We closed the circle

We have closed the circle.  We are now tied up at Matthews Point Marina for a little R&R, projects and visiting.

We pulled out of our slip at Palm Coast Marina early on Monday, stopped at the fuel dock to fill up and started up the ICW.  We were able to catch the 12:30 bridge opening in St. Augustine, raised the mainsail  and headed out the inlet.  We had talked to our weather advisory earlier when we thought we might be leaving and he gave us a set of waypoints to ride the gulf stream.  We set our first waypoint and we were off.  The weather forecast was for light and variable winds all along the coast so we didn't expect to do much sailing.  The problem we ran into was the forecasts we were using were for near shore conditions and we were nowhere near shore, we were heading to the gulf stream.  What we ran into was light winds out of the northeast every day.  Not bad conditions although sometimes the seas would build then lie down again.  At one point we tried sailing but there just wasn't enough wind.  It was going to be a motor boat ride.

About an hour after leaving the inlet Cori caught her first fish, a real nice sized king mackerel.  After that she caught a couple of frigate mackerels and since they are not as good to eat they were thrown back.  We started our four hour shifts and motored along.  Once we hit the gulf stream our speed jumped from 6 knots to 11.  We were screaming along.  As we continued from waypoint to waypoint our speed would fluctuate from 7 to 10 knots.  This is why we wanted to get into the stream, we had 400 miles to go and wanted to make them as fast as we could.  Monday night was uneventful, only seeing a couple of ships, we continued on.

Tuesday was another day for fish.  It started out with Cori hooking the biggest Mahi we had ever caught.  She spent about twenty minutes fighting it to the side of the boat so I could hook it with the gaff.  After gaffing it I tried to get it onboard and it slipped off the gaff.  Fortunately it still had the hook in it's mouth so I gaffed it again and got it onboard.   Fish do not like being on a boat and get real frisky when you pull them up.  This one was frisky enough to not only slip off the gaff, but to throw the hook on it's way back into the ocean.  Pretty disappointing.  A little later another Mahi took the hook and the fight was on again.  This one was a little smaller and when he got alongside I hooked him with the gaff, but again he slipped off as I was bringing it aboard.  This time he also threw the hook and off he swam.  Mahi's 2, gaffer 0.  I was not the most popular person on the boat.  We reviewed my technique and decided what to do differently.  Later in the afternoon when Cori was off watch sleeping another fish took the bait.  I got her up and the fight was on again, another Mahi.  At the end of the battle and when it was alongside I hooked it with the gaff and instead of trying to bring it up on deck we moved it to the cockpit and pulled it in.  This time if it got off the gaff it would not go overboard.  I was not quite as large as the first but measured in at an amazing 48 inches, the largest Cori has caught and gotten onboard.

The rest of the evening was quiet with another awesome sunset and a quiet night,  We came across fewer ships out in the gulf stream then we do when staying closer to shore so it is easier to be on watch.  I spend my time listening to audio books and Cori listens to podcasts she downloaded.

Wednesday morning we altered our course from following the waypoints to steering a straight course for Beaufort Inlet, our final destination.  By changing tactics we would travel a bit shorter route but lose a little speed.  We dropped down to about 7 knots once we eventually got out of the stream.  It is amazing how much of a boost you get riding the gulf stream.  We wanted a shorter coarse because we were running low on fuel.  We had wanted to do some sailing but the winds would not cooperate so we had to motor along.  At this point we added the contents of one of our jerry jugs to the tank and continued.  As we got out of the gulf stream the winds also changed.  Here were the light and variables we had seen forecast.  It kept switching around but never enough to sail.  Later in the afternoon we added the second jerry jug to the tank, our last one.  We carry eighty gallons of diesel and two five-gallon jugs.  This was going to be close.  We estimated we would arrive around six in the evening and were wondering if the fuel docks would still be open.  At mile 398, just 7 miles from the inlet the engine shut down,  We were out of fuel, not dead in the water since we still had a sail up but now down to 2-3 knots.  We have towing insurance in case of an emergency and we gave Tow Boat US a call and requested fuel be brought out to us.  The delivery is covered by the insurance but the fuel is out of pocket, fifty bucks out of pocket, for ten gallons.  We sailed on until the boat delivered, restarted the engine and were off again.  We had sailed about 4 miles.  We came through the inlet with an incoming tide and motored to the spot we had chosen to anchor for the night.  We dropped anchor, relaxed for a bit and watched the sunset.

