Tim and Carrie and Caylin and Gavin (March 31 - April 6)

The day before Tim, Carrie and crew arrived we needed to redeploy the dinghy so we could use it at some of the anchorages we planned to visit. Unfortunately, to raise the dinghy we need to use the winch; the winch, of course, chose today to fail. We could raise the dinghy, but the instant we took our thumb off the “up” button, the dinghy started slipping down.  It seems as if the brake mechanism had failed.  So, somehow, we raised the dinghy using the “up” function as a brake, ensuring that the dinghy didn’t slip more than a foot or so as we were trying to raise it and put it in its cradle. I realize that doing so could have wrecked whatever serves as the clutch function on the winch, but, since we are leaving in a week or two, we really didn’t have much of a choice. At some point we were going to have to raise the dinghy so we could leave. Anyway, we got the dinghy back in its cradle and won’t be able to deploy it until we get the winch fixed and/or the %*+&^$*%#@ dinghy replaced.

Tim, Carrie, Caylin and Gavin arrived at 4:50 PM or so on Friday. They had been up since 3 AM, catching three different airplanes, so the first night we did little more than grill some burgers, chicken and hot dogs, show everyone around the boat, and crash. Although Caylin went right to bed, Gavin took some time adjusting to the new environs. He woke up several times during the night and his Mom and/or Dad had to take care of him. (You will notice that statement did NOT say Grandma or Grandpa had to take care of him; we have been there and done that with his Dad!)

Gavin preparing for his first "adder-plane" ride,
with his sister in the background.

As I said, it took Gavin some time to adjust his sleeping habits to the new bed. Actually, it isn’t his sleeping habits as much as it is his lack-of-sleeping habits that were an issue. Actually, it isn’t even his lack-of-sleeping habits as much as it is his wonderfully LOUD VOICE when he isn’t sleeping. In fact, he has such excellent lungs that I am very, very glad that the designers of our boat put the third cabin grandkids’ stateroom forward and the master grandparents’ stateroom aft. In between? That’s for the parents, of course.

Anyway, on Saturday morning we were off to the magnificent Treasure Cay. Some of you may be detecting a pattern here. Ann and I both love Treasure Cay and enjoy sharing it with others. As you will recall, however, we  cannot deploy our dinghy; that means we have to go to the marina. Oh well.

Tim (the big one in  the cowboy hat), Caylin and Gavin at Treasure Cay.

It is about a 2-hour trip from Marsh Harbor to Treasure (as we insiders call it). As we started out, everyone wanted to go to the flybridge. So, as soon as everyone else was up, I headed up and turned on the autopilot. I know, I know, most of you have already guessed; the autopilot didn’t work. So, I went through my extensive checklist to make sure I had completed the complex, detailed procedures necessary to use the system. Let’s see. Turn it on? Check. Push the Auto button? Check.  Hmmm, that’s it for the checklist and it’s still not working. Well, since the symptoms are the same as they were the last time it failed, I think I know what the problem is – the connection for which I had awarded myself the “autopilot connection award.” That’s okay, I used the autopilot down below. I got us to the marina and docked perfectly.

One of Carrie's artistic photographs of Treasure Cay, which I believe she has entitled,
"One of Carrie's Artistic Photographs of Treasure Cay."

It was then off to Coco’s. Now, any of you who have been to a beach bar or a seaside eatery – whether in the Chesapeake or in “de ilands” – know that service is s-l-o-w. It has always been a little slower at Coco’s. This time, though, rather than trying to fill an order for two people, the staff was trying to fill an order for six. All was not lost, however, as there was a floor show! Well, actually we brought our own floor show. Last year, it seems, Caylin took ballet and this year she is taking tap dance lessons. Gavin not only copies Caylin but knows how to do “boy things” like tackling his sister. Anyway, it just so happens that there was a small stage at Coco’s and the kids put on a show for everyone who was there. After we got our lunch (and Caylin, the very picky eater, actually kind of liked cracked conch!) we walked to the beach for a few minutes and then back to the boat to rest so we could all go to the pool that afternoon and prepare for tomorrow morning’s trip to the beach.

