Day 149, Monday, November 18th

Day 149, Monday, November 18^th

Well another beautiful day in paradise as we awaken in Marsh Harbour in the Abacos.  Dawson starts his day attempting to solve our data download problems with our globalstar satellite phone.  Oh what a pain in the butt.  Days upon days have been spent trying to get them to help us.  They keep wanting us to call them on a LAN line.  “Buddy we got a Sat phone cause we don’t have access to regular phones”  They service as if we are on land with all the facilities available.  Does not make sense given they are selling to persons that need phone and data service in the middle of nowhere.

Rob and Julie putter and read and then Dawson and Julie head to town to buy a plumbers snake.  It is time to tackle our plugged up holding tank today.  Dawson heads to the hardware store and Julie heads to the tourist office and they agree to meet at the grocers.  Unfortunately Julie can’t find the correct grocers so picks up a few things at grocer number 2 and finds out where grocer #1 is which is where we were to meet.  It is now an hour past and Julie heads over to the correct grocers and finds Dawson awaiting her outside with groceries also.  Luckily the only doubles are our high use items so no problem there.  We dinghy back to the boat and the plumbing problem begins.

As mentioned previously, there are no “pump outs” for the holding tanks and therefore we are expected to discharge our holding tank when away from populated areas.  The tide flushes it all out to the ocean twice a day.  The ocean just meters away is like a mile deep.  It is all organic so not really a concern.  Since our discharge valve is not discharging we have to “unplug” it with the snake.  Unfortunately it is full so once unplugged we will have poop soup heading our way.  Not very pleasant but....has to be done.  Dawson works from the dinghy, Rob is assistant and communicator and Julie is inside the boat ready to close the valve the minute Dawson unclogs the pipe and removes the snake.  It takes about an hour of poking and then the whooshing sound is heard and Dawson is quick to pull the snake so Julie slams shut the valve as we are in a harbour and don’t want to send poop soup overboard here.

With that job done and lunch completed it is time to blow up a kayak. We have purchased 2 inflatables with viewing windows.  This goes well and Julie hops in one for a test drive over to visit the new neighbours.  A 30 minute chat sheds some light on places to go and see, but it is time to head back to the mothership as Rob has to meet his taxi to the airport.  We are sad to see the last of our crew depart, however we can now get back to our normal.  Ruth was supposed to be flying in today to visit for a week, but sadly her father passed away so her visit is being deferred.

After we drop off Rob, we pop over to the boat Charbboneau to see of Bill Jr. Wants to come snorkelling with us.  We are going to go over to Mermaid reef and try out our snorkelling gear.  Unfortunately we don’t find Mermaid reef but we do see lots of starfish, sand dollars and fish.  Julie also spots a decent sized sea cucumber.  We are a bit nervous about sharks, and we also get chilled.  We will have to wear our wet suits next time.  Back on the boat we have our fresh water spray down and get ready to head to Snappas for happy hour.  We meet fellow salty dogs, Judy and Bill and Bill Jr. for dinner and drinks.  I am sure we will cross paths as we sail along.

Cheers

Julie and Dawson