Breeze On

We weathered yesterday’s arrival of the cold front just fine. The temperatures did drop quite a bit by Bahamas standards, though. I took advantage of the cooler temperatures and baked cookies while George ran the water maker—which ran without any problems, yay! We left George Town this morning to sail to Long Island and felt cold all day long in spite of wearing long sleeves and jackets. According to our thermometer the high today in our cockpit was 74.5. Brrrr. It is nothing compared to what people on the east coast have experienced this weekend.  After we got settled in Thompson Bay we dinghied over to Tiny’s for some pizza. By the time we left there were a lot of dinghies tied up to the dock.  The cooler temperatures on Breeze On.  Awaiting our pizza at Tiny’s Hurricane Hole.  Lots of dinghies at Tiny’s. 

We spent yesterday doing chores: including laundry, shopping, dumping trash, and defrosting the fridge. Today we gave each other a haircut and then dinghied to Haulover Grill for a late lunch with friends. As is often the case, the menu was limited but the food was good. The company was even better. One of the owners of Haulover Grill, Ishmael, gave us some background on the name of the restaurant. It sits on Haulover Bay which is a very shallow bay that local fishermen could use to beach their boats on the sandbars and “haul over” to clean the bottoms. He also joked that if you go aground you have to haul your boat over to get to shore. Although we arrived at mid-tide George did have to walk the dinghy a short distance to get it to their dock. The setting is gorgeous and there was even a hummingbird flitting around us.  We are now hunkered down awaiting a cold front that is forecast to arrive tomorrow and bring west winds in the mid-twenties with gusts close to 40 knots.  A b...

Early yesterday evening we had sundowners on Shooting Star with Fred and Ruth Ann as well as Roger and Chris from Oceanus. We all hail from Cambridge, MD and all happen to be in the same harbor at the same time. It was a lot of fun to catch up and share boating stories. This morning we raised the anchor and moved over to the other side of the harbor for some snorkeling. After returning to Breeze On we moved back to Masters Harbour. We want to be here for the next cold front—expected in a few days—but also because it is quieter here. Not as many dinghies and other motor boats zipping around. The ship that had run aground was able to get free sometime before we got up this morning. We aren’t sure how they managed to do it. Crews from Breeze On, Oceanus and Shooting Star. The stuck ship is in the background.  We haven’t been able to identify the mound in the middle but thought it was interesting.  There was quite a variety of coral.  Well camouflaged sand diver fish in the m...

We left Staniel Cay just before dawn yesterday morning and had a great downwind 60 mile sail to George Town. We wanted to time our exit through the cut as close to slack tide as we could. Otherwise the wind would be opposing the incoming tide and we would be bashing into large, steep waves. We must have timed it right because the  cut was quite calm. We anchored in Masters Harbour in the late afternoon where we had good protection from the NW winds. George ran the water maker this morning and it all went smoothly and our water tank is now full. Hooray!  After that we raised the anchor and moved closer to town to make it more convenient to run a few errands. As we approached our anchorage we saw a supply ship which appears to have run aground trying to get to the government dock.  Sun rising as we leave Staniel Cay.  Ship aground in George Town. 

The new belt is installed and the water maker works. Phew! What a relief. When George first started the motor after installing the belt it was making a terrible racket so he quickly shut it off. George checked the impeller and it was fine. We decided the noise might be coming from the belt slipping so he tightened it up a bit. While he was tightening the belt I was researching how tight that type of belt should be and read it should be just tight enough so it doesn’t slip, but not too tight. Ha! The Rain Man company has no instructions on belt tension for our type of machine (they do for their newer model that has a different type of belt and pulley system) and they haven’t even responded to George’s questions. So, we made our best guess on proper tension. After George made the adjustment he started the motor and it sounded much better. We still have about 30 gallons of water in the tank so George decided to pickle the system (add fresh water with a preservative.) That accomplishes two...

Makers Air delivered the water maker belt to Staniel Cay Yacht Club today and we picked it up—along with two other boat parts—this afternoon. Hooray! George will attempt to install the new belt tomorrow morning when he has more time. It appears that the old belt may have stretched a bit so he is anticipating that it will be more difficult to install the new belt than it was to remove the old belt. In the meantime he installed the new engine compartment exhaust fan (one of the other parts that arrived today.) The old fan quit shortly after we arrived in the Bahamas. Since our engine runs on diesel—and not gasoline—it isn’t needed to clear explosive fumes from the engine compartment. We had read on the Hanse owners website that other owners had run their engines for years without a fan so we didn’t think it was urgent to replace it. The fan does help to keep the compartment from getting dusty and overheated, though, so George ordered a replacement to be sent to Staniel Cay as long as we ...

We left Thompson Bay, Long Island just before dawn yesterday morning. We were looking forward to a nice day of sailing. However, just after we left the harbor the wind dropped from 13 to 6 knots and stayed light all day. It was light again today so we motored and motor-sailed the entire 100 mile trip to Staniel Cay. Just after we dropped anchor at Big Majors this afternoon we launched the dinghy and motored over to the Staniel Cay Yacht Club where we hoped to pick up the new belt for the water maker.  It hadn’t yet arrived so we will return tomorrow and hope it will be there then. While we were at the yacht club we ate a late lunch and bought two five-gallon cans of diesel so we made good use of our dinghy ride.  Sunrise over Rocky Point, where we anchored last night. 

Yesterday morning, before we left George Town, we were able to get 40 gallons of water from Jamaal of Go4. He bills himself as a harbor concierge who will delivery fuel, water, prescriptions and other items directly to your boat. It’s a really big harbor & his services seem to be in demand. The business was started early in the pandemic when cruisers were not allowed to leave their boats. George had contacted Jamaal the evening before and Jamaal said he would bring the water for $1.00/gallon the next morning if we could move our boat closer to town. We did just that early yesterday morning and we had forty gallons of water added to our tank by 9:30 am. Jamaal has a 50 gallon barrel on his boat as well as a gas operated pump. Quite a system.  After we filled the water tank we decided to sail over to Long Island. We were ready for a change of scenery and, since we didn’t know how long it would take for a new belt to arrive, Long Island is a good place to wait. As it turns out, th...

