Wednesday I did several boat chores including de-frosting the freezer only to have the freezer hiccup and not want to stay cool. While I was getting a bit pissed off at myself, Karen smartly went grocery shopping with ML. I starting reading the troubleshooting guide from Frigoboat and found that there was a clog in the capillary tube which was cleared by the application of a hot washcloth. Being happy with my success I thought I’d stop for the day so I went to shower and shave. When I returned to Mango I found a large bag of Skittles on the counter. Karen thought I might need them had I not been successful, how sweet.
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| The Fixin's for the Near Perfect Rum Punch |
3-17-17 Today was a lazy day for me. Looking back at it I know I worked out, ate breakfast, ate lunch and practiced the harmonica. You see tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day and we’re all in the parade from Memorial Park to Snappas Bar and Grille. It’s billed as the “Worlds Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade” I’ve been practicing to play the tune “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling” somewhat recognizable on the harmonica for the parade. If not I will consider the harmonica a noise maker and play it as such. Today was mostly cloudy all day, this is the first day I can rememberer with so little sun.
When we arrived at the parade staging area there were only 4 others plus the parade sponsor. The 4 of us were the by far the best dressed but soon the people started arriving to the tune of 100 to 120. There was others who had better attire than Karen and I but very few who were better suited than Greg. The unofficial parade marshal was a guy from Scotland dressed in a kilt who married a Bahamian woman. Later at the bar he told stories from his childhood and sang Irish music. Even though the parade is billed as the worlds shortest parade the Bahamian traffic on the Queen’s Highway was not happy. I don’t think I’ve seen a more angry driver in Chicago traffic as I saw here. There was a white guy in a pickup truck had a pissed off look in his eyes, I don’t think I would have wanted to be any more near him than I was. ML, Karen and I were picking up our free drinks along the way and Greg was first to enter Snappa’s Bar and Grille and was the only one to witness the Irish sax player. I was interested to hear Irish sax music but he was gone by the time we arrived. According to Greg he witnessed the Sax Man pack up his stuff and state “I have more important places to be” and promptly left the building. I guess it’s kinda funny, somewhat typical Bahamas. Later the Irish guitar player came in and setup his stuff. He started playing after much time tuning and doing whatever musicians do before they’re ready for prime time. We stayed for a few songs and toasts. All in all it was a good time and our bill was much lower than we would’ve thought. I think the bill got screwed up with all the activity and lack of wait staff. We were off to Mango to watch a movie, let the food and drinks settle in our stomachs. Karen was sleeping in no time and I shut things down to follow in her footsteps.
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Happy St. Patrick's Day. Corned Beef, Cabbage
Potatoes and Soda Bread. Who says we
don't eat well on boats. |
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Karen and ML prepping for the "Worlds Shortest
St. Patty's Day Parade" |
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| Leaving for the Parade Route |
3-18-17 Today’s start was not so good. I woke up and found the freezer to be at 32.7 degrees, way warmer than it should be. I figured that I would need to heat the capillary tubes with a warm washcloth again but it didn’t work. I tried shutting the system down for hours, still no luck. Our last ditch effort is shutting the system down overnight, Fracas was nice enough to take our freezer goods to keep cold. Hopefully in the morning things we startup and work, otherwise it’ll be ice and a cooler and warms drinks back to the states.
I gave Mango’s outsides a good wash and filled with fresh water. Karen cleaned below decks and made a nice sausage and egg breakfast, trying to use as much food refrigerated food as possible. Later in afternoon a couple we met aboard S/V Sequel invited Fracas and us over of snacks and drinks at 5. We all hopped in the Fracas dinghy and motored over to Sequel where we met another couple from Maine aboard S/V Corret. We had a wonderful time and looks like all 4 boats will be heading the same direction as soon as the next cold front blows through, Corret however is heading to Maine after their Florida landfall. The sun was getting low in the sky and we said our goodbyes and headed back to Mango and Fracas. When Karen and I stepped onto Mango our boat neighbor mentioned that there was a launch from the Kennedy Space Center at 7:44 tonight. We invited Fracas over to watch the launch which got postponed till 8:18 but it was very cool. Hard to believe we could see it so well, according to our neighbor it was moving at 5000 MPH when it passed overhead. A great end to a great evening.
