Camp Driftwood

Ah leap year ! We deserve this bonus day after loosing over three weeks in Nassau. Nice not having to go anywhere. We have canolope for breakfast, should of waited a few more days, wasn’t quite ripe enough, but the price was right.

Today we do have one important goal, to spend the afternoon at Camp Driftwood. There is a mangrove lined creek on the north side of Shroud that meanders east to the ocean side of the island. There is a gorgeous beach we plan on visiting for a while. We pack up lunch, the beach umbrella (something we wish we had the first trip, beautiful beaches, but never much shade), towels and books. Finally and nice warm day at the beach after six weeks in the Bahamas.  I hiked to the top of the hill “Camp Driftwood”.  Fabulous views of the whole island.

"Life is a Beach"

This was a lookout point for the DEA back in the 80’s when they were keep tabs on that Carlos guy, the Colombian Drug runner that had taken over Norman’s just to the north.

Camp Driftwood, our favorite beach

Normans

We sleep in and have a leisurely breakfast and one by one all the boats leave the channel.  The winds pick up from the east and we have a pretty good chop.  We decide to head south to Shroud where will have good protection from the wind and waves from the east. We have a quick one hour sail to Shroud and pick up a mooring now that we are in the Exhumas Land and Sea Park. Much calmer here with open views to the west.

Kind of interesting seeing this barge coming at us. They are quarrying limestone from a smaller Cay and moving it to Normans for development of the runway and marina.  He came close by and asked us to move.

Free at last from Nassau !

Up at 6AM and working on getting the boat ready to leave. Took a load of vegetables to Heather and Gary “Maewyn”, still on the hard at Brown’s, but launching this morning. We pick up some other board oil and transmission fluid and make on last stop at Fresh Market.  The bastard’s ! They have Ben & Jerry's ice cream on sale again. We have to get a pint of New York Super Fudge Chunk, I guess that will be our lunch.  Back on the boat I find a space on the side of our freezer that will freeze meat, I stick the pint there hoping it will still be good after dinner.

Last visit to Starbucks for internet and coffee

We pay up our bill and leave the dock at 10:30AM.  Nice day with light winds so we motor-sail.

Bye Nassau

We get to Norman’s around 5:30.  There are about 12 boats anchored in the channel. There has been a lot of development on Norman since our last visit.  The runway has been extended to a mile long. A pond on the south end of the island has been dredged and they are soon to finish cutting a channel to the open water and build a protected “Keyhole” Marina.  Large piles of sand and limestone are visible miles away.  Hopefully they will disappear at some point. There is a barge quarrying limestone from another small Cay next to Normans and moving it over to Normans.

C46 drug running plane

The C46 aircraft  from the drug running days is still sticking out of the water.  It crashed landed in the lagoon while trying to land on the runway. Interestingly, it crashed with a load of grass. Not Marijuana, grass, real grass, sod to be specific. Carlos (something or other, isn’t every drug runner from Columbia named Carlos !) was looking to sod his lawn and had it flown in.
Carlos was eventually arrested and was extradited to the US and tried in Los Angeles.  Walter Cronkite, a sailor who frequented Normans, even testified at the trial, since he was threatened at gun point to leave the harbor.

A nice evening on the boat at anchor, finally.  The channel at Norman’s has a strong current and the sand bottom has good holding, but that does not keep the boats from moving all over with the current changes.

Oh and the ice cream for desert !  It was becoming Ben and Jerry’s soft serve. Still very good a much better than the chocolate milk shake it would of been by morning.

Getting ready to leave

Today we are trying to get the last of our chores done before we leave for Normans Cay in the Exhumas tomorrow. After being focused on the rudder repair we have a number of other items that we have to work on. One is the bent oars on our dinghy which happened resetting anchors at Frazer Hog Cay.  We had found one set of dinghy oars at one store that I could modify to make work, but when I return they sold just one of the set. Well, on to Plan B. If I could find a 1-⅛ diameter dowel I could hammer it down inside the bent aluminum oar tube to straighten it and strengthen it. Well, the other day at Super Value I found a 1-⅛ diameter mop handle that I hoped would do the trick. With some hammering on the cement dock it worked fine and we now have a fairly straight oar, good enough until we get back to the states.

I drop off the propane tank for a refill and fill all our water tanks, sun showers and 4 - 5 gallon folding jugs. Should last us for a couple weeks.