Today George started up the water maker to fill the water tank. As I mentioned in an earlier  post  about the water maker, he runs the water maker once a week to prevent microbes from growing in the reverse osmosis membranes.  This morning the motor started right up but after just a few minutes started to sound strange. George turned it off, took it apart and checked the impeller. Sure enough, one of the arms had broken off. If parts of the impeller get into the system they can create havoc, but since he found the parts in the prefilter we assumed everything would be okay. George replaced the impeller, put everything back together, started the water maker up, but no water was coming out. Upon further inspection we found that the belt and pullies for the lift pump were not moving. George also saw teeth from the belt lying on the bottom of the motor. We asked Jean and Michael to come over for a consultation. Michael confirmed that we needed a new belt and gave some guidance...

Yesterday we had the calmest conditions we have seen for quite a while. We started our day by doing laundry at Baranki Wash. Our timing was great—we arrived around 8:30, at the tail end of the early morning rush. Next we drove around and visited a few other boats we knew in the anchorage. In the afternoon we took the dinghy over to Cheater’s Restaurant and had a late lunch with Jean and Michael from Desiderata II and Ron and Dee from Ursa Minor. The menu was limited but we all enjoyed our fried chicken or fried fish with French fries. It was fun to be able socialize on the restaurant’s porch and we stayed long after the restaurant closed in the afternoon. George and I must have been lucky with the tides when we made our two previous trips that way. The chart shows that it is quite shallow but we never had a problem. On our way to Cheater’s we hit bottom going very slowly. Rather than risk damaging the prop, George pulled out an oar, stood up, and rowed us to deeper water. I felt like I...

We had a brief respite from the wind yesterday morning so we—as well as everyone else in the anchorage—launched our dinghy and went out. George and I went exploring and found one area that had a few broken-down yachts on moorings. Interesting. Then we found a nice beach nearby where we could go for a walk. The storm clouds were bearing down as we returned to the dinghy so we went back to Breeze On before the skies opened up. It is windy again today (20-25 knots) but at least we have some protection from the NW winds so the anchorage isn’t as bouncy as it was a few days ago. The forecast calls for a calm day tomorrow before another strong front arrives the next day.  This appears to be a wrecked racing trimaran. We don’t know anything about it.  Storm clouds coming. 

We had planned to sail from George Town to Long Island yesterday morning. We changed our minds, though, after we heard about a change in the weather forecast  For the next week there will be three cold fronts causing the wind to clock around through the West each time. The forecast indicated that we would have two, possibly three episodes of strong SW wind.  There is not good protection from that direction in Long Island so we decided to stay in George Town for the time being. Yesterday morning we moved Breeze On about a mile across the harbor to be closer to town. We took the dinghy to the large dinghy dock behind Exuma Market. After we dumped our garbage in the back of the trash truck and stuffed our money through the truck’s partially open window, we went shopping. Exuma Market is under new management and is much better stocked than it used to be. We actually found fresh vegetables on the shelf.  After shopping we returned to Breeze On and motored 4 1/2 miles further s...

Today we took the dinghy to shore for a short hike across Stocking Island. It was a sunny, warm day but when we crested the hill we felt a refreshing cool breeze coming from Exuma Sound. The views were stunning. Before we set out for our hike George ran the water maker—it started right up, yay!!—and defrosted the fridge. Last night our friends, Dawn and Ray, came over for more games of Mexican Train and birthday brownies. Yesterday was Dawn’s birthday and tomorrow is Ray’s. Dawn and Ray left early this morning to head back to Nassau and prepare to pick up more guests. It was great to see them and we hope to meet up again this winter.  Just a portion of the Sand Dollar Beach anchorage. If you zoom in you might be able to see the top half of Breeze On’s mast way over on the left.  Eastern shore of Stocking Island.  Bev and George with Exuma Sound in the background.  Who knew that hermit crabs liked dog poop?  George does not approve my posting this photo.  Ou...

Yesterday we weighed anchor before dawn and began our 55 mile sail across Exuma Sound to George Town. We chose to make the trip on a day we had enough wind to sail, understanding we ran the risk of sailing in big seas. The conditions turned out to be great—wind for sailing and manageable seas. It was a fast trip and by mid-afternoon we were anchoring next to Azzurra 2.0, the boat of our friends from home, Dawn and Ray. We played Mexican Train on Azzurra 2.0 last night and will play again on Breeze On tonight. It was great to catch up with them.  Azzurra 2.0 at the end of the rainbow.  Kiteboarder in the harbor. On the right you can see a few of the hundred or so boats at George Town. 

Yesterday we went snorkeling around a small rocky island in the middle of the bay which was close enough that we could swim from Breeze On. After we swam back to the boat George decided to check on the anchor. As he was swimming he came very close to a jellyfish and took some great photos. Later in the day we went for lunch at the small Fernandez Bay Resort. George had a mahi mahi sandwich and I had a salad with mahi mahi. The food was simple but the fish was delicious.  Today we took the dinghy through Bonefish Creek. We had just about given up on seeing any turtles when we spotted two on our return trip. We were surprised that one swam leisurely beside the dinghy. They normally dart away at a fast speed as soon as we approach. While we traveled through the creek we also looked for bonefish but didn’t see any, although we weren’t quite sure what we were looking for. Bonefishing is a popular sport here in the Bahamas but we don’t know much about it. After we returned to Breeze On w...