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Boats Crowded into Marsh Harbor trying to Hide from
the Wind |
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| Web of Lines Holding Last Mango in Place |
3-19-17 Morning came with a yawn and first thing I did was power up the fridge freezer with disappointing results. Greg came over and pondered things with me, he applied gauges to the system and a small bit of refrigerant with no success. I used the hair dryer on the capillary tubes and the system starts to work normally but only for 7 to 10 minutes before the same error occurs. At this point I resolved to the fact that we will be fridge-less the rest of our time in the Bahamas. I will look for a refrigerator repair person when we hit Florida. It just goes to show that bragging never pays, the other day a person was complaining about their Frigoboat system and I stated that ours has worked perfectly since it was installed 7 years ago. The crew of Fracas has been kind enough to keep many of our frozen items in the freezer and fridge so we thank them sooo much.
I could have set my watch by the timing of the cold front hitting Marsh Harbor. Chris Parker’s weather forecast called for the cold front to hit sometime shortly after 8 PM and 8:30 the wind machine turned on. The sound of the Laughing Gulls was replaced by the noise of the wind blowing through the marina. That noise lasted all night until sometime early this morning. I thought a heard a dog howling in distress at different times during the night but Karen assures me it was someones boat scraping the dock. Greg informed Karen and I this morning of a boat that lost its anchor about 70 yards from our boats. The owner was alert to the situation and was able to move and reset his anchor. It certainly was an active night all around but I felt that I slept surprisingly well.
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| ML and Greg being Welcomed by the Resident Pigs |
3-20-17 The alarm went off shortly before 6:30 AM, seems really hard for me to get up out of bed on Mango before sunrise. It wasn’t long and I was ready for anything, I was excited. Today we leave Marsh Harbor and all forecasts show that it should be good sailing. Much of the wind from last night withered away and we had 15 knots out of the NNE. After finishing some final tasks we were quickly on our way. Fracas was first to leave the Harbor followed by our new friends Donna and Joel on Sequel, then Mango. Mango cleared the last of the anchored boats and I raised the main sail as Karen temporarily turned into the wind. I watched as Fracas exited the harbor and raised his mizzen and was a bit worried that my course may be too close to the wind to sail as I had planned. Karen and I partially unfurled the jib and set our course amidst a slue of ferries carrying people to work. Mango’s motor was now shut down and now sailing close hauled and making 5 to 6.5 knots. We were making very good time but did need to slow to put a reef in the main, had we not reefed Karen would’ve not been happy.
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| Karen had enough of the Pigs and their Aggressive ways. |
After the reef Mango did handle better in the building winds, soon we were passing Sequel. Winds died and revived several times allowing Sequel to pass Mango and soon we were heading to the “Whale” in larger ocean swells. The “Whale” is a narrow channel that allows deeper draft vessels to sail from the upper Sea of Abaco to the lower Sea of Abaco. This channel can be dangerous depending on tide, wind conditions and ocean swells. Today the swells were somewhat large 5 to 6 feet but not breaking and although lumpy Karen and I did not think it was too bad.
We were happy to be through the cut and soon we were sailing into an anchorage at No Name Cay to visit the pigs on Pig Beach. Yes, Karen was excited to play with the pigs. We quickly found out that the pigs here seem to be more aggressive than the pigs at Staniel Cay in the Exumas. This along with the fact that one of them stepped on my bare toes kinda put a damper on the “Fun with Pigs” day. The pigs hooves are hard and sharp. Since we were done with the pigs we decided to go exploring the area by dinghy. Of coarse the crew of Fracas in their Yamaha jet powered dinghy just flew by Karen and I as we were puttering around under the power of 2.3 HP of a Honda 4 stroke. Yes, we made it to all the same places but at a much slower pace. 4 PM came before we knew it and we made our way back to Mango to start making dinner. Fracas came over bringing frozen french fries to throw in the oven. Karen did a great job with dinner even without a fridge. After dinner the Domino tournament started with Karen winning 2 games and ML taking one. The boys will get their revenge another day.
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| Picture I took and Liked at No Name Harbor Pig Beach |
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| Boats anchored off Pig Beach hiding from the Wind |
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| Deserted Beach just perfect for a walk. |
For some reason Karen and I were restless through the night waking several times. It may have been a change in tides or swells from the ocean making it around the island. I got up at 2:30 AM and found what seemed to be one of the most beautiful orange half moons I’ve ever seen rising on the eastern horizon. I tried with several cameras to capture the image without success, too much movement on the water for slow shutter speed.
