Making all things better

Marsh Harbor is our best bet for having our mechanicals repaired so we leave Guana and slowly motor the 5 or 6 miles back to Marsh Harbor.
I talk with Marselle at Harbor View Marina on the way over and he hooks me up with a guy named Andrew to fix the Gen, but Andrew can't be there till the next morning.
Pete and I go to work on trying to diagnose the problem and eliminate a few possibilities, but it's still running hot. We call James Knight at Yacht Tech and he has a few ideas, but by this time we're tired, hungry, and want a drink. We throw in the towel and just hope Andrew has a solution.
Andrew shows up right on time, looks at the generator, diagnoses it as a sensor or a thermostat, charges me 80 bucks, and leaves. Still no Generator.
I call Robin at Nordavn who, miraculously,  can have the parts to me in a couple of days, but I think about this for a while and come to the conclusion, Andrew is wrong.
Pete and I go back down and start pulling hoses and to make a long story short... we fix it ourselves.
Necessity is quite a motivator.
Now the A/C in our bedroom.
But before we go to work on that we decide on lunch at Wally's. We run into our young friends from the day before while at lunch and invite them over to meet the pups and see our boat.

They loved Radar and Muddy, but Lucy's sister was ill and they needed to get going. They did a quick walk through of Istaboa before leaving and seemed to enjoy that. It was nice seeing them again, unnipped this time and we still had great conversations. Very intelligent, interesting,  and well mannered young people we had the pleasure of meeting that reminded us of why we love this life we live so much. It's not just the sights you see or the things you do, most times it's the folks you meet and get to know.

As we were saying our goodbyes, our old friends Robin and Nancy from Rockin Robin walked over and Robin offered his expertise with Marine A/C.

It turns out Robin's a wiz at about everything. Within an hour he had all A/C running better than they have in years. The problem, as it always seems to be, Mussels from the St. Lucie River were clogging the water lines. We can't thank Robin and Nancy enough. It's really good to have friends out here. "most times it the folks you meet and get to know."

Tomorrow we head to Green Turtle Cay to see what we find there.

Should be fun.

Adios,

Istaboa

Crossing to Great Guana

And everything started falling apart...
The weather was the first to go. A huge squall cast rain and thunder on us for a while, but we could see on the radar it would only last a couple of hours. Then I notice that it's getting warm in the pilot house, look over at the power panel, and see nothing but zeros. We've lost power... the generator is dead. We're just minutes away from tying up at Orchid Bay Marina on Guana and we'll have shore power so I don't worry too much. We want to show Pete the craziness at Nippers, I figure it's just an impeller, and I have spares...  so off we go to Nippers.

For those of you who don't know Nippers, it's a funky little beach bar that sits atop the hill overlooking the ocean. It's also the scene of the infamous Pig Roast on Sundays where folks from near and far, young and old, gather to eat roasted pig, drink Kaliks, and swill hundreds of gallons of a frozen concoction of many rums and fruit juices aptly named... "Nippers".

The combination of all those things always turns into a huge party and lasts all day.

That's Mel in front of the crowd, arms up and hat on backwards dancing with Lucy and Robby amongst others.

On this day, we met an interesting group of young people from the UK.
Mel, Pete, and I were quietly sitting at a table that was as far away from the action and noise as possible and the kids join us. After a few Nippers we all got to know each other and were sharing stories. It was a lot of fun. One of the kid's, Lucy, father owns and operates an upscale fishing resort at Rolling Bay. The Delphi Club They're all down for holiday and having a blast.
They made for quite an entertaining afternoon.

So after getting thoroughly nipped we said our goodbyes and carted back to Istaboa. The generator problem would have to wait until the next day.

The next morning, feeling a bit fuzzy, I go down to change the impeller only to find it's not damaged. So now what?

Back to Marsh Harbor.... and on the way over, the A/C in our bedroom goes toes up. Life in paradise.

More later.
Much more.

Adios,

Istaboa

Goodbye Elbow Cay

It's been a few days since our last post because we've been enjoying our company. Peter arrived a few days ago so we rented a golf cart and explored Elbow Cay that way. Peter enjoyed the tour, one bar/restaurant at a time.

 Mud is a lady killer, and he knows it... wish I would've had him when I was 25.

 Mary and Mel

Our friends Capt. Bob and Capt. Mary from Stuart were working the boat next to us. Bare Bones. Because they were tending to their duties we didn't get to spend much time with them, but we managed to sneak in a bit of fun from time to time.

After a few days we decided to leave Sea Spray and run to the new marina in Hope Town Harbour.

Hope Town Marina is new and a very nice place with a decent restaurant and pool bar, but they're new and somewhat disorganized. We're sure they'll get better in time, but Sea Spray is still our favorite on Elbow Cay. We only stayed one night. Oh yeah... the bugs!!