Caylin performing her rendition of "A Combination of Tap, Ballet and
Jumping Around." She is joined by her brother who played
the Jumping Around Role to perfection.

On Sunday morning, after Tim and I had run 3 miles, and while Tim, Carrie, Caylin and Gavin were at the beach, and while Ann was cleaning the boat, I plotted my next assault on the autopilot. Actually, the answer was simple: it was the connector itself that was failing. In fact, when Tim returned, he googled ST7000 and found that corrosion and faulty connectors were major complaints about the device. I knew what I had to do; cut the connector out and splice the wires together. Moreover, it appeared that this would be one of the few times when I both knew what to do AND had the right tools! My only major concern was that the wires on both sides of the connector would have the same color code; otherwise I might end up splicing the power wire to the data wire and the ground to something else. I knew that they should all be color coded according to industry standards – but what “should be” is not always the case in the recreational marine industry. After I marked the cable, I cut the wires and lo and behold everything was properly color-coded. With Tim’s help, I then connected the appropriate wires and held my breath as we turned everything back on. Voila! It all worked!!! I love it when a plan comes together.

Sunday evening, back to the pool and Wednesday night, steak and lobster! A working autopilot and steak and lobster, what else could a guy want?

Early Monday morning we had to get under way. We had made Tim a reservation with Dive Guana to go SCUBA diving. The only difficulty was that we had to get from Treasure Cay to Great Guana before the 10AM start time. That meant we had to get there by about 9:30; that meant we had to leave by about 8:00 AM, and that meant I had to get up about 6:30. Now getting our boat underway is not that complicated but, for me, is a five strep process:

1.       Check the oil, coolant and belts on the engine
2.       Turn on all the electronic equipment we are going to be using
3.       Set up the route in the Chartplotter
4.       Undo the water connection and roll up the hose
5.       Turn off the electricity, take the electric cables down and roll them up (not as easy as it sounds because the cables can be very stiff)
6.       Re-wrap the lines.

All of that is pretty self-explanatory except the bit about re-wrapping the lines. The best way to tie up at a marina is to put the looped end of the lines through our cleat and wrap the bitter end around the piling. (The bitter end is the free end for you landlubbers.  See? This is an educational Blog!) However, since there are usually only two of us, it is difficult, if not impossible to get the lines off the boat as we are backing out of a slip. So, what we do is to shorten the lines and just run them from the cleat around the piling back to the cleat. That way when we are ready, Ann can just pull on one end of the line to unwrap it from the piling. Now when there is no wind, re-wrapping the lines is relatively simple. When there is a wind, it is sometimes necessary to retie up the boat with different lines so you can untie the lines connected to the pilings. I hope that was clear. If not, you can someday buy me a beer (or a Maker’s Mark Manhattan, on the rocks with a splash of cherry juice) and ask me for details. Alternatively, you can send $19.99 to Re-Wrapping Lines c/o Traveling Soul.

We were underway shortly after 8 and made it to Orchid Bay Marina by 9:30. Tim did his SCUBA thing while Ann, Carrie and the kids walked around town – including going to the World Famous Nipper’s.  No, they didn’t party. Instead Ann had a Diet Coke while Carrie and the kids each had a glass of water – or so they told me J. That afternoon, Ann, Caylin and I went to the Orchid Bay pool. Caylin is turning into quite a fish! She can move all over the place with her innertube AND, as long as she is wearing her goggles, (or as Gavin calls them, “woggles”), she can go completely underwater. I think she is getting swim lessons later this summer so next year she should be able to do even more.

Caylin after a plunge to the depths of the pool.

