First post of 2017

Day 1.

Day one: Boat yoga.

Arrived around noon and a taxi was waiting for us, arranged by Bob, who took good care of our boat while we were away. Our taxi driver kindly stopped at a store so we could purchase water, as we had left our tanks empty. He dropped us off at the water taxi, but Bob was there and gave us a ride to Submit.

Submit looked pretty good. No creatures. Some mold and rust. Moving in begins.

Reggie started by moving stowed items in the ‘hallway’ and installing them in the cockpit. Steering wheel, boom, dingy, etc., are back where they belong. Barbara was busy moving everything from one small area to the hallway, enabling her to wipe it down with anti-mold and then putting everything back, plus whatever we brought with us that would now live in that area. This helped Reggie improve his ‘mountain goat’ poses, as he climbed over the mountains she created.  He then folded himself into ‘mole pose’.  Some of you may not know this pose, so I’ll explain it. First, fold yourself into the smallest ball possible and ease yourself into the lazarette. Once stuffed into the confined area, you practice several other poses, mostly stretching your arms where they can’t possibly go. Occasionally, his head or one of his arms pokes out of the hole. This is why it is called ‘mole’ after the game Whack a Mole.

Barbara’s  boat yoga consisted of ‘frog’, which she tries every year and then gives up. It is a move she attempts it when making up the bed. As our bed has three walled sides, it is necessary to sit on the bed while it is being made. ‘Frog’ requires one to grab hold of the cushion, on which you are sitting, hop up and stuff the bottom sheet under the cushion.  Barbara cannot hop high enough nor tuck fast enough. She must resort to ‘rocking horse’ to do the corners of the head and that’s good enough.   The foot of the bed, which in encased in a box about three feet deep and 2 and one-half high, requires another pose, ‘inchworm’. With the sheet bunched in front of you, it pushed  towards the foot of the bed as you inch your way after it. Once there, Barbara finds combining ‘rocking horse’ with ‘inchworm’ works best.

We celebrated that night with freeze dried beef stew, which is left over from our back pack trip in Glacier last summer. We had some wine left from our last visit to Submit. To our surprise, it has turned to port.  We find we like it better if we add water, Croation style, but it isn’t bad without water.

Day two: Back packing cruising style:

We arranged for the water taxi to pick us up and take us into town. Back packing dehydrated food is OK, but we were in search of real food. First stop, however, was the phone company. Our Bahamian phone, didn’t seem to be working.  A nice young man punched a few buttons and we are set. Grocery store next. Unfortunately, the boat had just arrived and the shelves were not restocked. We were able to get a few vegetables, milk and eggs.

We stopped at the Towne Café, recommended by our taxi driver, for tasty grouper fingers for lunch.  When did groupers grow fingers?

We each put a bag on each shoulder and carried one in each hand. Barbara carried 30 pounds and Reggie maybe had 50? Hike back to Elvis, the water taxi to for the return ride to “Submit” to stow our food. 

We are both delighted with how well “Submit” came through the 9 months without us and hurricane Matthew.  No damage found.  One light needs to be re-glued to the side wall above the galley sink.  We had to replace the ventilation fan on the Nature’s Head composting toilet.  It was a real delight to find no bugs.  The bilge was not full and we don’t believe it was ever pumped in our absence.  We lost a couple port light covers and our companion way cover.  That is the biggest loss.  Barbara worked very hard on the companion way cover and it was great.  It sounds like bearings in the wind generator have died and need replacing.  Onto the list it goes.

We have numerous flashlights and other battery operated items aboard and therefore have a supply of various size batteries.  Many of the batteries are being thrown away because they have died or are dying.  It has been decided to eliminate battery operated flashlights.  There are great rechargeable flashlights available now, some with their own solar panel.  They can even be used to recharge cell phones and other devices.  We will try to eliminate as many battery operated devices as possible.

The evening included cribbage practice and curling up with books.  Between reading before sleep and again after 4 in the morning, Reggie finished  a Jesse Stone novel.  War and Peace it “ain’t” but entertaining it was. When he said he’d finished his book, Barbara had to wonder if it was “Cat in the Hat”. Guess he was awake longer than she thought.

Day 3: Upper body workout for Barbara and step aerobics for Reggie:

Reggie inflated the dinghy with the foot pump and launched it. Barbara started polishing away surface rust on the stainless steel. Don’t believe it when told stainless steel is low maintenance. Reggie took pity on her and rounded out his workout with his shoulder polishing exercises.  He also hooked the dinghy battery into the charging system, re-installed the blades on the wind generator and other odds and ends.

Barbara and Reggie Love Luci! Luci blew or was knocked overboard and was drifting away in the strong breeze. We have been having the same weather as last year. Strong winds from the north. Everyone is staying put. Reggie pulled the dinghy forward and Barbara leapt into it to rush to the rescue.  Paddles were thrown in and she was off to the rescue.   Barbara had forgotten how short the rope (painter) on the dinghy was. The shocked look on her face after turning around triumphantly with Luci in hand, tells all. She was ‘miles’ from Submit. “You let me go?”

“The rope wasn’t long enough,” he shrugged.  The strong breeze plus paddling with one oar took her quickly to Luci for the save.  However, getting back to submit proved no easy task.  She paddled mightily from the bow with one oar, not wanting to take the time to install both for proper rowing because she would lose too much ground and had no seat from which to row.  She made it to a mooring ball behind Submit and held on.   Reggie retrieved a long line and a fender from the lazarette, tied them together and threw them overboard.  The wind carried them to Barbara and she was retrieved along with the dinghy and Luci. 

Between the polishing and paddling, Barbara can hardly raise her arms.  We declared 3: 15 pm to be cocktail hour so she was presented a guava juice and Haitian rum cocktail.  She is reviving.

Tomorrow is moving day.  Our time on the mooring ball is up.  It may be challenging to find a reasonable spot to anchor.  Winds in the twenties plus gusting to 30 knots have been blowing for a couple weeks and are predicted for another week at least.  Finding a spot with protection could be difficult since the 100 plus other boats have already made their choices.  Anchoring solidly in a good spot is the secret to a good night’s sleep.