Icicles in Abaco?

Ha ha ha! Or maybe that should be ho ho ho! Today was a perfect day for the workers to start putting up the marina's Christmas decorations, especially the icicles. We had our first major cold front of the season blow through yesterday afternoon and it was only in the 60's today. Just like the snow and cold up north, it is too soon for this kind of weather in November. Thankfully it will soon be back up to 75-80 here at least. Hopefully those icicles won't melt. 😉😎

Rat Sass Wins Big!

Yesterday was the 20th Annual Box Cart Derby here in Hope Town. Dave decided he wanted to give someone else a chance to be competitive and run his three wheeled Rat Sass entry. Originally we had intended on giving that opportunity to Mercedes, who is a sassy Cuban lady who works in our small grocery store (and who's husband died last spring). We kept this all a secret to everyone including her son who was also racing. During practice she discovered she couldn't steer well and ended up going in a ditch, scraping her knuckles and understandably backing out of the competition. Meanwhile her son Maity, discovered he had grown too much to fit in his box cart in the junior division, so Dave offered Rat Sass to him. He took to it perfectly and mom and son were really happy. In fact Mercedes took the safe route and rode in one of the carts that was being towed back up the hill (she has never even driven a car before, just her bicycle around town).

Maity did okay during the downhill competition, but on the slalom course he exceled and came in first place! In fact he ended being within 2 seconds of beating the senior winner...and, as you can see, he really liked the rat and named her Rita. His father Maitland, sure would be proud of him.

During the senior division Dave handed over the handlebars to our friend Judy's son...another Dave! Dave accidently started pedaling in the beginning of his first run but the judges were kind enough to let him try again. He didn't do real well during the downhill or the slalom but he sure had a blast.

Meanwhile, Dave was head mechanic and technical advisor, plus he was put into action to help start the races by lining up the carts and removing the wheel chalks at the sound of the horn. That's really what he was hoping he would end up doing.

What a fun day with lots of hard working volunteers. It's really nice that all the proceeds are going to youth programs. Here are a few of the other carts...

Shark-mobile was winner of the showmanship award and 3rd place for showmanship went to Hawaian Guy next to her.

Yellow Submarine won 2nd place in showmanship. They played the Beatles song at the beginning of the race and had on specially made Yellow Submarine shirts. It was made out of PVC pipe.

This year's King of The Hill was actually her second year of being Queen of the Hill! 

This last photo is of two very competitive brothers, Andrew and Christian. Notice how they are both aimed in opposite direction instead of straight down the course. They knew that the fastest way down was to start by heading to the outside to get more momentum going with the crown of the road in the middle. Brilliant!

Of course now Rat Sass is stored away for next year, but there are big plans to make it go even faster by making some sort of aerodynamic body for it. We shall see what happens next November.

Full Moon

A small group of about eight boats got together for the first full moon dinghy drift of the season, a couple of nights ago. Dave spearheaded this one since the conditions looked to be perfect.

The Harbour Rats are still trickling in for the winter and the moorings are starting to fill up. Notice the huge motoryacht which is really too big for a mooring, but luckily there wasn't any bad weather so it didn't break loose.

It could have been a lot different this morning, had they been on that mooring meant for nothing more than 45 feet. A squall came through at dawn with 42 mph winds. The entrance to the harbor was white water splashing up on shore with the super high full moon tides.

Even this boat dragged its stern anchor and ended up with the bow pinned under the dock for several hours. 

We sure get to see a lot from our front porch!

Giving Thanks

We are truly blessed with loving family and friends, and being able to enjoy the diverse life we lead. Thank you for following this blog and our adventures!

Do It Yourself Pool

We have been going to the Hideaways pool at Hope Town Inn and Marina, also known as the Canadian Pool. That name probably came about because the pool doesn't get a lot of sun and is much chillier than the main resort pool, which is heated. Today we renamed it the 'do it yourself pool', because it doesn't seem to get maintained as much. Dave dug right in and found the hose to vacuum it out.

Someone did come and water the plants but made a mess with dirt all over, so Dave and Ron got on their hands and knees and brushed it up with a pool brush and their hands.

We like leaving everything cleaner than we found it everywhere we go. In fact on Sunday, Dave cleaned all around his and the employees work areas, the pump room, and I cleaned up the laundry room. That's the way it should be and now the pool is also ready to be used some more!

Flip It

You never know what we will find happening here in the boatyard. Dave walked out to the haul out well and found this upside down boat tied to the dock.

He discovered that during the cold front squall a few nights ago, it filled with water and the bilge pump malfunctioned, so it ended up flipping upside down. It was towed over 5 miles from a small island off Tilloo Cay, and awaited haul out and possible repair at our boatyard. Dave's mind immediately went to work as to how to right the boat, which of course entailed him getting in the water to help. Late yesterday morning our marina manager Craig, along with two yard workers Brandon and Charles, and Dave got the job done. First Craig and Dave pulled the boat from the end of the dock into the well, which was not an easy task since the bimini top kept getting stuck on the bottom.

Then Dave got in the water to attach the lines and straps from the forklift to a cleat on one side of the boat. 

It took quite a while to get everything adjusted properly, but then Brandon lifted the forks up very slowly (BTW, Brandon is our new neighbor living in the back apartment that is attached to ours. He is "quiet as a church mouse" and great to have living back there. He's worked here for 3 years now and it has been fun to watch him go from a shy, unsure kid to the take charge, confident lead mechanic with tons of responsibility, especially when hauling out very expensive boats).