Ed Close & Sharon Faith (center), Win Castle & Dorothy Wilson (left & right) and Linda

 

Ed with our old rudder

Ed Close and Sharon Faith owners of the Catalina 42 who lost their rudder are going to have our old rudder welded onto their rudder post to enable them to get back to the Florida and deal with the getting a new rudder manufactured there. Foss Foam did not have a mold for their early model Catalina 42, so it is going to take more effort to get a replacement. They are Canadians from Picton, Ontario, but they kept their boat at Brunswick Georgia in the off season.

Dive boat

At this Marina are 2 dive sailboats that come in one weekend to drop off and pick up customers for the week and to clean and re-provision. The main dock is full of boxes of food they are dividing up and loading on board. Apparently the captain over ordered and the crew hands us a box of fresh vegetables, rather than toss the excess. More than we can use so we share with a neighboring boat. A little later after sunset the cook drops of another box of vegetables and cooked chicken and fish. Again we split up the proceeds with two other boats. Since we had done our provisioning yesterday I am busy packing as much as I can in to our freezer and refrigerator, it is packed.

Cloudy and cool, again !

Well, yesterday's fine weather was just a tease. This morning is cloudy and cool, again. After breakfast we walk to the Super Value Supermarket and load up our cart. After putting everything away and Linda updating the inventory we head to Starbucks for our morning coffee and some online banking. We do not stay long since it is rather cool sitting outside and the AC inside is even cooler. Since BoatUS insists on sending paper checks to our home in Vermont we have to foot the repair bills for now. We are busy juggling this unplanned expense plus the additional marina fees we have not planned on.

We use our old iPhone with a Bahamian SIM Card to tether to our iPads to the internet. Unfortunately, Windows 10 on our PC's will not do the same, leading us to drink more Starbucks coffee than we would of otherwise. On our last trip here Windows XP tethered just fine with the iPhone. I think Microsoft and Apple intentionally do not play nice with each others operating systems.

New Outboard

After breakfast we go pay for the new outboard, in cash. We get a discount for cash and avoid an additional 4% charge for using a credit card. Feels rather strange paying for the outboard in cash. I couldn't imagine doing that in the US.

By early afternoon the temperatures are in the mid-80's and the boat is getting rather warm and for the first time I turn on the AC.  By late afternoon the temperature reaches 88.

After lunch our new outboard gets delivered at the marina. Later after getting gas and reading the instructions on breaking in a new engine I try to start it. I could not get it to start. Gary's started on the second pull yesterday. I call the dealer and he quickly comes over and it does not start for him either. Then he turns around and notices I have the vent on the gas tank closed, so the new carburetor which is dry at this point could not pull any gas through the line. Opening the valve the engine starts right up.

Later when I am doing the initial ten minute idle, Gary and family stop by in their dinghy with their new 15 hp Yamaha. Then Linda and I motor over to the Atlantis dinghy dock so I can run to the Scotia Bank ATM to replenish our cash.

At 6:00PM we gather for drinks on our neighbors boat “Frosty” Heidi and Dave, with two other couples who came in this afternoon. Heidi and Dave came back from the Exhumas, because they needed to replace their batteries, but will probably head back south since it is too early to head back to the states. Later we all head over to East Villa (Chinese) for dinner.

New Rudder installed

Up early to finish drilling out the ½ inch diameter holes with my borrowed electric drill. 

Old rudder down, New rudder installed

By 10:00 AM I have the rudder and steering quadrant reassembled and we are ready to be launched. 

Reassembling the steering stuff, down in the aft port locker

We motor back to the Nassau Harbor Club and start cleaning the boat and putting everything back in place. The boat is whole again and we are nearly ready to continue our travels. We need to do some provisioning before we leave for the Exhumas. In the afternoon we walk over to Harborside Marine, the Yamaha dealer and order a new 15 Hp Yamaha outboard. I figured I better get moving since our Canadian friends from Nova Scotia had just bought one this morning and there are only one or two more in stock. We will have it delivered tomorrow morning. I will need to make a harness to attach it to our engine lift, another sewing project for tomorrow.

We then walk to the downtown Scotia Bank to hit the ATM that provides US cash without any “exchange” rate fees. It is just like using an ATM at home in Vermont. This is one of two locations that let you withdraw US funds. Bahamian money is pegged to the US dollar one to one and both currencies are used here interchangeably. So I have no idea why there is and “exchange” rate charged on withdrawing money in Bahamian currency.