Wednesday morning came much too early.  In the form of rolling caused by boats heading out to fish.  They get an early start.  About 8:00 we pulled the anchor and headed to the Morehead Yacht Basin to take on fuel.  Once the tank and the jerry jugs were filled we headed out on the last leg of the trip, back up the ICW to the Neuse River.  Usually on the ICW we get passed a lot and there is a technique to not getting hit with big wakes but this time we only got passed once.  Almost a record.

Once into the Neuse we cut across the the town of Oriental to pick up our new dinghy.  Since we had sold ours we had been shopping in Florida for a replacement and the best price we found was back in NC where we had bought the other one.  They were holding it until we got back.  We tied up at the free dock in Oriental and walked the one block to the store.  Our first time on land, other then the fuel dock, since we left Monday morning.  Once the transaction was complete and the new dinghy was tied on behind us we left for the last short hop to Matthews Point Marina, where we started back on November 2nd.

We had been gone for just short of seven months and traveled 2388 nautical mile on Hi Flite and about 400 miles delivering Release.  A total of 2788 nautical miles or 3208 statute miles.  Almost the distance from New York to London.  We could have crossed an ocean.

Now that we are back we have a couple of projects to complete.  Then we are taking off for Ocracoke Island for the music festival and to celebrate my birthday.  It is real nice of them to have a festival in honor of my birthday.  From there, depending on the weather and project lists we will begin our next adventure.  We will be heading north again hoping to get further then last year.  We hear Maine is beautiful.

Getting ready to move again

The mechanic has left.  The only thing yet to do is to pay him.  We are not looking forward to that.  The rebuilt injector pump and injectors are installed and it has changed how the engine is running.  Fortunately the change is for the better.  We now idle much smoother, should have more power and the noises from the v-drive have gone away.  We need to start looking for a weather window to move north.

We have not been idle while we were waiting, at least not all of the time.  We had made some lists of projects that needed to be done when we were back in North Carolina before we headed north again.  We have crossed most of those off.  We replaced the anchor chain; the old one had lost its galvanizing and was beginning to show too much rust.  While working on replacing the chain I got an idea to add an access port from the anchor locker to the chain locker.  We have access to the chain locker from the v-berth but if there is a problem feeding chain in or out we have to move everything in the v-berth to get at it.  Since the v-berth is now storage it involves moving a lot of stuff.  Usually the problem is from how the chain stacks up as it is fed in and since I changed from 150 feet of chain to 200 feet there is the possibility of more problems.  At the time I bought the chain I also bought an 8.5 inch waterproof port.  Borrowing a saw from our neighbor boat I cut out an opening in the anchor locker to give access to the chain below.  It came in real handy when I spliced 100 feet of rope rode to the end of the chain.  We now have the ability to put out 300 feet of rope and chain if necessary.

Our lifeline stanchions have needed to be rebedded for a long time and since it is such a miserable job I have always put it off.  We finally have them rebedded properly and should not have a leak for many years.  Several of our windows were leaking also, so we now know how to take them apart and replace the seal and interior sealer.  Two down six to go.  Our single sideband radio was acting up; we could receive but not transmit a clear signal.  We had it worked on while in the Bahamas but it didn’t get better so we ordered a new one.  We now have a new Icom M802 radio installed along with the connecting cables and all of the other stuff that makes it work.  Running the new copper foil under the floor was a major project in itself.  We also had the bright idea to remove two of the older winches and move the newer self-tailing into their place.  This should help with trimming the sails since it will only take two hands to do it instead of three.

Cori has polished the stainless steel, sealed the exterior teak and has been working on making new sail covers.

There have been a number of smaller projects completed along with the everyday maintenance a boat requires.

Now it is time to go cruising again.  We have been sitting at a dock for too long.  Fortunately, if we had to be stuck at a dock this is not a bad place to be.  We need to catch some good weather to move north since we have plans to be at Ocracoke Island for the music festival and my birthday.

Still in Palm Coast FL

Well, we are still here.  There was a possible weather window last week but we let it pass.  While we were delivering Release to North Carolina the mechanic had been working on our problems.  When we got back we met with him and went over some other problems and symptoms.  Since we have a Westerbeke engine and he is a certified Westerbeke mechanic we decided to have some preventive maintenance taken care of.  The engine runs well except at low idle and we decided to have him check that out.  There are also a number of things that should be checked due to the number of hours that have been run.  Unfortunately, we motor much more than I would like but that is the problem when trying to go from point A to point B.  Sometimes you just can't sail.  So far we have a number of parts that have been removed and sent in for reconditioning with promises of getting them back between one to three weeks.  That is why we decided to stay here for another month.  There are worse places to be and most of what we need are a couple of miles away, a long walk or bike ride away.  We do have access to bicycles if we need to make a run for something and Enterprise will pick us up if we need a car.