3-21-17 The iPhone alarm sounded early in my opinion but it was the appropriate time. Sun being nothing but a slight glow below the horizon also makes it seem too early. I put on shorts and a fleece, climbed the companionway stairs into the cockpit tuned in Chris Parker on 4045 Mhz. The forecast changed little other than wind dying out earlier than previously thought so I thought it a good idea to get started to sail what we could. I called Fracas and discussed plans and soon we were off sailing by 8 AM. The sailing started slowly but soon Mango was speeding along above 5 knots, pretty good for what wind we had. The wind came and went for a couple hours and Mango’s speed range was 3 to 6 knots. I felt great about Mango’s progress considering Fracas was doing everything they could trying to catch us. Mango did have a bit of a head start and it takes me less time to put up Mango’s sails verses all of those on Fracas. A couple hours later the winds started dying and Mango’s speed dropped below 3 knots for a period of time which caused us to start the motor, Fracas soon followed suit.
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| Dinghy Launch |
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| Hard Walking in Flip Flops, Certainly not for Bare Feet. |
We continued to motor the remainder of the way into Alan’s Cay to lay down our anchor at 11:45 AM. We anchored in virtually in the same place as we did coming. I believe it’s just a special place. This time we were one of 4 boats, 2 more arrived later in the day. I considered going to look for lobster but went to do some exploring and beach coming instead. After the exploring we came back and checked the motor, belts and raw water strainer, all appears good. Afterwards we both got cleaned up and ready for dinner on Fracas. ML made one of Greg’s recipes of chicken and dumplings which was fantastic, she said she was worried it may not work out. Dominos followed dinner with Greg and I both getting our revenge with one win each.
3-22-17 Morning started as usual today with weather reports weighing anchor and on our way. Weather Center reported that the next blow will start early Thursday morning and last through late Friday into Saturday. I would like to think we could cross from the Bahamas through the gulf stream and into Florida Sunday at the latest, we’ll see.
We got started shortly after 7:30 motor sailing with the destination being Great Sale Cay. Great Sale has plenty of room for lots of boats and good protection from the North and East winds that are forecasted to be into the 30 knot range. Greg on Fracas let me know that he was maintaining a 5 knot minimum speed rule today so he could have anchor down by 3 PM. As it turns out that wasn’t an issue as the winds assisted our sailing and Mango’s speed was well over 5 knots. Several times I shutdown the motor just to re-start it shortly thereafter when the winds lulled. While making way Karen went down to make tortilla shells for dinner tonight and I decided to put out the fishing pole. Karen’s shells came out well and I had one hit on the pole until about noon when I saw the pole going crazy. I figured the fish wasn’t too big because it never made the reel scream. I slowed the boat and started reeling in the pole while both Karen and I tried to think of how to get the fish inside Mango. We don’t carry a gaff and the net was buried under dock lines and other boat puke. As the fish neared the boat I decided Karen would pull the fish up and I would grab it with a gloved hand. If the fish fell off the line it was my bad luck, not a big deal. Landing the fish went as planned and soon I was tossing scales all over the cockpit of Mango. I got 2 nice fillets off the fish which turned out to be a Cero, part of the Mackerel family. From what I read they are just as good eating as the King Mackerel.
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| Local Eating Establishment. |
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Drag a Lure Long Enough and You're Bound to
Catch Something. In this Case it's a Cero Mackerel |
The remainder of the sail went well with Mango laying down anchor at 2:00 just south of Fracas on the North East shore of the cay. We should be well sheltered from the winds set to start blowing tomorrow morning. Karen noted that Mary Lynn was up on the deck of Fracas while Greg was nowhere to be seen. I thought Greg may have taken a nap but he was not that lucky. Turns out that when they dropped anchor and used the motor to backed down on the anchor the mixing elbow sprung a leak due to a crack in the manifold. Greg’s a very resourceful guy so I’m sure he’ll come up with something to limp back to Florida. We gave them all the JB Weld, Rescue Tape and Marinex Epoxy that we carry. We should know more tomorrow.
Dinner time came and I cooked up the fish with egg and bread crumbs for an appetizer and Karen made quesadillas which turned out very good. Karen says that after making her own shells she’ll never buy tortillas again, that’s okay by me I really liked them.
As evening settled in on the anchorage more boats arrived to spend the night as the wind all but died. We noted the wind dying and Karen noted the bugs becoming alive. I climbed downstairs and buttoned up the screens tight and listened to news coverage of Trump’s daily denials and the attacks in England. Should be a quiet nights sleep.
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| Selfie Sailing out of Great Sale Cay |
3-23-17 It was a quiet night until the alarm sounded telling me it was time to wake up and listen to see if anything changed with the weather. Weather did not come in very clearly this morning as I watched lightning north of Mango’s position instead of the usual sunrise. I turned off the radio and watched the clouds glow up north with each flash of lightning. Weather did come through clearly so I turned the radio off only to try 15 minutes later and the reception had cleared up. There are 10 boats in the harbor and one of them, Ambrosia called Chris and asked for a weather recap. Really nothing new, 20 to 30 knot winds with gusts to 40 today and tomorrow. Saturday winds 15 to 20 out of the East and Sunday more of the same but not as quite as strong. Hopefully Sunday will be the day we weigh anchor bound for Florida.
