Let It Rain!

And rain, and rain...about 6" of rain fell yesterday in a couple of hours! Our cistern was not only overflowing, it was cascading out of the planter that the overflow drains into at the base of our apartment stairs. Our marina manager just shook her head when she saw the water flowing out, since they had purchased all that Marsh Harbour water brought in by freight boat last week. She did say that it was still stockpiled in the big tank, so at least it was pretty much just rainwater that was being lost.

Steam on the left from the laundry room dryer vent that was almost underwater.

Dandy was filling with rainwater so fast that she started to list and her floorboards were floating.

Dave had to go and pump it and other boats out with our electric bilge pump hooked to the skiff's battery.

Water crisis averted! 

Johnny's Cay Excursion

Our friends Ken, Terri, and Noah are visiting from New York and we took them out to Johnny's Cay for a snorkeling excursion. This is the tiny island with the house on it (featured on HGTV) between Elbow Cay and Man-O-War. The owner of Hope Town Inn and Marina bought it and it will be used for weddings and special occasions.

It was so calm that day that it looks like we were anchored in a pool.

The guys snorkeled around the dock's breakwater seeing lots of fish. That's Man-O-War Cay in the background.

Meanwhile Terri and I hiked around the perimeter of the island, which is now easy to do with a new backfilled seawall. Every few feet we came across sea biscuits washed up in the sand.

This path leads to the dock.

We also went up on the deck to peak inside and see what improvements were being made.

What a place to have a wedding with this view in the background!

It's fun to come out here while no one is around, especially being so close to busy Hope Town. It was such a gorgeous day!

Mean Low Water

Mean low water essentially defines as the average height of the lowest tide recorded for that day. We have been having spring tides, where there is the biggest difference in the high and low tides because of the full moon. On the day of our sailing club's spring picnic at Nathan's Beach on the north end of Elbow Cay, the low tide was predicted to be 4" below datum, and the picnic started at the top of the high tide. Everyone had a great time, but we all had to be vigilant about moving our boats out to deeper water as the tide quickly receded.

Some waited a little too long, but no sweat, there were lots of people to push them off.

Carrying the Sunfish out to deep water for sailors was a chore, but not for these guys.

We brought our kayaks for anyone to try out, but getting back to the picnic was a challenge. Dave helped Catherine the easy way....

Then there was Miss Lisa, which waited far too long to move, and was too heavy to push. We heard that they had to wait until 8:30 for the boat to refloat off the beach. 

I would say that's when mean low water means something entirely different! 

Moon Shot

Today I took the photo I was hoping to get yesterday morning, when the clouds moved in. 

No clouds today and it looks like we're in for a fantastic week of gorgeous spring weather!

Easter Morning

What a sunrise on this gorgeous Easter morning with very little wind and listening to the ocean waves crashing on shore just over the settlement ridge.

The moon was setting to the right of the lighthouse and over the Sea of Abaco. Sorry, some clouds moved in and it's a little hard to see in the photo.

Power? Yes! Water? Sort Of...

A couple of days ago the watermaker was put into service here at the marina, because their one storage tank (out of three...two have leaks) was getting low. It runs 24 hours a day and makes about 100 gallons an hour. Yesterday morning at 7 AM we heard it start to make strange noises and then shut off. Dave went down and saw all sorts of water coming out of the room that it is housed in. Sure enough the water pump had died and spewed water everywhere. It has apparently been an issue for awhile, so the manager ordered a whole new watermaker since the old one had 16,000 hours on it. Who knows how long that will take to get here. Meanwhile it is Easter week and boats and people are everywhere, filling up their water tanks here, stored boats are being washed, and the laundromat below us is being used. We haven't had much rain since the big deluge in January, so now what? That's when the freight boat brings in water and puts it in the tanks. Today we got 15,000 gallons! Today is Good Friday and everything is closed around the Abacos, so I can't imagine how much this cost (the other night HT Inn & Marina had a water delivery at 8 PM too). It takes a couple of hours for the water to be pumped into the tanks with a hose spread across the boatyard from the haul out well back in the pond where we keep our boats. Meanwhile the full moon tide was going out quickly. As the freight boat tried to leave, it got stuck on the shoal at the mouth of the pond...and there it sat for 2 hours until it refloated. I just hope that the power and phone cables leading to our friend Truman's house didn't get severed.

It will be interesting to see the time frame as to how long the water lasts and how long it takes for the new watermaker to arrive, and of course get installed. Stay tuned and "don't stop the carnival!"

Rack 'Em Up!

Yesterday was the final Abaco Dinghy and Sunfish race of the season. Ironically, only two Sunfish sailors showed up and two others decided to race Abaco Dinghies...us included! Dandy didn't do too well on the course because it was windier than expected. We discovered that its original rudder is too small in 12-15 knots of wind, and Dave would lose all steering as soon as we tried to come about on the windward legs. Plus, even though we made a beautiful jibe at the mark, the traveler stop broke, and that big sail just kept going to the end of its line. We quickly brought down the main, and Dave jury rigged the traveler, up went the main, and we completed the first race...in last place, of course. We were also last of the 4 remaining boats for the other two races of the day, due to the small rudder issue (one boat had a tiller break and another took on so much water he submarined and sank, but was rescued). In fact in the last race we had to use a paddle to get some momentum going after coming about (the race committee looked the other way when we disqualified ourselves with the paddle action, since we were so far behind😉). I guess size does matter!

That's us in the center...although we really are last.

Today it was time to haul out some of the other Abaco Dinghies and put them up on the rack for storage. This takes a large number of helpers, so a call went out on the VHF radio for able bodies who could lift. First it was Mac 'N' Cheese on the move. Lucy the talking dog (seriously, she does!) leads the way. 

Then more and more people kept showing up and Nuthin's Easy was easily carried to the rack. Actually they look like they are tripping over each other!

All snug for the summer along with their mast and booms ready to be put away...

Lucy says, "dinghy moving is hard work!"

We'll keep Dandy in the water for awhile yet and sail it around the harbor when the wind allows. Dave could modify the keel and rudder, but we would rather keep it original and wait for optimum conditions.