Speaking of cars, we rented one for the day and ran across the state to Clearwater to pick up our new Yamaha outboard, a 15 horse 4 cycle.  We had the 9.9 horse and found that it had enough power to get us almost anywhere but we were running it at full throttle most of the time.  I am hoping that the bigger motor will push us along with a bit more power in reserve for those times we have a bigger load or more people on board.  Now if we just had a dinghy.  The best price we found on the dinghy was up in North Carolina so we have to wait until we get back to pick it up.  Another day we made a run down to Ft. Pierce to buy some chain to replace our anchor rode.  The old one had lost it's galvanizing and was rusting.  It was getting to the point I didn't trust it in a heavy blow.  It only takes one weak link to separate us from our anchor.  I initially called them to make sure they had the size and length I needed before renting the car.  When we got there I took a look at the chain and realized I had ordered the wrong size.  Fortunately they had not cut it yet.  Once we had paid for our purchase they used their forklift to get it into the trunk and we were off.  Once back at the marina we laid it out on the ground and marked it at various lengths so we will know how much we have out then replaced the old chain.  We offered our old chain to anyone here that wanted it and had a taker.  While swapping out the chains I also took the opportunity to tear down the windlass and lubricate some bearings that were in dire need of grease.  We are now ready to safely anchor out again.

We have been making a list of projects to work on when we got back to North Carolina so we are going to try to work through them while we are here.  As soon as the engine is up and running again we will continue our trip spending some time in NC and then off to Ocracoke the first weekend of June for the music festival.  From there we will head out on our summer cruise north seeing how far north we will get this year.

In New Bern NC

We are in New Bern NC getting ready to return to Florida to pick up where we left off on Hi Flite.

The weather forecast was giving us several days of good weather so on Sunday we headed out.  The trip up the ICW to St. Augustine was uneventful even in the shallow areas and we managed to catch the 2:00 pm opening at The Bridge of Lions, from there we raised the mainsail and motored out the inlet.  The tide was going out and the wind was pushing against it so it was a rough ride out the inlet.  From there we set our course for Cape Fear and began.  The seas were still rough with waves in the 5-6 foot range causing us some rolling.  We were hoping that the raised mainsail would help to dampen the rolling. The seas were causing the autopilot to work overtime trying to keep us on track.  During the night the autopilot gave up completely.  We were now tasked with steering by hand the entire trip.  Steering a boat in open water is a little different then steering a car.  There are no points of reference, no signs or buoys to guide you while offshore.  All you can do is just watch the compass and keep on your heading, for hours on end until the next shift comes on.  We normally do four hour shifts but we got off sequence since we were both real tired.

The weather forecast was for the winds to shift from northeast when we started to south by the time we got to Cape Fear and they were right.  As we progressed the sea conditions also dropped so that we only had a mild swell and pretty calm conditions.  The forecast also called for a major wind shift to the northwest then clocking to northeast sometime on Wednesday.  We only had a thirty gallon fuel tank with an extra twenty gallons in jerry jugs so we also needed fuel.  This is why we were aiming for the Cape Fear River instead of continuing on to Beaufort NC.  We arrived in Southport Tuesday and called several marinas until we found one that had room for us. It was after 5:00 so they stayed open late to get us in.  Thank you staff of South Harbour Village Marina.  We ended up tied up behind Lee and Cheryl on Shalaylee.  After showers we joined then for drinks, stories and ice cream.

Wednesday the forecast proved to be correct and the winds were out of the northeast and the temperature had dropped with highs in the mid 60’s and lows in the low 40’s through the weekend.  Pretty chilly when you don’t have a heater and did not bring warm weather clothes.   After a few phone calls to Ken and Francie we ordered the part needed for the autopilot and choose to stay at the marina until the weekend.  Friday the part arrived and the autopilot was again working.  Saturday morning we left the dock early to make as many miles as we could and headed up the Cape Fear River and back into the ICW.  It turned out that Ken and Francie were only a couple of miles behind us and when they caught up we traveled with them.  They draw less water than we did so they went ahead to measure the depth after we went aground near Carolina Beach.  We bumped the bottom several more times the next couple of days.  Sunday morning we pulled anchor at sunrise to try to make it to Morehead City by nightfall.  The weather forecasters had the winds all wrong.  Instead of 15-20 knots we were fighting 20-30 knot winds, at one point we saw gusts up to 37 knots.  We made it to Morehead City sooner than we expected and decided to continue as far as we could to get to Oriental.  Midway up the Core Creek/Adams Creek section of the ICW is Bocks Marine, where we had Hi Flite hauled out and redid the bottom.  We pulled into their docks before sunset and settled in for the night.