On Tuesday  we had a minor incident with our best working head – actually I should say we had the first problem with our best working head. (If you recall we have three heads: one does not work, one is working at about 50% capacity and one is at 90% or so.) Now with six people on the boat sharing one-and-a-half heads – including one two year old and one four year old – stuff is going to happen. So, exactly how the toilet paper got into the toilet and stopped it up, I don’t really know. I just know that Ann asked if we had a plunger on board, which we don’t. I have always been afraid that the pressure generated by a good plunge would be too much for the band connectors around tubing (not PVC pipe like you have at home) and might really create a mess. (Now that we have had an incident, though, I need to research that theory more – and hope I am wrong.) All was not lost as a few weeks ago we had bought a snake. The problem is that I didn’t like it either, because it has a very sharp point. Again, marine heads have tubing, not piping. I was afraid that the pointy end might punch through the tube. Anyway, Ann used the snake and it worked!

Two days later, we had the same problem. This time, however, the snake got caught in the tubing. That meant we had to suck the water out of the toilet, disconnect the head and try to find the end of the snake and how it was caught. When we did all that we could see the problem. Tim suggested literally “unscrewing” the snake and … (drum roll please) … it worked! We also learned a lesson: the main thing that can cause problems with a marine toilet is toilet paper. Every guest (including little people if they are using toilet paper themselves) needs to know how to use less, rather than more, TP. Also, I think all of us had a tendency to follow the old boater’s slogan, “if it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown, flush it down.” The problem is that toilet paper tended to accumulate from one user to the next. As a result, our new lesson is: remind everyone to conserve toilet paper and to flush each time you use TP. Now some of you may be wondering why I spent so much time talking heads and toilet paper and wishing I would get back to writing about the fun stuff. Hey, man, it is all part of boating!!!

We had another problem later in the week; we overfilled our water tanks. Now, I think I have explained before that when the new water tanks were put in, because they were plastic and can expand beyond their intended size – and buckle the floor – they should have put a check valve of sorts to prevent overfilling. But they didn’t. If we do overfill, the water tanks can bulge and literally lift up the floorboards above them. So, whenever we fill the tanks we keep a close eye on them. Now, when you have four guests on board, especially when two of them are little people, sometimes your attention gets diverted and you forget that the tanks are filling – until it is too late. That is what happened to us. The solution to the problem (as long as nothing gets broken or permanently stretched out of shape – and we don’t think anything did) is simply to turn on some spickets and drain some water out of the tanks.  However, when you do that, you have to remember to turn off all the faucets when you have drained enough water. Again, our attention got diverted and we drained all the water out of the tanks. When we do that air gets into the fresh water system and we have to bleed the water pump to let the air out before the water will start flowing again. We did all that and right now the water system seems to be working. All’s well that ends well, especially when we learn something: When we have guests on the boat (and we REALLY like guests on the boat) we need to have a system to ensure that we can pay attention to our guests AND pay attention to the boat.

Eventually we returned to Marsh Harbor. We got there Tuesday afternoon and went to the pool where Caylin continued to amaze us with the continuing evolution of her fish-like abilities. Gavin may also develop those kind of capabilities, but right now he is about mixing cups of water and pouring them on his sister. The next day Ann took Carrie across the harbor to a few of the stores in the area where she bought a couple of shirts for the kids and a necklace for Caylin. After that, Ann had to take everyone who was awake to lunch so she could show them her favorite local food: BLT (On the special Bahamian bread) with onion rings Mmm.

Caylin preparing for another dunk to the pool's depth, with her
mother making sure she comes back up.

Before we knew it, it was Thursday and time for the crew to leave. Gavin was looking forward to being on another “adder-plane.” (The English language is sometimes not rich enough to capture all the subtleties and nuances of 2-year old speak, but in this case, I think adder-plane is a pretty good representation of what he said.)

Update: After Tim and crew arrived at the airport, they found out the Sky Bahamas flight on which they were booked was going to be delayed by an hour; that would give them a very short connection schedule in Nassau. Well, they took the flight, missed their connection in Nassau and subsequently missed their connection to BWI. Since it was just before Easter weekend, there were no other flights available. It looked like they would be stranded in Nassau.

