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Day 16 - 17, July 2nd to 3rd
Ok, so this will be our day to head out to an anchorage for a few days. It's not as easy as you may think to "get ready to leave". It takes Barry a couple of hours to make sure everything is set to take off, such as check all gauges, clean A/C filter, set our course, bring the dingy over to another dock so we can attach and drag it to the anchorage, pack up the hoses, bring in the power cord, tie down aft deck furniture, fill the "water bladder", etc., etc….the list goes on and on. The water bladder holds an additional 50 gallons of water and you fill it up, put it somewhere where there's lots of room (up top behind the helm) so when you get really low on water, you just siphon it out and into your water tank. We don't need it when we are at a Marina as they obviously have water there, but an extra 50 gallons comes in handy when you are at anchor and are in need of a shower! I must add you get what you pay for because our water bill for the last two days at the Marina (and the bladder fill up) was $100.00. When underway, it looks like a big bloated blue bladder flopping around the deck like a walrus - very attractive. We are going to drag the dingy so that meant Barry had to move it to another dock where we would slide over and pick it up before heading out. Salty was quite upset that Barry left in the dingy without him and what made matters worse is that from the bow, Salty could see him at the other dock! Then, I have to make sure everything that moves inside is either put away, put down or tied down because you just never know what you are going to come up against once you are under way. Our laundry was delivered before we left and I guess I got off easy with only a $30 tab (hand washing comes to mind from now on). We were out of the slip by 11:30 am and over to the other dock to pick up the dingy and out into the channel by 12:10 pm. There's a 13 knot wind out there so it's breezy and choppy which isn't ideal, but not so bad if you are going slow and we only cruised at around 9 knots per hour anyway because the dingy being dragged behind us would have been airborne otherwise. What was going to be a one hour cruise to Shroud Cay to anchor turned into a four hour cruise to "somewhere else". We passed a sailboat that actually had its sail up (novel idea) and it was right in front of Norman Cay where the infamous "Rum Runners" were caught a couple of years back. We were in 3-4' waves with the odd 5 footer thrown in for good measure and that is definitely not what we had in mind. Once we arrived at Shroud, we weren't able to get in far enough to get out of the waves and wind, so this wasn't going to work as it was far too unprotected. Barry then had to act fast to get the boat out of the shallow water and locate someplace else to either anchor or moor. So, out come the chart books to find better anchorages and it wasn't looking good for a while. We managed to luck into a mooring spot at the Exumas Cay Land & Sea Park which is very well protected - we were told to go to Mooring Ball Number 10 which is directly in front of the beach - perfect. Remember the line removing fiasco in Miami with me fighting to get the lines off the pilings? Picture the same scenario here with me trying to get a hold of the mooring line that was inconveniently wrapped around the mooring anchor and under water. Remember the new boat hook I bought in Miami that was supposed to do wonders? It turned out to be the same piece of crap the old one was and the rubber handle popped off as I was struggling to hold on to the damn thing to get the mooring line. Here I am with the railing jammed up against my ribs and the boat hook is quickly slipping out of my hands (it's covered in salt water too) and I can just imagine, not only did the handle pop off, but I'm going to loose the whole freakin' thing in the drink because I can't hold onto it. Barry left the helm and was able to hold onto the boat hook but still couldn't get the mooring line free from under the anchor. Plan B. Call for help. Just as one of the Rangers was coming to free the line, another boater came by in his dingy and got the mooring line loose and was able to attach our line to it and that fiasco was finished - we were hooked. The Ranger, who is still floating about watching us, said they were having a party at the Club tonight and all we had to do was bring what we wanted to drink - I thought - I'm there! We sat for a while to collect ourselves from that stressful day, then got in the dingy and went into one of the most pristine beaches we've ever been on. This place is BEAUTIFUL. The water is crystal clear, the sand is sparkling white and the hills are picturesque. Truly Paradise found. Salty couldn't wait to jump into and then out of the dingy - yay, another beach to play on! This is awesome and we will definitely come back here; all three of us lay around in the water - so nice after a long and hot run in the boat. We'll go exploring tomorrow and go up the "mountain", actually a hill but all the land here is so flat that anything this high almost appears to be a mountain. There is a spot on top called "Boo Boo Hill" that has a huge collection of signs and "things" that boaters have deposited over the years. It's was originally started by a crazy old sailor, years ago, who stayed here for many months
Day 17, Sunday, July 3rd and we had a great sleep with only the odd gentle rocking and the generators ran all night - bonus! Did I say great sleep? It would have been if my ribs weren't bruised from my battle with the railing and my back wasn't wrenched from my battle with boating in general. I said at the beginning of this adventure that boating was not for the old or unfit and I'm feeling particularly old and unfit this morning. These new battle scars give new meaning to the "Booze, BRUISE and Loose Cruise"! We checked and cleaned the A/C filter first thing which is what we need to do every morning to make sure it doesn't get clogged up and cause a problem. Even in this crystal clear water, it was filled with sea grass and baby jelly fish. Off we go in the dingy around 8:30 am to explore the island and let Salty get his fill of another run on the beach and in the water. We debated on whether or not to bring our sandals and because we had to trek up there carrying things like hand-held VHF, water bottles, camera, etc., we decided that we wouldn't need them because it was probably all sand up there - wrong decision. Anyway, we went up the trails (yes there was sand but lots of rocks and shells as well) to Boo Boo Hill and while up there you can see 360° of gorgeous aqua waters and boats moored around the Park. Salty was happy to get down from there and back to where there was water to lie in. We were definitely at low tide and the tide had gone way out by the time we came back to the dingy. Salty laid down in the first "water hole" he could find, digging around in a circle to make it larger. We radioed in to the Park Ranger to stay another night at the mooring and we'll go back up to Boo Boo Hill either tomorrow or when we go back in a week or so, to deposit a couple of Koozies (with Barry Peterson, The Boater's Realtor on them) so we can be sure to leave our mark as well. We did notice that there was a plaque with "Royal Palm Yacht Club" from Fort Myers up there! This Park is much more civilized than some we've been at (i.e. Dry Tortugas) with regard to Salty - all they ask is that your pet not be "unattended" so they really don't mind if Salty is off-leash or not…how's a guy to romp on the beach with a leash on? We went for a dingy ride in the afternoon to see what we could see and also to check in at the Park Ranger station, which was a loss because they are closed on Sunday. It is so idyllic here floating "on hook" with all the comforts of home. Salty was quite interested in the grouper that decided to taunt him at the swim platform in the early evening and I'm always afraid he's going to fall in and the fish will bite him but Barry assures me that Wheaten Terriers on not on a grouper's menu so I guess I'll have to just go with that. We had another great dinner on board and watched a horrible movie - Denzel Washington in "License to Kill". Denzel, Denzel, Denzel, what were you thinking when you made that dog!?
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