Commodore
March 12, 2020

Missing our Powder Monkey!

As we have to sit out another day while the sea calms down, the highlight was receiving a photo of Coco showing off the daffodils at home.

Rowan had to get Sam to the road for his taxi at 7:45am. Still a bit blowy but hopefully his luggage stays dry. He was taking no chances and set off in swimming trunks.

Then we had another of the boat’s little quirks, as the one engine wouldn’t start, not that we were going anywhere. Rowan was on the hotline to the UK and Volvo, with everyone giving various suggestions, until it seemed inevitable that we would have to go back to Nassau and get it fixed. So we were all feeling a little tetchy, especially as our water tanks are running seriously low. We cant make water here as the water quality is not good enough, too silty, and we can’t leave our little anchorage as it is still too rough out there. Luckily Rowan phoned Tom (who spent a week with us at the beginning teaching us the ropes) who said to get someWD40 on the wires and jiggle them about a bit……. hey presto it worked!

Tried to do a bit of cleaning but not easy without water! We heard on the VHF that there were drinks on the beach for all ‘Thompson’s Bay Cruisers’ …… our first yachtie socialising event. Keen as mustard we were ready at 4pm, but saw no dinghies on the beach, until we finally spotted a dinghy heading over. We went armed with beers and crisps, not sure of the etiquette (the only two couples we have asked to come over for drinks have both been teetotal!). By the time we arrived there were another couple of dinghies and there must have been about 20 by the end. All great fun, mainly American and Canadian, escaping the winter weather.

We were certainly the novices on the block, but really interesting to hear everyone’s stories. I was desperate to find people heading south to the Turks & Caicos (I showed my ignorance by thinking it was part of the Bahamas and not an independent country!), as that is our route south, but requires a change in wind direction which still looks another 10 days away. ‘Two Loons’ is definitely heading that way but wondered if they were reliable with a name like that! (better clarify that’s a joke, we know it’s a water bird!). We also met an interesting pair of academics from the University of California, she has taken a semester off to write a book, her subject is Art History, he is a Biology Lecturer heading to the Dominican Republic to do some work at a university there. However they have been sailing for ages and taking the hairy shallow route…… so we won’t be following them! The spread on the snack front put us to shame a bit, now we know the drill for the next one. We finally left at about 6:30 to go back and join Phoebs who had opted to finish her book rather than talk ‘cruising’!