Over dinner that night we made a change of plans.  Instead of taking both boats to Oriental where Ken and Francie were going to meet the perspective buyer of Release, it was decided that they would take Release to Oriental and Cori and I would take Both Sides Now to New Bern .  They would continue on up to the Chesapeake and then come back to pick up Both Sides Now.  This was our first time piloting a powerboat.  I rode with Ken up to an anchorage near the Neuse River and we anchored and Cori and Francie brought Release alongside and tied up.  During the ride they had been sorting stuff and deciding what went on which boat.  For the next couple of hours we transferred stuff back and forth.  Once that was done they broke off and continued on to Oriental while we continued up river to New Bern where we got our first lesson in docking a trawler style powerboat.  It took several passes but we eventually put her in the slip without hitting anything.

Today, Tuesday, my good friend and former co-worker, Danielle, picked me up and off we went to my old school to see the teachers and students I had left behind when I retired and then we used her car to run errands all day.  We are leaving New Bern in the morning to drive back to Palm Coast to get back on Hi Flite.  The mechanic says that he has everything sorted out and working properly.  We shall see.  With the next weather window we will be repeating the trip on Hi Flite.

Leaving Hi Flite behind

We are here in Palm Coast and the mechanic has been here several times.  We removed the v-drive and he has that in the shop to be torn down.  There were several parts of the engine that he suggested needed to be looked at so they have been removed also.  Hi Flite is truly a sailboat, no other form of propulsion.  We are now waiting on word of what needs to be replaced before we can move on.

Since we are stuck here for a while we decided to do a good deed.  Our friends Ken and Francie on Release are making the big move from a sailboat to a powerboat.  They made the purchase in the Bahamas and are now trying to move two boat north.  They had family help to bring the boats to Florida but now are alone.  We don't have anything to do while we wait so we offered to help.  The plan is for them to take the new boat and Cori and I to take the sailboat and continue north.  Depending on the weather and other conditions we plan to try to go offshore in as long of runs as we can to get as far north as possible before we have to come back to Florida.  It is also possible that we may have to just follow them up the ICW.  At that point we will continue on with Hi Flite.

Back in the USA

We are back in Palm Coast again.  We made the decision and got ready to return to the states.  The weather forecast was favorable so we planned our route and got ready.  But first we decided to sell our dinghy and motor.  If you have read any of these posts you will realize how important a good dinghy is.  Why would we sell ours?  After the blow that came through there was an announcement that Good Morning Vietnam had lost their dinghy overnight.  You may remember them from when our friend Phillip on Sea Ya cut his hand.  Cori has been wanting a lighter dinghy and outboard.  We talked about selling and she made a run over to propose it to them.  After some negotiation the sale was made.  They have a good dinghy and Cori will be getting her lighter weight combo.  We made plans to stop in Nassau to shop for a new motor.  In the Bahamas you can still buy two-cycle outboards and the prices are competitive with the US.

Wednesday morning we left Big Majors Spot, turned the corner and started back.  The wind was favorable and we set our sails.  We planned to move to Shroud Cay and then stop in Nassau.  While we still had internet access Cori contacted several dealers to get prices on outboards.  One of them gave us a price and mentioned that Friday and Monday were holidays (Good Friday and Easter Monday) and everything would be closed.  When we got to our first waypoint we made a decision to continue to Nassau sailing overnight.  The winds were the right speed and from the right direction and we continued on.  Along the way we decided that the holidays were a sign to skip Nassau and stage for the crossing to Florida.  The fact that Chris parker, the weather guru was forecasting rain and thunderstorms for Friday also helped.  We sailed through the night and Thursday afternoon we pulled into Lacaya/Freeport to get ready to cross.  A 198 nautical mile or 227 mile trip.  We (Cori) got the boat cleaned up and we were able to catch up on our sleep.  Friday evening the front went through and we got caught out in the rain when we went for ice cream.