Hope Town Marina is on the same side of the Harbour as the lighthouse so we climbed the stairs to get a few pics.

This lighthouse is probably the most photographed structure in the Abacos

 Surprise shot of Pete exiting the lighthouse

Though a lot of very steep steps, it's worth the view at the top. Sometimes I forget just how pretty the Abacos are.

So we cranked up and pulled out of the Harbour yesterday and are now in Marsh Harbour. Lot's of old friends over here too. We had dinner at Wally's last night and it was as good as ever. Wally has passed away since we were here last and his daughter sold the place, but not much else has changed. Same menu, quality, and good service.

Who knows how long we'll stay here? Pig roast tomorrow at Nipper's on Guana?? Mañana...

Adios,

Istaboa

Sea Spray Déjà vu

Though we haven't been here in 5 years, we were treated like old friends by Junior and his crew. Junior arranged for us to have a golf cart for a couple of days and a cart is a hot commodity at this time of year.

Edney is always around to do a great boat wash.

Junior is the Man in Charge at Sea Spray, we first met him when he was just a kid working the docks here.

Our first night at Sea Spray was a huge Goombay party complete with Junkanoo band, Brown-Tip doing Rake and Scrape, and a really good band from Nassau named The Spanks. The place was packed.

Our friends from Stuart had dinner with us and we all decided that after the Junkanoo we would call it a day.  When Mel and I got back to the boat. Someone knocked and it was Bart and Nat... so off we go for a few more drinks and listen to the dance band for a while. The crowd was just too much and the music was way too loud so Mel and I sneaked back to the boat and our pups and crashed.

Yesterday we went into Hope Town and had lunch at Harbor Lodge. The shade and breeze made for a great spot to imbibe a few good rum drinks. We later went to Firefly's and had a few more. It was a fun afternoon that was followed by an island nap.

So last night we chilled on Istaboa with the pups and had Pizza.

Some pics I've made while in the Abacos are below.

Friends from the last Junkanoo party 5 years ago

Mel wearing matching drink, shirt, and shell bucket

Just an old Palm Frond on the shore at Hope Town

Tahiti Beach Sunset... Walking dogs and swatting mosquitoes

Little Mud loves Mel to swaddle him after a bath.

Full Moon at Boat Harbor

Albury with a sunset backdrop

We spent the night on anchor around White Sound. We had Everik, a Nordhavn 57, as a neighbor. We've met them before. Nice folks.

On the hill overlooking our anchorage is Meridian House. This is where we spent my 50th birthday, also where Mel and I renewed our marriage vows 10 years ago. What a party that was.

In a few days our friend Peter will arrive and we'll show him our old haunts. That's always fun.

So that's what we're doing... what we do.

More, or less later, depends...

Adios,

Istaboa

Happy Independence Day

Cheers!

"Ship Shape" in the Abacos

Is a relative term.
When in the islands you do with what you have, not what you want.
Been working on that wing engine problem and did put a patch on a hose and it's holding... cross fingers... Tried to find one in the states and it must be made of Unicorn Horn or something, no one can seem to find it. James Knight at Yachtech has been patiently working with me and I sent pictures and specs, but it seems to be a mystery hose. Oh well, let's just bet that patch holds.
I called the folks at Marsh Harbour Boat Yard and they seemed concerned, but never showed or called me back. It's de ilands Mon!
So after the patch job, I go down with salt remover and spray down the whole engine room. Sounds like a good idea, Huh? Well a few minutes later Mel alerts me the wing engine Oil and Volt alarms are going off in the Pilot House. I look around and see a wiring harness with sparks coming out of it. Yikes!! So again, I call James at Yachtech and he suggests I kill the battery to the engine. That stops the sparks, but now I can't use the generator. I need to stop the harness from arcing. Luckily I found some contact cleaner, separate the harness, and clean off the corrosion. It works!! Yay!!
So now we're a complete boat again. Ship Shape Island Style.

Now back to why we're here. Relaxation.

First took the dogs to the beach to let them run off some energy.

It was a little breezy and neither dog wanted to play in the waves.

But they enjoyed running around and getting dirty anyway.

So after such a hard day there's only one way to wind it down. Happy Hour!

A video I shared with my Mobli friends from all over the world. They seem to enjoy these little glimpses of our travels.

We're excited to be having company coming over. Our friends from Sunset Bay, Bob and Mary are bringing a boat over and staying for a week. This wasn't planned, but it worked out nicely. Bob drove down to Palm Beach and picked up some spare parts I need from James Knight. This will help out tremendously.
On the 10th our friend Peter from Baltimore is coming over to stay till we head back, then help us crew Istaboa back to Stuart.

