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Cruise/Marina Day 14, Saturday July 17th
We had decided to leave early
at high tide which would be around 9:00 am but Barry had to take
the dingy down, put the motor away and he just wasn’t into it that
early in the morning. We left Treasure Cay at 12:00 noon
and headed off to Orchid Bay Yacht Club and Marina on Great Guana
Cay which is only about 10 miles from Treasure. Very light chop
of about 1’ – 2’ in beautiful aqua water for a very short run. We
passed lots of rock formations, including “Don’t Rock”
appropriately named because that’s the kind of rock you don’t want
to be running into. We also passed some mega-yachts, one
appropriately named “Gallant Lady” moored off some beautiful
beaches in calm anchorages. At one point the boat was on “NAV”
and we came upon what appeared to be markers but most had no
indication they were red or green – no colors, no triangle, no
square, nothing, except the odd “platform”. Weird. So Barry just
took over the wheel and buzzed through them, shaking his head. We
arrived at 1:00 am and yet another slick docking – also
helps when the dock hands know what they are doing. The marina is
very, very nice – clean, modern and there are smiles here too.
Barry said the amperage and water pressure were both great here
(unlike Treasure) which made him very happy. There are just as
many large yachts in this marina as in Treasure, with one at the
end of the dock Rebecca looking particularly regal and so
she should, being worth up to $30 Million. We rented a cart
because there are a few sights and restaurants beyond walking
distance that we didn’t want to miss. Off we go on our cart only
to go around in circles, in the wilderness and end up back at the
marina. The cart had a full windshield and we tried to trade it
for one with a half windshield but all were taken so Barry and the
owner just took the windshield off completely – that works! We
took off again, in the right direction, to scout out Nipper’s Bar
and Grill and a couple of other spots. Nipper’s sits high above
the Sea of Abacos and is a really fun place – wide open to view
the 7 miles of white sandy beach with stools facing outward.
Tables, chairs, stools, Tiki umbrellas are all different colors;
there’s even a kid’s pool and adult pool, and gift shop – very
cool. We’ll have to stay an extra day here – I’m sure we’re all
going to love it. Again the afternoon storms started to roll in
as we sat at Nipper’s overlooking the Sea of Abacos so we jumped
in our cart and went back to the boat to put all the aft glass
down just before the rain started to pour – for all of 5 minutes!
Then of course the sun comes back out and you bake inside the
covered aft deck…up the glass goes again which takes about 10
minutes to accomplish. We were expecting our sailor friends to
roll in about now (4:00 pm) but as it worked out, Bill had some
water pump problems and they had to stay at Treasure another night
until he could tear the pump apart and repair it – the joys of
boating. We went to Bluewater Restaurant and finally, we got
those famous dinners that we remembered from last year –
absolutely awesome. We finished off the evening by sipping Grand
Marnier and looking up at the sea of stars and out at the Sea of
Abacos; the perfect end to a perfect day. Then the storm hit.
Marina Day 15,
Sunday July 18th
At about 4:15 am we were jolted awake by teaming rain and of
course all of the aft deck furniture and rugs were wide open. We
both scrambled out of bed and were immediately drenched with a
torrent of rain and wind as we desperately tried to get the isen-glass
down. The rain was pelting in horizontally with such force, I
just couldn’t believe it. Being “wide awake” now, I probably
would have stayed up but the boys were having no part of that at
4:40 am so we climbed back into bed for another couple of hours.
Of course as soon as our wet heads hit the pillow the rain stopped
– so what exactly did we accomplish by that amazing feat of
marginally saving the furniture? When we finally did get up the
wind was howling but at least it wasn’t raining – I’m sure glad
we’re not out on the water in this today and hopefully by the time
we leave for Marsh Harbour, it will have settled down. The
sailors arrived around 12:30 pm – Will first in Windwalker
then Bill in Kairos, but one thing at a time. Windwalker
was the first to attempt to dock in the wild wind and current but
once the they start to take your boat there’s not too much anyone
can do on the dock – it was all up to Will as the boat was heading
perilously close to the breakwater rocks or back again into boat
pulpits and anchors. He did manage to get it backed in partially
and Barry was able to jump on the boat to get a bow line on and
push off the piling as the others on the dock scrambled to get
lines and pull him in – how stressful, even for people watching.
Windwalker has definitely had its fair share of problems
for a new boat – the latest is the generator isn’t working (that’s
why he’s not anchoring off). Next, Bill comes in on the other
side of the dock to the slip beside ours but Kairos has a
6’ keel so there better be some deep water in that basin. He is
dragging his dingy and had to turn the boat around a couple of
times so Jackie could pass the dingy line to Barry and Will who
are leaning over the bow of our boat. They finally got a hold of
the dingy so Bill could back Kairos in but not after
stirring up a fair bit of sand as the keel is dredging up the
bottom. Whew – now with everybody in and safely out of the waves
out there, we can finish off the rest of our day knowing we’ll be
here for another few days while the weather settles down. We all
went off to Nipper’s for some cocktails and to enjoy some Island
fun on a very hot and sunny Sunday…..and we did just that. On the
way into Nipper’s there is a colorful broken-down back hoe (or is
it a front end loader?) that I guess was easier to paint than to
move. Bill said if he had know about Nipper’s he would have left
yesterday and fixed the pump here. We went back to drop off the
Texans and pick up Salty to go back to the beach for some water
and play time – Salty is definitely a “beach boy”. We met some
really nice people as always, everyone is just having far too much
fun and way too friendly. Like the guy standing in the water with
a cocktail in one hand and a cigar in the other – living the life
of Riley! Everyone adores Salty but he just doesn’t want anyone
to touch him, instead he’ll do the “play stance” and run around
them in catch me if you can mode. If he could meet a dog
that liked him, he’d have a ball charging up and down the beach,
but the other dogs seem to want to get snarly with him; don’t
know why, he’s such an easy going guy – they’re probably just
jealous he’s so well behaved and incredibly handsome!
