Once Dave and Joan left, our plan had been to stay in the
marina for a few days then to head south to Little Harbor and Pete’s Pub. However, just before they left we had an
offer on our house!! We decided, therefore, to stick around the marina where we
had good phone and internet connectivity. By Sunday, we had accepted the offer
and the house was under contract. Hurray!! (Two days later we found that Tim
and Carrie had made an offer on a house and their offer was accepted also!) Our
buyers scheduled the Home Inspection for Wednesday and our realtor said we would
hear something by Saturday. When we got the Inspection results, they wanted us
to address some 30 issues ranging from slow drains?!?!?) to rewiring some
electrical stuff. Get this: apparently a squirrel has taken up lodging in our garage. Well, they want us to get it out and THEN seal the garage so no more animals can get in. Seal the garage ... so no squirrells and mice can get in? Come on, guy. I asked our realtor what she thinks we should do and am
awaiting her response.
If you will recall, when Dave and Joan were here, we
received our Autopilot in the mail. Our friend John came over to help and when
I started to disconnect the old one, he noticed the words “ST 7000” flashed on
the screen. Hmmm. We played with the connections a little bit and discovered
that the problem might have been nothing more than a loose wire. So, wait a minute. I spent $400 on a new
autopilot, $100 on FedEx charges, piloted the boat from the pilothouse (as
opposed to my preferred Flybridge station) and had to deal with Bahamas
Customs. Andrew was the young man who told me it was the control head and it is
Andrew who will never set foot on this boat again. Grrr. Look on the bright
side, Mike. Your autopilot is fixed and you have a spare control head!! Bright
side, shmight side Grrr!We also had a head (toilet for you landlubbers) malfunction. As you will recall, we have three heads on the boat. The master head has not worked since we bought it, in part because we couldn’t find anyone who worked on Lectra San Heads. Now Lectra Sans are classified by the Coast Guard as an MSD I (Marine Sanitation Device I). They take in the waste, process it on board by using electrodes to turn salt water into hypochlorous acid (HClO for you chemists), which, in turn, destroys odors and bacteria by oxidization. At the end of the day, most experts agree that what is left over is cleaned and better for the environment than anything that comes out of any city waste processing facility – that is, when the Lectra San works. We had two working heads and that was plenty for Ann and I, and any visitors we might have had. Then head number 2 stopped working.
Well, I read the manual from front to back a couple of times (that’s how I knew about the HClO). The solution was to flush a diluted solution of muriatic acid into the head, following some very strict safety procedures, then wait 45 minutes whereupon everything would be good again. I followed to procedures to a Tee – and, of course, nothing happened. Actually, it is not completely out of action, but we don’t ask it to process the … er … heavy stuff, if you get my drift.
During the week we invited two couples over for drinks. Mike
and Harriet aboard Dual Dreams and Jack and Sherri aboard Taiga (who were a
great help on Sunday). Dual Dreams has been cruising for some time and had a
number of suggestions to offer us newbies.
It was a good thing we met Jack and Sherri as they were very helpful the following day.
Just before Dave and Joan left, I lost a crown on one of my
molars. Ann, Little Miss “Be Prepared” brought a set of dental instruments and
some Dentex, a temporary filler for cavities and a temporary glue for crowns.
Well, it didn’t quite work as well as advertised, but it did give me enough
time to find a local dentist. Before I got there I wasn’t sure what to expect,
the Bahamas is a Third World country after all.
Well, you sure wouldn’t have guessed it by this dentist’s office. She
had graduated from the University of Texas Dental School , had some of the
highest tech dental equipment I have seen in any dentist’s office, had CNN
playing in all the exam rooms … I want her as my dentist! Anyway, she replaced
it and I haven’t had any problems in the two days since.
