped to offer assistance. It took some doing though to get us off the rock with one boat portside giving a gentle push while the other boat was starboard pulling on a line from the mast to cause the boat to lean while John was at the helm giving the engine full throttle. It worked and everyone let out a cry of joy when the boat started moving forward. An early mother’s day present one of the guys said from the boat.