Saturday morning we checked out of the marina and started back.  The forecast was for light winds and that is what we had.  As we traveled along Grand Bahama Island towards West End we got a call on the VHF from Willamia.  They were near West End with our friends Ken and Fran on Release.  They were planning to make the crossing on Sunday arriving on Monday.  We decided we have too far to go to lose a day.  By evening the wind had shifted and we were able to sail again.  We made good time and arrived off of Ft Pierce around 3:30 in the morning.  Unfortunately, it was too early to check in with Customs.  Since our final destination is Palm Coast we turned north and continued on.  As we continued the wind was slowly clocking around and was eventually too close behind us to sail efficiently.  We started motoring again.  Somewhere off of Cape Canaveral, just before sunset, Cori decided to bring in her fishing gear.  She had been trolling the entire trip and nothing was happening.  As she started to reel in her lure something hit and started pulling out line.  After about 20 minutes of fighting she finally had it alongside and we got it aboard, a very nice yellowtail tuna.  She has wanted to catch a tuna since we cast off cruising.

After some pictures it was bagged and put in the refrigerator, it was too rough to try cutting it up underway.  Monday morning we were off of St Augustine and she made a call to Customs to check in.  This year we followed the guidelines and were able to check in with just a phone call.  Just before entering the entrance channel Cori took down our Bahamian flag and shortly after a Customs and Immigration boat pulled alongside.  After a few questions they turned around and we continued on.  Once in the harbor we caught the 11:00 bridge opening and continue down to Palm Coast.  We were able to get the last slip they have available.

It was a successful crossing, we were able to sail about half the time, we saw several pods of dolphins and we both enjoy night sailing especially with a big moon lightening up the night.  We traveled 298 nautical miles or 243 miles on this leg.

We also called Al, the mechanic everyone recommended, to see when he might be able to check things out.  We got tied up and again cleaned things up, mostly washing down the boat to get all of the salt off.  Al stopped by at the end of the day to check out our system.  After listening to some of the noises and our descriptions he was going to make some phone calls and get back to us on Wednesday.  Cori got the 16 pound tuna cleaned and we dined on fresh tuna for dinner.

Today, Tuesday, we walked to Home Depot for a couple of items and a quick stop at the grocery.  Two and a half miles each way and after several days on the boat we needed the exercise.  Al was back in the late afternoon and checked more  things out.  It appears the v-drive needs to be pulled and torn down.  He also gave us advice on services our engine will need.  I am going to be doing some of the work so it looks like I will be pulling the v-drive out for him.  Cori as also has been making a lot of phone calls getting prices on a new dinghy and outboard.  Looks like we will be here for a
while, but it is not a bad place to be.

Update: we have found that the fish is not a tuna but a Jack Crevelle.

Decision time

In our last post we were leaving Nassau.  We got out a little later then I had hoped but we were off and once out of the harbor we were able to sail rather than motor.  That lasted only a couple of hours and the wind died and we started the motor leaving the sails up to catch what wind they could.  We planned to stop at Highborn Cay for the night since we would be able to reach it before sundown but decided to continue on.  If we stopped we would have to just pull anchor in the morning and make a long day of it moving south.  We continued, planning to arrive at Big Majors where all of this started.  We arrived off of Big Majors/Staniel Cay in the dark and anchoring there at night should be no issue.  At this point we decided we would rather continue around Harvey Cay and stop in Blackpoint Settlement.  We tried going there several times but had not made it.  At this time I took over and Cori went below to get some sleep.  The wind started to come up and we shut off the motor to sail, it didn’t matter how fast since we didn’t want to come in in the dark.  As we continued I decided we had had enough of towns and we needed a remote anchorage and empty beaches.  We bypassed Blackpoint and continued further along to anchor in Jacks Bay.  I rolled up the headsail and let the boat just ghost along going less than one knot waiting for sunrise.  Once the sun rose we moved into the anchorage to share it with three boats from Canada.  There are Canadians everywhere down here.