Green Parrot

We stop on the way back to the boat at the Green Parrot for an early dinner. A nice warm sunny afternoon with light breezes. Have not seen temperatures in the low 80's since the first day or two at Bimini over six weeks ago. Hopefully this is the start of more seasonable weather for the next couple months. The last two nights are the first time in the last couple weeks we have not been able to hear the constant high winds whistling through the rigging on the dock. It is strangely quiet.

New Rudder

Monday morning we take the boat over to Browns for a short haul to install the new rudder. I removed the old rudder, myself with the help of Scotty the travel lift operator. 

I talked to Albert about having his guys drilling the new holes on the stainless steel post on the new rudder and then installing it. I worked on laying out where to drill the holes on the new rudder post. Albert's guys were suppose to show up after lunch, but they never came, they were busy working on another Canadian cruising sailboat that has some major drive shaft problems. So at this point I decided if I wanted it done right, I would do it myself. I was not really interested in drilling stainless steel myself, especially since my electric drill is a little under powered for the job. With help from my able assistant, Linda, I was able to drill out the 3/8” diameter holes using a series of progressively larger drills. 

Drilling holes in the rudder post

I was not able to complete drilling out the other ½ inch diameter holes, the chuck on the drill kept slipping at the higher torque. 

 A local fellow stopped by later in the evening and loaned me his electric drill with a ½ inch diameter chuck. 

Since I got a late start after waiting for Albert's guys, we had to spend the night in the travel lift slings.

Interestingly, we are the third cruising sailboat, on the hard, living on their boat in Browns Boatyard this night.

In the afternoon Robert comes over to introduce me to Ed on a Catalina 42 that is at the end of the dock at the Nassau Harbor Club where we are staying. I had not yet met Ed, but we could not figure out why the Catalina 42 was on the end of the dock with their stern to the prevailing wind. Well, it turns out they got towed in after their rudder fell off coming from the Exhumas about 20 miles from Nassau. They maybe interested in using our old rudder with some additional modifications to get back to Florida.

After hearing their story of getting towed, we feel quite fortunate that we had Joe Louis from Chub towing us with his twin 200 HP outboards. Ed and his wife got towed by a small under powered single engine boat. Sounded like the Three Stooges were trying to tow them. The tow lines got wrapped around the props of both boats multiple times and they charged them $3,000 dollars. BASRA, Bahamas Air Sea Rescue Association arranged this tow boat.

Gelcoat Repair

Another work day. I worked on repairing gelcoat; no longer used screw holes, cracks and dings. Replaced canvas snaps screwed into the deck. Apparently, I had gotten some non-stainless screws that are starting to severely rust. Not a problem on Lake Champlain, but after 4 months of salt water they are deteriorating fast. Linda continues cleaning the stainless.

Two Brothers

Up early, I head over to Brown's to help with another boat that was being hauled out for repairs. A couple from Nova Scotia; Gary, Heather and their two boys Arly and Sam. Heather has been home schooling the boys. Their drive shaft was having problems and needed repair. 

Breakfast back on our boat and then WIFI at Starbucks. Then after lunch I re-sew some on the stitching on our Bimini that was failing and Linda cleans some of the stainless steel in the cockpit.

Late in the afternoon we walked over to the Food Shacks under the Paradise Island bridge for and early dinner. I finally got to try a Conch Salad, don't need to do that again. Was rather tough since it was freshly made. I think often the conch is marinaded in lemon juice for a couple hours to tenderize the conch.

Dinner at Two Brothers

Visitors depart

After breakfast, Dana and Lori left around 10:00AM for the Airport. Browns Marina is busy with two other sailboats being hauled out for repairs for a few days, so we decide to do a short haul on Monday to replace the rudder. After doing some boat cleaning we search out a new place for lunch recommended by some of the workers here at the marina. Last week I noticed some of them with Clam Shell boxes for lunch and inquired where they got them. Behind an office building a couple blocks away is a food stand with outdoor seating. We both get lunches for $6.00 each and have enough left over for dinner. I am kicking myself for not checking this place out sooner. We head back to the boat and Linda does laundry for the afternoon and I replace an engine water pump which is easier to do with no one else on the boat.

New Rudder

In the morning I head over to Browns Marina to see our new rudder. Roberts guys are in the process of painting it. 