Then came Sunday. We had heard that the high pressure area
that had dominated our weather for the past several days was going to give way
to a strong Cold Front. We heard that there might be some serious wind – twenty
to thirty knots – associated with the Cold Front and the seas would be very
uncomfortable. That was okay for us, we were tied up at a dock in a marina.  |
| As you can see, Traveling Soul does have some windage! |
Sunday morning dawned as any other day. The sun was out, people were adjusting their lines and there were even some folks at the pool. Then the winds came. They started out at 10, then went to 15, 20, 25, 30 – we were sure they would plateau at 30, that was the highest prediction we had heard. Then they went to 35, 40, 45, the highest gust we clocked was at 47 MPH. Those are high winds, even if you are tied up at the dock with several ¾ inch lines holding us in place. Now a ¾ inch line is a pretty big one and has a high working load. However, there was so much strain on one line, in particular – it was moaning and groaning and groaning and moaning – that we tried to add another line to take up some of the strain. The best way to do it would have been to reduce some strain on the first line – without loosening it. So, we pulled and pulled on the boat, trying to generate just a little bit of clack on the over-stressed line, but we couldn’t move it. In fact, Ann got blisters from pulling on the line and I got cramps in my hands. Eventually, several folks from nearby boats came over to help and we eventually got several lines as tight as we could – but old faithful was still moaning and groaning.
While all this was going on, we had another issue. While in the marina, we generally keep our dinghy down so we can travel across the harbor to stores, etc. The night before we had tied the dinghy to our swim platform and put out some fenders to protect the boat in case the dinghy banged into it. Well, the winds were coming from our starboard aft quarter and were really pushing the dighy around. I added more fenders, but that didn’t do any good. I adjusted the lines holding the dinghy, but that didn’t do any good. Eventually, Jack, from Taiga, came over and not only offered advice, but got in the dinghy and tied it to a piling. Still, we were getting water over the top and had to go into the dinghy and bail it out. Eventually, I decided that I would move the dinghy into one of the protected slips. I asked Jack to help and he was more than willing. Soon, I cranked it up and headed into the jaws of the nor’easter.
I could tell you that Jack and I
were two men before the mast, prepared to face Mother Nature in all her fury …
But if I did, I would be lying; our dinghy doesn’t have a mast and the trip was
a bit anticlimactic. We pulled into one of the slips and the dockmaster helped
us secure her.
Now, I swear, no more than 30
minutes after taking our harrying Dinghy ride, the wind began clocking around
and the cold front arrived. The temperature dropped a good 10 degrees and the
wind shifted directions, decreasing to maybe ten to 15 MPH. Whew we made it through another adventure.
ANN'S NOTES: It has been an exciting couple of days...First the good stuff.
One morning I woke up with a fresh cup of coffee in hand...went to the stern to
look outside and right in front of me was a dolphin...they are such beautiful
animals. He or she swam around our boat and under our dinghy a few times...the
sound of them taking a breath is a reminder to me of how important it is for me
to just be still and breath. I do have a picture but it just a grey blur...we
may post it.  |
| Our neighbor Jack bailing our dinghy. He later helped me move it to a safer place. |
Now on to the not so much fun stuff...between handling acid for the heads, and holding lines in the wind...I think I can say I am becoming a true boater. The weather has not been very nice ...the days are windy and at times chilly. I am very happy that we were in a marina when this 'weather front' came in...the thought of being at anchor would have been horrible. Remember that margrine commerical? 'it's not nice to fool mother nature' ...she told us point blank that she was in charge. We had to re-adjust lines and fenders all day....and those poor lines were just screaming for some slack. On every cleat on our boat we had a line attached to it and the dock. I was off and on the boat a few times and even the whole dock was swaying a little. Then we add the dinghy to the whole mess...Michael had the boat tied every which way we could think so it would not bang into our swim platform...but there were white caps in the harbour...wind blowing the dinghy into the boat and no way to stop it. Our new boat neighbor help bale the water out of the dinghy and then went with Michael to tie it up in mid-marina. The result of all this was we no longer have a rub rail on the swin platform...new one to be installed when we get back to VA/MD. As quick as the wind started...it stopped...you could see the clouds 'clock around' and the temperture dropped ten degrees...it started to rain and it was cold. Amazing to watch...not so much fun to be in the middle of it.
 |
| It may not be a great picture, but why don't you ask a dolphin to hold still for a minute!You can see the edge of the dinghy on the right side. If we would have been in it we might have been able to get a free ride! |
We are also in trying to wrap up the sale of our house. We had a home inspection and of course they nit-picked it to a near death. We do have a good realtor,a good phone and excellent net connection.So far so good...that is all for now....all is well on Traveling Soul....
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