We chose our spot and motored to it and as I dropped the anchor Cori put us in reverse to set the anchor and there was a bad sound came from down below.  Something in the drive train did not like running in reverse.  There was no problem when we backed out of the slip in Nassau but now there was, again.  After a nap we launched the dinghy to go exploring.  We had watched the Canadians snorkeling not too far away so we headed over there after they had moved on and found a coral head.  I dove down with the video camera to check it out.  As I got back in the dinghy we noticed the video camera would not shut off.  We took it back to the boat and I pulled the battery and left our snorkeling gear to go ashore.  There was a small beach in a little cove and we headed there to get some beach time.  This is at a narrow part of the island so we were able to cross over to the sound side to check out the rocks and a small cove and beach there.  For some reason I forgot to bring a camera.  From there we took the dinghy up to another beach and followed a path to the sound side again.  Here we found another little bay carved out of the rocks with a sort of cave cut into it.  There was a party spot under the overhang so this is a popular spot for someone.  There was also a lot of seaglass and a few shells so Cori was in heaven.  Back at the boat since I was already all salty from the snorkeling I dove down to check the prop and shaft to see if there was anything wrong there.  Everything seems normal.  Once back on the boat it looks like our little video camera has died.

The next morning, Thursday, we pulled the anchor and set the sails to go back up to Big Majors.  We made every attempt to sail since we were in no hurry but the wind dropped so low even the spinnaker would not stay full.  Time to motor again.  We pulled into the anchorage and dropped the hook.  I got into the dinghy and went over to Catalyst to see if Scott could come over to check out the noise.  We had met Scott when the transmission had gone out and Vic called him to look into it.  In the evening we had cocktails with Dean and Kim on Dreamcatcher.  We met them while in the marina in Nassau.  We ended the day with a late St. Patrick Day dinner of corned beef, cabbage and potatoes.

Friday morning Scott came over to check things out.  We are all confused but he thinks it may not be terminal and we could continue on.  Decisions about the future need to be made.  Since there was nothing we could do about it we decided to head over to the Staniel Cay anchorage in the dinghy to see Cliff and Adrianna on Will O Wind.  We met them last year in the Abacos.  They were surprised to see us.  After visiting with them we joined them on a hike on a path that brought us along the east side of the island, over the rocks and down to a beach and then back around to the starting point.  Again, I forgot a camera.  Back in the anchorage our friends from Eleuthera, Phillip and Theresa on Sea Ya, had anchored next to us.  We got caught up with them that evening over cocktails.

On Saturday, coming back from town we went by C_Language to introduce ourselves.  It had been suggested to us that we contact Rick to see if he could diagnose our single sideband radio problems.  We can receive clearly but when we broadcast we are told we have a lot of distortion.  He ended up spending most of the day onboard trying to find a fix for it.  Several times we thought we had it but no luck.  In the evening we planned to meet up with everyone at the James Bond Thunderball party at the marina.  Part of the Thunderball movie was filmed here, specifically the grotto scene, and they throw a party to celebrate.  Costumes were encouraged and there were a lot of them, mostly white tuxedos.  I never dreamed anyone would pack a tuxedo when going to the islands.  They also had a casino set up for entertainment.  A good time was had by all and at the end of the evening we got to try to find our boat among all of the others in the anchorage.  We had heard of this problem but this was our first time experiencing it.  All boats look alike in the dark.

Sunday we brought the radio over to Rick to troubleshoot some more and we headed back to redo the hike with a camera this time.  In the afternoon we were back on the boat listening to the Nascar race.  There is a front coming our way and a lot of the boats were moving to more protected anchorage so we moved closer into the corner of the harbor to have protection when the winds come around from the north and northeast.  When the radio was done we went to pick it up and stopped by another Pearson 424 to meet the proud owners of Gambit II, the second 424 we saw here.  There are also two Pearson 422 sailboats which are designed as center cockpits using the same hull as the 424.

During the night the front came through with a lot of rain but not too much wind.  We thought we had made it unscathed but listening to the forecast in the morning learned that the second front was close by and that one would be packing the winds.  Later in the day the wind did kick up into the 20’s but quickly clocked around to the north.  It blew all day but we were in a good spot were the wind couldn’t kick up a lot of waves.  Rick came over to trouble shoot the radio again.  It is still not working right and he is bound and determined to find the cause.  In the evening he joined us for happy hour on Rum Tot, a sistership to his Pearson 422.  We have our own little corner of Pearson 42’s.

We have been going over our options and have decided it is time to head back and find a place to have our drive train checked out.  Just too many things are going on with it and we need it sorted out if we plan to continue this summer.  We had originally planned to be back by mid-April so we are not too far off of our plan.  We just didn’t plan on spending so much time in Nassau.  The rest of the Exumas will have to wait for next year.  Listening to the weather forecasts we think we will be starting back on Wednesday.