Late morning we all walk to downtown Nassau and have lunch. We head back to the boat. Dana and Lori start packing and have a nap. Linda and I walk over to Starbucks for coffee and WIFI. For dinner we walk to Montague Gardens a restaurant recommended by some local Bahamians.

Snorkeling Rose Island

We finally get a day with light winds and a fair amount of sunshine. We take Manana out to the north side of Rose Island to one of the local popular snorkeling spots. After nearly six weeks in the Bahamas we get our first day of snorkeling. We have a nice afternoon. Lori and Dana have a great time snorkeling. Late in the afternoon we head back to Nassau Harbour Club. 

Diver Dana

Dana, Lori and Linda

Atlantis Water Park

After breakfast we all head to the Water Park for the day. The weather is still on the cool side, but since it is school vacation week the water park is rather crowded. Walking along a pathway we pass one young boy with his family who were apparently going too slow for his tastes to the next ride. In a very authoritarian voice he shouts out “Let's move it along People”. My thoughts exactly, I repeat the line frequently the rest of the day.

We all do the Rapid River together. It takes a while for all of us to get tubes. Just as we get started through the first rapid, a squall blows through and it starts raining. Suddenly, people are getting out of the water to get out of the rain. It's a water park people! You are suppose to be wet. People are crowding under umbrellas and Food stands to get out of the rain. We stay in the Rapid River, the water is heated, so it is much warmer than the air temperature and the rain. We do a bunch of other water rides in the afternoon.

Linda, Dana and Lori

Atlantis

We get up early and motor over to Atlantis where we have a reservation for two days. Although the marina at Atlantis is expensive $4.50 foot we all get passes to the attractions with the docking fee. A day pass is $125 each, so staying at the marina is a pretty good deal. Nice to be in a calm marina without any current and with tall buildings blocking the wind, quite a change from last night. After we have breakfast on the boat Dana and Lori take off to explore Atlantis and Linda and I do the same a little later. I do a couple of the water rides by myself, its too cool for Linda. I walk by a small hot tub, between a couple kids water slides and it is packed with people trying to get warm. We all get together for dinner at Bimini Roads and Dana and Lori head out to checkout the night life.

Atlantis Aquarium

bottom up Atlantis

Yoga Retreat washing machine

Wind picks up in the afternoon as predicted and after lunch we head back into Nassau. We anchor in front of the Yoga Retreat where we stayed for 5 days or so 2 years ago. With the chop on the water it is hard to clearly see the bottom and make sure the anchor dropped in sand and not grass. I put on the mask and fins to check. The anchor is dug into a sandy spot. Interestingly under our boat is a large old safe and a block of cement. I assume the safe is full of cement and was an old mooring block, not something you want to snag an anchor on. By 10 PM the wind is blowing 20-25 knots out of the north, but the strong current is perpendicular to the wind direction and we are bouncing all over the place. I let out more anchor line and keep an anchor watch until 3:00 AM until the current is nearly the same direction as the wind. Nobody else gets much sleep either with all the motion.

Rose Island

I return the car. We get the boat ready to head out to Rose Island for an over night stay. Did some snorkeling around the boat and dinghied around the area. 

Beach combing

Had a nice night on anchor.

Sunset at Rose Island

Montague Park

After breakfast we drive over to Montague Park and walk by all the local fish vendors.

 

Lori, Dana and Linda

Then we spend the rest of the morning at “The Retreat” a National Park that have a variety of palm trees from around the world. Surprisingly, I learn that there are a few small varieties of palms from the Caribbean. The large Coconut and Royal palms are not native to the Bahamas, Florida or the rest of the Caribbean. 

Today's vegetation looks nothing like, what was here before Columbus.

 After lunch on the boat we drive over to Paradise Island and walk on the beach and visited some time-share condos we stayed at years ago.

 

For dinner we went to East Villa, a Chinese restaurant about ½ mile from our boat, recommended by some local folks. Food was quite good, reasonably priced and the service is excellent.

Visitors from Oregon

Pick up rental car and drove towards the airport with a couple stops along the way. The early morning sun quickly clouds over and we have another cool day not quite reaching 70 degrees. I'm starting to dress like a local, long sleeve shirt and shorts. We pick up our son Dana and Daughter-in-law Lori at the Airport. Their plane was 20 minutes early. Drove back to the boat and made them a late breakfast since they have been traveling for over 16 hours from Medford, Oregon. They have an afternoon nap, because they didn't get much sleep on any of their flights. In the evening we go to the Green Parrot for dinner. Another cool evening high 60's with a 20 knot wind. The Green Parrot dining is normally outside dining under a roof with open sides with views of the harbor. Well not tonight. They have dropped the storm “Shutters”, which we never realized existed to block the cool wind. We are now dining in a windowless room only open to the backside.

