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Monday, Jan. 20 (Day 154) Staniel Cay – Day 2
Sunny and cool…73F…the day of mishaps!
We had a lovely, refreshing sleep and were ready to have some fun and explore Staniel Cay today. After our VHF ‘8:00 on 8’, Luna moved to anchor across from Staniel Cay Yacht Club (SCYC) and Amarone ll headed into the Yacht Club docks to replenish water and enjoy the amenities the marina offers. Unfortunately it turned out there are no marina washrooms or showers, but the dock was conveniently outside the bar/dining room!
We left Mar-a-Lago firmly anchored and dinghied to the SCYC dinghy beach…well, we almost got there!! The dinghy engine sputtered and quit as we approached…our first mishap of the day! Brian rowed us the rest of the way ashore. Off came the engine cowling and what we hoped would be a quick fix wasn’t…it just wouldn’t start! While Brian, Claude, Bruce, Bunky and Phil worked on the engine, Carol and I set off to explore the village, which didn’t take very long. We were looking for groceries and found the three ‘shops’…the pink house, the blue house and the yellow house (Isles General Store). Although each store carries some of the same staples, they each seem to carry certain different items. The pink house has a minimal liquor supply, milk and homemade bread. The blue house has banana loaf made by the daughter, but no milk, the yellow house sells marine supplies/parts… and so it goes. Lorraine, who runs the pink store was very cheerful and we enjoyed chatting with her and learning her recipe for ‘peas and rice’.
When we returned to SCYC, the dinghy engine still was not working…for those not familiar with boating, to cruisers the dinghy/engine is like your car, a water vehicle you just cannot do without. We anchor out most of the time, and the dinghy is the only way to get to shore, shop for supplies, and just get places…it really is a necessity and now ours is not operational! We decided it was time to get a mechanic, and learned that ‘Chubby’ (who isn’t) was our guy…Brian just had to find him somewhere around the marina. Everyone else had gone into the YC building for pre-lunch drinks, and as I headed along the wooden walkway, I slipped on some sand on top of the wood and fell down onto the adjacent cement sidewalk…wow, it was a very hard landing on my hip and arm! Luckily nothing was broken, just bruised, but I was certainly shaken up from the second mishap of the day! Luckily the meal service was on ‘island time’, so I had lots of time to re-gain my composure before my grilled mahi-mahi arrived…and it was worth the wait!!!
After lunch Brian and I went for a walk around the village and stopped at the BTC store to purchase more cellular time. We then checked out the airport where a hand painted sign asks that you not walk on the runway! People stand or sit on their bikes/golf carts beside the runway waiting to board/meet people/pick up deliveries when the plane taxis to a stop in front of them. Golf carts are the primary means of travel on the island, although the police force does have a jeep. I took Brian to the yellow house, pink house and then the blue house where we bought some Nassau bread and the daughter’s zucchini bread.
Back at SCYC, Chubby agreed to take our engine and work on it overnight, hopefully it will be fixed in the morning. In the mean time, we had no means of getting back to our boat…it is about a mile and a half away, too far to row. BUT, we are travelling with a great group of friends…Bruce and Claude insist we put their engine on our dinghy to enable us to get around until we come back tomorrow morning… thanks guys, you are the best!
So after a very eventful day, we headed back with Amarone ll’s engine on our dinghy, to our floating home to have a very subdued evening… happy hour was Yeungling (beer) for Brian, but Advil and rest for Jane’s injuries.
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Tuesday, Jan. 21 (Day155) Staniel Cay – Day 3
How nice, another good sleep in calm seas! At our ‘8:00 on 8’, we discussed the variety of weather reports for another cold front coming our way…we are expecting very high winds clocking from south to west and then eventually to NE, and a protected anchorage is important. Brian and I got ready to head back to SCYC to pick up our repaired dinghy engine. On our way we visited the beach where the swimming pigs reside and entertain boaters. We saw three adults and a piglet, none too interested in us as we approached their beach, and they made no attempt to swim out to our dinghy for a handout. We heard these critters can be aggressive in begging for food, and if you dinghy too close in shallow water, they may stand on their hind legs and try to climb into your dinghy! Oh well, no swimming, leaping pigs for us today!
Our engine is waiting for us, so we return Amarone ll’s engine and clamp ours onto the dinghy and guess what…it still doesn’t start! Some of the guys try starting it, but nothing happens. Brian heads off to find Chubby, who comes over and gives a try, and nothing! He suggests new spark plugs, so Carol and I trudge over to the yellow house…there are several boxes of them, we need only two, but none were the correct size. Brian isn’t happy with our shopping results…then Phil arrives and he has a couple of spark plugs, they are installed and still the engine won’t start! OK…Chubby will work on the engine again tonight, so it is removed from the dinghy along with the gas tank. The high winds are expected to generate big waves at the marina, so we cannot leave our engineless dinghy on the SCYC beach. Brian and Phil carry the dinghy up onto shore, locking it to a tree… should be safe there! Phil gave us a ride back to Mar-a-Lago, and we motored over our anchor chain to check the anchor set. We are now ‘boat-bound’ until Phil picks us up tomorrow morning. After lunch, we backed down heavily on the anchor, then Brian dived down to confirm we are really dug in nicely… with the forecasted high winds, we need to be sure of our holding!
Luna had re-anchored near us, and joined us for happy hour and discussions about weather and the impending high winds… we know we are in for a rough ride while the wind clocks through west to north-west… hopefully it will move as quickly as predicted… time will tell!!!
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Wednesday, Jan. 22 (Day 156) Staniel Cay – Day 4
Well, the 20 knot West winds arrived as predicted, but didn’t pass through as quickly as we thought, so it was an uncomfortable night. We received waves from the Banks, on our bow and it stayed that way all night. The good news was there were no currents to compete with the waves or spin us sideways. We once again set our ‘Drag Queen’ alarm, but knew our anchor was well set and keeping us safe. I started to read another book and kept an eye on things…FYI, watching the wind instruments does not make the wind clock any faster!!!
Everyone compared notes at ‘8:00 on 8’, the West siders (anchored on the west side of Big Majors Spot) had wind and waves, the East siders (anchored on the east side) called it best and had calm shelter…but one boat did drag back there.
I spoke with Carol a couple of times today…Luna is still anchored near us in the bay, and the crew is looking forward to a more peaceful night tonight. Phil and Krista came by to pick up Brian and take him to SCYC to retrieve the dinghy and engine…once again, new friends going beyond ‘awesome’ to assist us in solving our engine problem…thanks from the bottom of our hearts! While Brian was gone, I stayed on the boat to blog and do chores, and got a lot done! By late morning Phil and Brian arrived back…both soaking wet from plowing through the waves…and without our dinghy or engine! We are getting concerned that there isn’t a fix and we all want to move on tomorrow!
This afternoon Brian was going to tighten the fan belt, but closer inspection (by Prudence) encouraged him to change it for a new one. If only fixing the dinghy engine was that easy! By 4:00 the wind was shifting North and decreasing as predicted, but the bay was still choppy…so happy hour was cancelled, as Luna’s crew would have been soaked on arrival! At our ‘7:00 on 8’
As the evening progressed, the winds shifted more north which flattened the seas in the anchorage… it was lovely and calm…we will definitely sleep better tonight !
What will tomorrow bring? Find out HERE…
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Sailing With Devious, 2014 