¯We
did the jib jibe boogie¯¯boogie,
oogie, woogie ¯ J
May 23, 2012
We crossed
the Gulf Stream!!! And what a beautiful
day we had! We found ourselves motoring
out of Fort Lauderdale at 3:30am to meet the 4:00am opening of the 17th
Street bridge then headed out in darkness toward Old Bahama Bay. On our way at last! Having been up until midnight trying to figure out where the *!%*# water was leaking which was causing the
bilge pump to go on about every 30 minutes, I finally suggested that Gregg go
to bed and I would “babysit”. It turns
out both water tanks need welding, thank you again, previous owners. Grrrrr... The good news is, the leaks are not right at
the bottom of the tanks and our water maker is working so we will look to have
them welded when we return to the US in a few weeks. Nevertheless, Gregg was able to enjoy a full
3 hours sleep before embarking on our 10 – 12 hour crossing and I managerd a
delicious half hour with the idea that once we were under way, I would go down below
and catch a few hours myself. Once we
got going though, I found my second wind and stayed with Gregg until around 5:00am while
he was gathering his bearings and getting to know our girl. I wondered how I would react to being out of
sight of land for this first extended period and happily, it didn’t bother me at all….I
was a little queasy starting off which is unusual for me as I don’t experience
motion sickness perhps the lack of sleep and a break in
routine is what set my tummy off? By the
way, thank you Maria, for the year supply of ginger Gravol….we both
had one and were fit as fiddles in no time!
We rolled
into Old Bahama Bay about 12 hours later and marvelled that there were no other boats anchored
out…yipeee, we have the pick of the field!
No mooring buoys, but who cares….we’re in the Bahamas!!! Gregg went off to check us in at Customs and
returned to Simplicity II where we congratulated ourselves on a successful
passage and settled in to enjoy the scenery. Gregg
dove the anchor to make sure she was well set….not something we do at home…and
next thing we know, a fellow in uniform is waving at us from the breakwater.
Gregg got all dried off and changed and went off to Customs to let the guy know
that we were already checked in and the Officer smiled and said that’s Ok,
everything is good! Perfect! Back to the Boat he comes. Ahhhhh….life is good. :o)
Well, we get busy with “chores” fixing this and fixing that (as in the
waste pump cap that broke off during our crossing….ewwwww, nasty bit of
business for sure) and other little chores, amazed at all we have
learned and silently thanking Stu for being such a patient and entertaining
teacher, when, don’t you suppose, we go
to start the engine and the darn thing won’t go! I mean really, haven’t we been through enough
already? The good news is, Stu has
prepared us for this and Gregg merrily, not kidding, it was merrily, started through the process, step one, check this, step two, check that and so
on until our little girl purred like a kitten…I was so proud I was glowing like
a full moon in October!
Next day, we
get a visit via dinghy by the same guy in uniform that had been waving us down
from the breakwater yesterday, right about the time smoke started pouring out of the engine bay….well wouldn’t
you know it! The fellow was insisting we
get over to see him right away and as Gregg popped his head out of the
companionway amid billowing clouds of smoke to advise that yes, we would be happy to attend Customs just as
soon as the smoke cleared (no pun intended, this was literal!). OK, this poor fellow finally realizes that we have no idea where he has come from so he let
Gregg know that he was from the marina office and there was a “no anchoring
rule” and why did he not attend the marina office yesterday? Uh, oh…light bulb moment, off goes poor
Gregg to explain that we didn’t know there was no anchoring allowed and that
our guidebook said it was OK, and regardless, our girl wouldn’t be going
anywhere until we resolved our current situation, and we are very sorry
that we didn’t know the difference between the uniforms and what would you
suggest we do? He suggested $1.00 per foot and
could we please try to get our engine fixed as soon as possible? With full assurance and much good will, Gregg
returned to Simplicity II to work on his first priority project….not the top
priority, or even the must be done soon stuff….nope, this is a get it done now
piece of business. A quick call to our
marine engineer guru (and saint of virgin cruisers, Stu) and off he goes….it took awhile, but he got the
alternator off, repaired and reinstalled…brilliant….the man is a genious! Engine starts...no billowing smoke! Ahhhh....life is good!
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