Green Parrot, It's cold here, storm shutters down for wind protection

Car Rental

The three adjacent boats next to us leave in the morning for Norman Island in the Exumas. Linda and I talk to a couple on a larger sailboat further out on the dock who was here for a couple days for repairs. Their hydraulic steering developed a leak and they were running out of fluid and the ability to steer their boat. Their solution to reach Nassau was to use the couple gallons of high grade cooking oil that they were bringing here for a local friend. I hope he did not pay in advance.

Made my heavy duty outboard bracket and painted it. Linda does laundry to get ready for our son Dana and daughter-in-law Lori coming tomorrow. We rent a car for the next two days to pick them up and see more of the island. For dinner we make a reservation at the Nassau Yacht club. We have another nice dinner and have an enjoyable conversation with a local couple who eat there often and we saw last Saturday. We are the only ones there for dinner and they both insist on driving us back to the marina. Interestingly our credit card gets declined when we use it to pay for dinner. We head over to Starbucks to buy a cup of coffee with the card to confirm if there is a problem, declined again. Linda calls Chase via Skype and finds they put a hold to get us to check in. After all our recent expenses in the Bahamas suddenly a charge shows up in Florida, our new rudder and they are concerned. Hold removed and we are back in business.

“Crazy Lady”

I have fun spending some time trying to figure out some electrical problems on the boat next to us “Crazy Lady”, single handled by Ann Gates. She has a couple issues that is affecting her refrigeration and charging. The main issue turns out to be her power cable from the house batteries to the electrical panel. It has developed some resistance at the connector, lowering the voltage seen by her DC equipment. Ann removes the cable and buys some new connectors and using my hydraulic crimper I make her a new cable and also solder the lugs after crimping. She puts it back together and is quite happy, everything is now working correctly.

Checks to Vermont

We have breakfast at Starbucks, for WiFi and to Skype our Credit Union about transferring funds. BoatUS has been very good about sending a check to cover our insurance claims so far, except they mail the check to our home address in South Burlington, Vermont. Doesn't do us much good in the Bahamas. Also, they send mail to us in Vermont with a form to fill out and return. What part of we are in the Bahamas, not in Vermont don't they understand. They are not at all helpful trying to find alternative methods like depositing directly into our checking account. So now we have to juggle funds to pay our insurance related expenses out of our own pocket for now.

I walk a couple miles to a lumber yard to get wood to make a motor mount for a 15 Hp outboard we are considering buying here in Nassau. Prices are fairly good for Yamaha's here.

Super Value

A woman from one of the boats in the Marina had her pocket book stolen walking back from a nearby restaurant. Had it hanging off her shoulder were it was easy for some kids to grab and run. The pocket book is found later, but the contents are missing aside from the cash. In the afternoon we go for a long walk to the Super Value and take the long way back.

Nassau Harbor Club

Robert Brown launches us early at 8:30 am and we head back to Nassau Harbor Club Marina. Wayne and Betty stopped by and invited us to dinner in the evening at the Nassau Yacht Club with Tom & Anne. In the afternoon we walk over to the Montagu Park, old Fort and beach. Lots of fish vendors and food trucks. That evening we all get the same dinner, Ribs, was very good.

Linda, Betty, Anne, Tom, Wayne

“Fixed” rudder

Stopped by early to see Albert, told me his guys would be there right after lunch to put the “fixed” rudder back in. I spend a few hours in putting a coat of Poly-glow on the hull. This stuff is a polymer coating that is much easier to put on than wax and lasts a lot longer. We have a nice shine again on our hull. Robert provides me with some bottom paint for the bottom of the wing keel, which obviously lost some paint with our grounding.

It is getting late and Alberts guys still have not shown up. Finally they arrive around 3:30 PM. Since they normally quit at 4:00PM this does not look good for completing today. The re-welded post is not straight and the weld site has not been ground down to a small enough diameter to fit back into the rudder post tube. It took a lot of grinding of the weld site and grinding of the fiberglass shell of the rudder to get the rudder to “slide” in place. Then it turns out they shortened the rudder post, so the holes through the top of the post will not allow the rudder bearing to fit. I am not happy. I had told them to error to the long side since the rudder would work fine if it hung a little lower. I do not have enough confidence to sail off with this fix and return in a couple weeks to install the new rudder. We will stay in the area until the new rudder arrives. Its irritating to have to pay for this additional labor to fix their f**kup.