The Abacos has been fun. The place hasn't changed too much, though they do have a great grocery store now. Maxwell's is like walking into a Publix or Kroger and the prices are not bad at all.

So the next week will be a social one.

For now...

Happy 4th of July, America.

Adios,

Istaboa

Snappa's Marsh Harbour

Cool little Restaurant on the Harbour

The run to Abaco...

Was a delightful one. The seas were flat and the whole trip went by without a splash over the rails. Our kinda day!
It started by threading our way though Nassau Harbor at first light. We had to work our way around these guy, but luckily the pilots gave us plenty of room to work with.

These gigantic cruise ships must run on a similar schedule as they all seem to arrive at the same time.

The Disney Dream waiting her turn 

After clearing the harbor there was nothing but wonderfully flat seas for hours. Uneventful cruising.

The next thing we see is the southern point of Abaco. Hole is the Wall is the name of this point and the Abaco light house stands proudly.

I found the pic below on the net. Pretty shore line cliffs.

We've been running across seas that were 13,000+ feet deep and all of a sudden the depth sounder wakes up to show 1100' and within a quarter of a mile we see 50' only to see the depth sounder blink off when we go back to a very deep 4000+' of water. All of this happens in about a half a mile.

Bet there's good fishing here.

Then our radios crackles and we hear our friends on Dusty Seas calling. Bart's wondering where we are. I look at my radar and see a blip about 5 miles behind us and figure that's him. Marpa tells me he's running 25 knots and we're running 9 so we expect to see him shortly. I call Bart on the radio and tell them to come by us closely and we'll get some pics. 

We walk out to the bridge with camera in hand waiting for Bart to come screaming by. (I can't believe I just told a Sportfish to run by closely. We usually curse those guys for waking us.) As we're waiting for Bart, I look off to starboard and I see what I think are Dolphin, but the closer they get I can tell they're too big to be Dolphin. Because we've seen them before, my next guess is that it's a small pod of Pilot Whales or Risso Whales. I call Bart to tell him they are right in front of him, but he's running so fast he can't tell what they are. He said they were the biggest dolphin he had ever seen.

I manage to snap a few pictures of whatever they were before they submerge to escape Bart.

This morning I googled Pilot Whales and Risso Whales and the dorsal fins don't match. They look like Killer Whales. Especially in one shot that shows the head and a white spot on the side.

 These aren't Dolphin, are they?

It's a blurry pic because I've zoomed in so close, but it does look like a white spot on the side of the head.

Hell! I think we spotted our first Killer Whales. 

In the Abacos?

Again, I google 'Killer Whales in the Abacos' and find an article that says Orca whales are often seen around the Abacos in late spring and early summer.  Article here. Abaco Whales

So what do you think?  Killer Whales? Risso or Pilot Whales? Mermaids or Unicorns?

Anyway... Then we got some great pics of Bart and Nat as they pass.

We made it to Little Harbor and around to Boat Harbor Marina to tie up and decide what to do next. After getting in and tied up, we realize we've got a problem with our wing engine and water is spraying all over the engine room. Not a show stopper, but a problem we need to address. So that's our project for today. We hope just for today.

So this morning, like every other morning we've spent in the Abacos, I listen to the Cruiser's Net on VHF channel 68... right on time at 8:15... Somethings, they never change. It feels like coming home again. This is where our dream started many years ago.

The weather is looking great for the near future. Should be a fun 4th.

Adios,

Istaboa

Moving on...

To fill in the blanks left by my last post done on an iPhone at Highborne Cay, we've decided some cruising would be fun. We quickly said goodbye to Tuck and Jamal, untied the lines, and made way. Jamal was stunned and saddened as we expected. We're not kidding about being family with these folks.

Leaving this is tough.

Highborne is always pretty and well kept. It's a very Americanized resort type of marina that can be described as upscale casual. In other words... you dress for drinks and dinner. They do a good job at what they do.

We ran across the bank today and are tied up at Nassau Yacht Haven. We decided Atlantis was just too much culture shock and we're not ready for that. 

We had lunch at the infamous Poop Deck Restaurant and the burger was as good as ever. Truly the best burger I've had in the Bahamas.

The plan for tomorrow is to run 80 miles to Little Harbor in the Abacos then see what we find upon arrival. The seas are predicted to be relatively smooth with light and variable winds. Hope those predictions turn out to be true. The pups hate rough days at sea.

With all this said, Mel and I are still carrying some strange feelings about leaving Compass. Maybe it's because we left so suddenly, could be we feel like we've left our friends behind, but it's probably because we know that no matter where we go, we won't find anywhere that life is as comfortable and beautiful as the island and our relationship with it's inhabitants. 

Now I'm feeling bad again.

Hell, we may just go back.

Adios,

Istaboa

Happy Birthday, Silas Rui Taylor