Here are Tim's words:

Tim's Notes (Special Edition)
Title: Before a Pouring Rain it is Windy

After an amazing stay on the Motor Vessel Traveling Soul, we woke up on their last day to some winds.  The winds had subsided by noon, so all was good, or so we thought.  After a 2 hour wait at the Marsh Harbor International Airport, which consisted of one terminal, one gate, and many prop planes, we learned that our flight to New Providence, Nassau on Sky Bahamas was going to be delayed by 45 minutes.  I commiserated with some business men, and shared his flight information with them to see if we could get on their flight as they had already missed theirs.  The flight was supposed to be 25 minutes, so we would have 80 minutes to get through Customs and Immigration.  After we collected our luggage, we made their way to the International Terminal at the Nassau International Airport, which is located on the opposite side of the airport.  We arrived at the US Airways check in counter to find that we were not allowed to check in because we did not arrive 90 minute before their flight.

Upon learning of the missed flight, I went to the Sky Bahamas counter  to see if they would be able to assist.  However, because it was "the weather" that caused the delay, they reported that they were not obligated to assist in anyway; they met that obligation. The best US Airways could do is to put all 4 of us on a waiting list for a flight out the next day.  But really, the odds of all of us getting a seat on the one and only flight out, when all flights were fully booked was "slim" and nothing else available until Tuesday (this all occurred on Thursday).  I called the travel insurance they used when they booked the flight, however weather is not covered.   In Marsh Harbor, the businessmen that I had talked with found a flight on Jet Blue leaving the next day and booked a room in the Nassau Sheraton.  After some discussion on our options, I booked a flight for 4 to get back home, albeit into a different airport than we started this adventure from.  One of the businessmen booked an extra room at the Sheraton getting us a great rate.

 At the Sheraton, there was a Jewish Passover convention.  This only comes into play because when it rains it pours. We were told when the reservation was made that we would either have two beds or a roll away bed.  After about an hour or two after check-in we found out that there were no roll aways available.  Therefore Carrie was kneed and slapped all night long, as she slept with the kids in the bed, while I called room service for extra sheets and pillows and slept on the floor.  At check-out the Sheraton further discounted the room for them.  

The lessons learned through this experience:

• 800 numbers are expensive and NOT toll free when outside of the US.  Get a SKPYE account and add money to it. 
• When booking a trip, book the flights from departure to arrival all through the same outlet.  We made the error ofbooking the flights through to Nassau with one service, then booked the flightto Marsh Harbor separately (because it was cheaper) with Sky Bahamas. It may cost extra, however the cost of booking a one way for 4 people at the last minute was more than the cost of an all inclusive round trip. (I will personally avoid flying Sky Bahamas in the future.  We are not fans!!!)
• If you book through Travelocity, and you miss a flight, or think you might miss a flight; they should be your first call!  They can take care of much more and will be able to get more $$ refunded to you. 
• Completely random Americans in a foreign country can be a lifeline for you.  The men that helped us out were awesome, and would not even allow us to buy them a drink at the hotel.  They only asked us to"get your kids home for Easter."
• Good family friends are always willing to pick you up from an airport,especially if your vehicle is in an airport 90 miles away. 
• When traveling with kids, an amazing traveling partner is needed.

ANN’S NOTES:  I will keep my portion of the blog short and sweet since this addition is rather long.
Having the family visit was so much fun, seeing the Bahamas through the eyes of an almost five year old and a very verbal two year old is interesting.
Caylin turned into a mermaid in the pool,she had her whole face in the water and loved it. Now she just needs to get her arms and legs working together and she will be a great swimmer. I think having dad as a swim coach will come in handy this summer.
Gavin liked floating around in his innner tube and pouring water from one platic cup to the other.
Both kids loved the boat and had a great time...some days were better than others but all in all we had a wonderful time.
Traveling Soul ...out