Marina Day 16, Monday July 19th
Woke up to an overcast morning with a slight drizzle
but as Barry said, days like this are nice sometimes – kinda
therapeutic in a way and a welcome reprieve from the sun beating
down all day. Barry is still fighting with the aft bilge pump on
Salty Old Dog and has finally decided its time to change it
out and thanks to Bill being the “extra parts” kind of guy he is,
he had suggested Barry stock up on back ups. Bill was putzing
around on Kairos a bit putting the dingy and motor up then
came over to help Barry with changing out the pump. I’m sure that
Will will be changing and repairing things on Windwalker as
well, I’ll work on my epistle here, read a bit, check emails at
the office and then make a big dinner on board. The weather
cleared up a bit and calmed the waters but evidently not soon
enough for one sailboat that came in just on the other side of the
dock from us – where Will had his scaring docking yesterday.
Unfortunately, this sailor and all on board, were inexperienced in
this charter boat having just picked it up at Marsh Harbour for a
two week holiday in the Bahamas. The boat started to do the same
dance with wind and current and coupled with inexperienced people
who didn’t know what to do, it turned this docking into a very
unfortunate accident. One of the women tried to get the dingy
they were towing out of the way in order for them to dock backing
in and wrapped the line around her hand. The dingy got stuck in
between the boat and the piling and yes you can just picture what
happened – the dingy’s line (wrapped around her hand) yanked, tore
and crushed her hand. Everyone within hearing distance on the
dock came running to help them and told the Captain to bring the
boat along the other side where the wind wasn’t as bad and put it
into the slip beside ours where we could get at them more easily.
The yacht Rebecca had her Captain and another crew member
who were medical officers as well and they too came running to
help this poor woman whose hand was black, bleeding and swollen
within minutes. The way these boaters rallied to get the boat
docked and the woman taken care of was amazing with Barry, Will
and Bill showing an awesome ability to jump in and do whatever it
took to take care of this woman, as well as, her terrified husband
and traumatized kids. Rebecca’s medical team helped calm
her while waiting for the Rescue team to arrive which was within
minutes and I have to admit, the first team member (a woman)
definitely knew what she was doing which was a comforting thought
should any of us be in need of medical help on the Islands. One
of the first things she said was “get those rings off her fingers”
(why didn’t anyone else think of that?) and even though the woman
didn’t want to for obvious reasons, they did manage to get them
off otherwise over the course of the next several hours that too
would have been an huge problem. Then Rebecca’s 30’ power
boat came to wisk her away to Marsh Harbour and the hospital where
they were better able to assess the injury. We heard the next day
that she had been flown to the States the next morning to have
surgery on her hand, not knowing if she would ever regain use of
her thumb. As I said (or was it Barry?), boating can be a lot of
fun but it can also be very dangerous so you do need to be
cognizant of everything you do while in, on and around boats.
After that we did manage to settle in and have a really nice
dinner on board Salty Old Dog instead of piling into the
cart to go to another restaurant. Then at 4:00 am, the power went
out.
Marina Day 17, Tuesday July 20th
Barry got up at 4:00 am to discover the electricity
was off again and started up the generator and we were thankful
one more time that it was working just fine. That doesn’t help
our sailors but hopefully it would go back on within a couple of
hours – but it didn’t get back up and running until about 5:00
pm. It was a dismal day today due to a tropical wave coming
through and it rained from the time we got up until about 3:00
pm. The storms pretty much sealed Barry’s decision to fly out of
Marsh Harbour on “The Yellow Air Taxi” and leave the boat at Marsh
until we could come back and get it when the “crossing” back to
the States wouldn’t be so rough. We found that if we could get a
crate for Salty we could buy a return ticket for $212 per person,
including taxes, and $50 for Salty which we thought was a pretty
good deal seeing as how we would pay twice that amount in diesel!
Salty would be in a crate but he would be in the same room as we
were and not in some cargo hold so he wouldn’t be as scared or
distraught if he could see us. We’ll fly back to Fort Lauderdale,
rent a car and drive back to Cape Coral then fly back with Barry’s
daughter Jami in a couple of weeks which should work out just
fine. Barry and Bill worked another couple of hours today on the
new bilge pump they installed yesterday – something to do with the
automatic switch and the mid-ship bilge pump that Barry installed
before we left, but they both had smiles on their faces when the
emerged from the engine room so I’m assuming they are fixed for
good (for now). There’s not much to do in a marina in the rain
except fix your boat of course, so we all went up to the Orchid
Bay restaurant at the end of the dock for lunch as we watched the
Sea of Abaco try to calm down somewhat. Seeing as how the rain
had subsided we all went off to Nipper’s for some cocktails,
laughs and awesome views and seeing as how Donna had not been
there yet, this was her opportunity to see a truly awesome “beach
bar”. While at the bar we decided that this was going to be
“Captain Ron” movie night with “Appetizers” on Salty Old Dog
and the sailor girls would bring lots of wonderful snackies and
I’ll do the hot appetizer. Even though we have all seen “Captain
Ron” many times, it was very appropriate, very funny and fun was
had by all - well, maybe not Salty because he is not allowed to
partake while the “humans” are eating but just having us all here
with him while the other dogs were alone on their own boats should
have given him a small feeling of superiority at least.
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