I sit here in Mango’s cockpit typing, listening to the winds whip at the canvas and howl in the rigging. Karen’s down below boiling some eggs and cleaning the fridge out now that it’s no longer being used. Greg was out in his dinghy setting another anchor because he thought his had slipped. While out he was nice enough to bring us over some ice and some of ML’s boat-made cookies. He told us he thinks he has his motor issue partially solved so that’s good news. Mango’s Mantus anchor seems to be holding great with 130 feet of chain down. Currently the wind is consistently 23 knots with gusts to 33. Karen and I joked that if the anchor didn’t hold there was nothing for us to hit until we get to the East coast of Florida. Two of the large motor yachts left the anchorage late this morning so now were are 8.
The wind continues to blow and blow with intermittent rain squalls moving through. I have to admit Karen’s holding up very well occupying herself doing different things. After lunch we watched 2 episodes of Shameless and tried to no avail to fall asleep. Afterwards up on deck we watched as a large motorsailer bucked the wind and waves and anchored 70 yards behind us. It was 72 degrees and cloudy but there appears to be 2 teenagers on board who went swimming shortly after the anchor was down. Other than the kids swimming nobody left their boats except Karen and I going over to Fracas for dinner. Evening came with entertainment of college basketball and a possible launch from Cape Canaveral. We know the winners of the BB games but have no idea if the launch took place due to no internet and partly cloudy sky. Being tired we were in bed by 10 PM. About midnight I noticed Karen was no longer in bed with me, I figured this would happen with the amount of movement and noise Mango had up in the bow.
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| Fish doing what fish do. |
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| Our new Boat Neighbors enjoying a swim |
3-24-17 Another morning with an alarm for weather, the forecast pretty much the same as yesterday. I assume we’ll leave here tomorrow morning and head for West End, spend the night and then on the Fort Pierce Fl. We’ll talk plans over dinner with Fracas later today.
Karen and I noticed something interesting when entering the anchorage here at Great Sale. Upon rounding the western shoreline and entering the anchorage we both scanned the eastern shoreline for the wreck that was on the eastern shore when we were here the beginning of February. There was a note written on the wreck that stated please don’t take anything we (the owners) will be back to salvage the wreck. The owners were from North Carolina and we heard from other cruisers that this was not a Hurricane Mathew wreck. It seems incredible to me that the boat would be salvageable. When Greg and I looked at it the exterior was damaged and the interior was full of a combination of saltwater, motor oil and rusting metal. It is good that it’s no longer a polluting eyesore. We wish the owners good luck since most cruisers in there shoes would leave the boat to rot and leak oil over the shoreline and water.
As evening arrived the wind started to abate to the teens with sporadic gusts into the upper 20’s. Greg and MaryLynn came over for turkey dinner and dominos during this time we discussed our planned voyage back to Florida. Greg received information from Chris Parker stating that our best time to leave would be tomorrow and take a course to Matanilla Shoals and then on to Fort Pierce Florida. The winds should be mostly on the stern quarter from the teens to the low 20’s. Having these winds should allow both Mango and Fracas to sail all the way. Sailing is especially important for Fracas since the motor is repaired but the longevity is unknown, knowing Greg it’s probably better than the original but why push it.
3-25-17 I slept like crap last night for some reason and when the alarm sounded Karen got up to listen to the weather while I grabbed another half hours rest. Weather forecast hasn’t changed since yesterday so we’re on for leaving today sometime after 3 PM. Greg came over in his dinghy and verified our thoughts about leaving and invited us over for lunch. We watched Greg speed away and proceed to pull up his second anchor since the winds have calmed. Karen and I prepped Mango by stowing items that might fly across Mango’s interior while at sea, we’re looking for 6 foot waves on the stern quarter. We also installed lines for spinnaker, boom preventer and verified the whisker pole deployed without issues. Everything checks good, knock wood.
Yesterday I forgot to mention that during normal boat checks I found that our water tank has a leak. Not a bad leak, just a drip. I’ve been expecting this for quite some time because it’s happened to many Island Packets due to the use of aluminum tanks. It’s really unfortunate because the only way to really fix the problem is to tear up the cabin floor, cut apart and remove the old tank, install a new tank. This is not an easy or inexpensive task. I will contact the Island Packet user list and see if there are any shortcuts.
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