Warderick Wells

We spent most of the day yesterday and part of the day today trying to sort out the starter battery issue. Fortunately, we are in a stunning location. Unfortunately, there is no WiFi and just 1 bar of cell service at the ranger station only. That hampers our efforts to do any research. We sent emails via the Iridium Go satellite phone and George made a few calls using the Iridium. Tom and Peter from McMichaels (the yacht broker) seem to think a relay that enables the battery systems to be charged in parallel is stuck in the open position. This allows the starter battery to be discharged when a high load is put on the house system (like when running the microwave). Alex from Sea Tek (who installed our lithium ion house batteries ) thinks it is a bad starter battery that should be replaced. I think it is a combination of both. We looked into going to Nassau to buy a replacement battery. We found two places that sell marine batteries but both sell a brand that is too tall for our current configuration. George also called Minn's Watersports in George Town but they also sell that same brand. We might look into buying a battery from West Marine and having it shipped by Watermakers Air to Staniel Cay. Shipping will probably be very expensive. In the meantime, we will stop using the microwave (it was nice while it lasted) and use the Honda Generator to keep the battery charged if needed. We were very grateful to have Nigel Calder's book, Boatowner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual. It is very thorough and written in a manner that even I can understand.
We took a break from the battery issue yesterday to go for a hike to Barefoot Beach. There are numerous secluded beaches all around that are accessible by dinghy or hiking trail. Today we went snorkeling at Kelly's Reef about a mile away. Now we are hunkering down for the expected cold front.