Albert Marine Services

Up early to stop by Albert Marine Services to discuss the rudder repair. They do not have a press big enough to bend it and doing so would probably further weaken the rudder. He recommends that they send it out to be cut and re-welded. I am skeptical that the heat of welding will not be a problem and stress that the welding site has to be ground to less that the original post diameter to be able to fit back in the rudder tube. I acquiesce to his recommendations.

I spend most of the morning cleaning the hull and removing the last three months of scuff marks from various dockings. Linda spends her morning cleaning the interior. We walk to downtown Nassau for Lunch at Rachel’s Take a Way. It was recommended by some cruising friends. They do have a couple tables inside, but most people are here for take out. We are the only non-locals here. Linda and I share a fried fish lunch, chunks of fish with skin, bones and meat. Rather interesting meal. We have fun talking with a few of the regular patrons. We then head downtown to an ice cream shop and then to the bank to replenish our cash which got decimated paying for our towing. We stop by Fresh Market early in the evening for a rotisserie chicken. Should of gotten it in the morning, it is now over-cooked and dry after spending most of the day under heat lamps. By now the bones are almost edible.

Each evening the boatyard is locked and we have to have the security guards let us out and back in. We have their phone numbers to call them from the gate, Sean and Cherise. We come back after dark and the temperature is about 70 with the wind blowing, and Cherise is wearing a heavy jacket and a wool hat with earflaps, which I have to tease her about, since we are in T-shirts and shorts.

New Rudder

We ordered a new rudder this morning to be manufactured by Foss Foam Products in Florida.  Will decide in the next couple days whether it gets shipped to Nassau or stateside.

BoatUS has already worked up a partial settlement.

I have worked with Jaime Medina at BoatUS exclusively via email. BoatUS has been very helpful and understanding. Have nothing but good to say about them.

Bob "Al" Walker at Foss Foam Products of Florida has also been excellent. Between email and texting we have ordered the correct rudder to be manufacture this morning.

Robert Brown of Brown's Marina and his crew have been excellent, we are in good hands.

Albert's (Albert's Marine Services) crew took our rudder this morning. It will be tough to get it functional. It is bent in two directions. Alert had to sent it out to another machine shop. If they can straighten it, the top will have to epoxied and reseale, since it is already cracked where the post enters the rudder and will only get worse when they try to bend it back.

Fun in Nassau

Early in the morning around 4:30AM I hear some loud talking on the dock. Not enough to wake anyone in a sound sleep. After we get up we find out that a couple boats further out on the dock were robbed. They come off the water, probably swimming, looking for cash mainly. They were on “Carrie May” and stole a paddle board on the deck and went through Maria's backpack in the cockpit. Bob wakes up and surprises his unwanted guest, Bob has a gun and his guest disappears. The security at the marina could care less and doesn't do anything. Bob is friends with a retired Nassau Police commissioner and calls him which gets some action. The police come but are initially more upset that Bob has a hand gun (declared and registered upon entry) Bob holds it by the finger guard so they will not feel threatened. Boats are robbed almost weekly at this marina. Anyways they do finger print some of the objects the thief touched. Apparently they do have a suspect, but have not been able to nail him, yet.

In the afternoon our boat is towed over to Browns and Albert's guys come over and drop the keel. Tomorrow hopefully it will be straighten and reinstalled. I am working on getting a new rudder fabricated in Florida which we will eventual get installed. Tonight we have another very calm night sleeping on the boat in the travel lift slings.

Browns Marina

 

Erin, one of Albert's workers, who is obviously quite flexible, in our after locker

Bent rudder on the ground

Rain again !

We make arrangements with Robert Brown at Brown's Marina for our boat to be hauled out. Then we contact Albert's Marine Services to pull the rudder and to bend it back into alignment. We talked with Bob and Maria “Carrie May” a very nice 51 foot Morgan Out Island. Bob and Maria were at Browns Marina and Bimini Sands while we all were waiting for good weather to move on. We have a couple hours of heavy rain and squalls in the afternoon, so not much else gets done for the day, except mother nature washing the boat, again.