Day 144, Wednesday November 13th

Day 144, Wednesday, November 13^th

Left Tiloo

Cay at 6:30, DP woke us up.  Weather is our calendar and it is supposed to turn nasty for 5 days, so we are seeking the shelter of Man o War Cay.  This Cay is across from Marsh Harbour and about a 2 hour trip into 15 knot winds.  We pick up a mooring ball, and try to get internet. No luck on the internet.  We prep the boat for anchorage and grab our shower stuff and dinghy to shore to pay and find facilities.  We find out we are on a private mooring ball so we have to move.  Bummer!  Rob, Julie and Dawson head back to the boat while Greg watches our stuff.  It should only take 20 minutes.  Well we release the mooring ball and Julie starts driving forward and is going no where. 

Doggies sleeping on golf cart

There is a stiff 20 knot wind threatening to grab the bow.  Julie puts it in neutral and tries again, still no forward motion.  First thoughts are the prop/engine problems.  Then Julie realizes we are in muck and the depth alarm goes off about 3 seconds later.  We look at the tides and sure enough it is low, low tide (some tides are ower than others and some higher than others).  We will have to wait 30 minutes for the water level to raise a bit.  Oh well, some snacks and a beer will help pass the time.  We also muck about with the alarm on the depth sounder as it never seems to go off until after we are stuck.  We have changed it to alarm at 6 feet vs. 5 feet.  Technically we need 5 foot 3 inches of water, but the depth sounder is also set with a 1 foot lie built in so when it tells us 5 foot it is really 6.  This is done by misquoting the offset from where the transducer is mounted to the waterline.  With the alarm set at 6 foot we should have at least a foot and a half safety factor. 

It is now about noon and we get safely moved to another mooring ball.  We start our bumble into town looking for batons for our main which have been lost at sea.  Julie is on the hunt for telephone and data plans.  We quickly realize the commercial attributes of Man o War have been exaggerated.  Bahama Tel Co. is only on the island the first Wed. of the month for a 4 hour visit.  The bakery is no longer in service and the sail loft does not have any batons.  The CIBC bank is only open Wednesdays for a couple hours also.   We walk across the island to the Atlantic side and it is very windy and beautiful.  Lots of blue hues to the water and sandy beach here.  After an hour or so of bumbling we are back at the marina dining at the Dock and Dine for lunch.  We can also get the internet if we hang around the marina office so that is what we do for a couple hours after lunch.  Dawson and Greg then head over to the island across the way on the hunt for batons and are successful.  This is good because our main sail is somewhat useless without the batons and to ship batons is difficult because of their length.

Back at the boat we have managed to get internet with our new Wirie booster system so more blogging and skyping is possible.  Soon enough happy hour is upon us followed by a lobster tail dinner.  Julie found a number on the bulletin board to call for seafood and “Fred” delivered the lobster in about 5 minutes.  We played a couple more games of Kings Cribbage before heading off to bed.  We have a new scoring system called the scoring plate!  Made us giggle.

Cheers
Julie and Dawson