The poor outboard motor!

Once the suction of the water was broken, it came up a bit faster but care had to be taken so it wouldn't flip over the other way.

Lots of water had to be drained as the guys helped hold up the stern with lines. 

The low transom was probably what caused all  the water to come in to start with.

After the boat was righted, they hauled it out and started flushing everything thoroughly with fresh water. After 48 hours underwater, corrosion had already started to set in. Even if by some slight chance it does run again, I am sure it will be plagued with all sorts of issues now and in the future. Poor Capt. Whit isn't so witty anymore.

Let's Go!

We are ready for anything and everything. Suja is waiting to be sailed with her mast and rig installed. The kayaks are off the porch and on the back dock...

The power boats are in fine shape and we now have gas available here at the marina. It has been 3 weeks and the dock isn't completed, but it is looking good and a relief to many to see that open sign.

Of course now that we are set to play, our first major cold front has arrived. It certainly is way better than what they have up home...

This is only November, right? 😉

Coqui!

Dave brought me a 'gift' today. He came up the stairs telling me to get my camera. I ran outside to find he had the biggest tree frog I have ever seen, firmly nestled in his fist.

He said that he found it sleeping on top of his ice machine tool box. He opened up his hand so the frog could sit on the table, but it immediately flew onto Dave's arm and crawled up onto his shoulder (Dave was wet from working in the water installing new trim tab actuators on Walkabout) .

Then it jumped about 10 feet onto our porch chair, where it has been in residence all day, sleeping away. 

Gotta love those suction cup feet! We hope it enjoys the bugs that come into the light on our porch tonight and hopefully stays around for awhile. Gee, I wonder if it will make coqui night sounds too...

Launching Suja

Our Daysailer Suja is in the water. We share this boat with the original owners who own a house here in Hope Town, but usually only get to come here for about 10 days during Christmas. We help maintain the boat and store the hull at Seahorse Marine for the summer, while the rig stays in the basement of the other owners' house. Usually the boat is dirty and filled with leaves from sitting during those hot months, but quickly cleans up. This year it wasn't bad at all and was quite clean to start with.

Getting the boat back into the water at the ramp is much easier than hauling it out and up the hill (next spring Dave will have a power winch to help him if there is no one else available to lift and pull). This is the ramp that Seahorse uses to haul out and careen their rental boats and boats they are working on.

"Many hands make light work" applies here and I handed the guys the pieces of wood that Suja slides on, as it goes down the hill.

Floating again, but in case you didn't notice, the power boat in the ramp is now facing the opposite side. We had to flip it over in order to have enough room to sneak the sailboat by. It got stuck between the boat and a small tree.

Now she sits on the Sailing Club beach and soon we will rig it and be ready to sail again!

One Of Those Special Days

Today was one of our rare perfectly calm days. We had a really high tide this morning and Dave decided to snorkel the channel under the little Sea of Abaco bridge that connects Elbow Cay to Mouth of the Harbour Cay. We always see lots of fish here when we walk out this way, except at low tide when the channel through the mangroves gets cut off with an exposed sandbar. Today's conditions were ideal though, and Dave did a quick tour of the cut (even though the mangroves have grown in and choked the channel so it is impassable in places, this cut goes all the way to the pond where we keep our boats).

Meanwhile I stayed out of the sun and under the bimini top tied to the mangoves. "Oh, what a tangled web we weave!"

Looking out into the Sea of Abaco could not have been prettier...

Until Dave came back to the boat and we went swimming off Nathan's Beach at the north end of Elbow Cay. I am not sure which setting was more serene. The water was about 82 degrees and the air about the same temperature.

It doesn't get nicer than this!

Crab Crawlin'

Dave came across a funny sight the other day. He saw this blue blob moving across the grass so he went to check it out. It ended up being a small hermit crab that made its home in a shampoo bottle cap!

He had almost outgrown it and didn't have enough room to hide inside, so hopefully he will find a shell next time, instead of a piece of garbage. I have to wonder what it was thinking when it decided to move in. Maybe it was just "any port in a storm" and that was all that was around at the time.

It did however remind us of the famous Bahamian song by Eddie Minnis called Church Out, Crab Crawlin' and we had the song stuck in our heads all day.

Progress

The dock rebuilding project has been a slow one. However, yesterday morning a tug and barge showed up with lots of planks for the decking. The crew sat there while some of the other workers continued to work on stringing the fuel, power, and water lines, which also entails making junctions at each slip for water faucets and power boxes for boaters that dock here.

Finally, when we came back from the pool 😀, I noticed lots of planking had been laid down on the dock frames. Although not secured yet, at least it is progress!

"Dog Hours"

We call the day after setting the clocks back "dog hours". That's because the poor dogs still think it's time to eat when it is really an hour earlier. This morning I woke up an hour earlier too, but in time for quite the squall to come though. It blew our screen door open and chairs started sliding, so the gusts were about 30 mph. Afterwards there was the most gorgeous complete double rainbow.

Our good friends Barry and Barb were anchored outside the harbor and Barry took this shot as the rainbow reached right down to Parrot Cays.

Another friend, Stafford, was on his way out of the harbor and snapped this spectacular photo...

And so another day in Abaco begins!