We are still at Green Turtle Cay with a contingent of fellow RMHYC members--all people we really enjoy--Diva, Duetto, Argonaut and Legacy--so even though we haven't been able to get around The Whale yet (6'-10' waves with short intervals all week) we've been having fun nonetheless. Today there will be 11 of us for dinner at the newly refurbished/reopened Green Turtle Club and we're all eating lobsters! Yum!!
But all is not "sweetness and light." Everyone seems to have "boat issues" this year--yours truly included. We had planned to be around The Whale through a weather window last week shortly after Ben and Margaret on “Diva” arrived. But those plans were scotched when our refrigeration went on the blink! No power to the freezer, no cold in the fridge, meat beginning to thaw. Bluff House took our frozen things into their kitchen and suggested two locals come out and take a look. Unfortunately that's all they did--spent a few hours "looking" and then leaving with their hefty fee. The one said we'd just have to "live with it". The other said he'd come back tomorrow with soldering tools to "fix it". But after waiting all day on the boat, he never showed. The next day we called him at 9 and he said he was on his way. At 11 he said he was just getting his tools together. At 2 we got a similar response. And then at 5 we just gave up waiting and wasting yet another day on the boat for naught. We now have blocks of ice in our freezer compartment which, although things don't stay actually frozen, then do stay very cold.
We then got an e-mail from "Legacy", our friends on the de Fever who were still stuck at Lake Worth. When then heard of our refrigeration dilemma they leased a car and went from place to place until they were able to find a 12volt cooler for us. They then loaded it aboard their boat and promised to get it to us ASAP. As luck (or unluck) would have it, they arrived at Powell the very night we were staging at Manjack for an early passage around the Whale the next morning. So we passed on that one and met up with them instead. The cooler is now installed and working well. We'll make another attempt at getting the freezer fixed at Marsh Harbour. Hopefully there will be someone there who actually knows how these systems work.
It was great seeing Pam and Ron on Legacy again and we spent several days with them anchored out at Manjack and Powell exploring beaches and enjoying dinner and drinks on their gorgeous yacht. Then it was back to Green Turtle and on to "Diva" to help fix Ben's boat. Talk about problems!! For some reason Ben had taken the fuse out of the battery bank before he left last year and all of the batteries had died--with no chance of resusitation! Consequently nothing was working on his boat--no refrigeration, no electric toilets, no communications, nada!! Plus his GPS had also died last year and the new one was waiting for him at Boat Harbour--where he couldn't get to. Finally, (we think this is the final faux-pax--we hope there are no more) when he hooked up his de-humidifier to drain into his sink over the summer he neglected to open the sea cock so water filled the sink and the weight of the water pulled the sink away from it's supports. Fun times guys!! So for the past few days Vince, John, David and Ben have had their hands full to say the least while Margaret, Diane, and I have been playing Mahjonng. Thank god we're girls!And then Brian and Jan--friends on “Roving Seas” who were still staging at Lake Worth, called Ben on skype and said those fateful words: "What can we do to help?” Ben HAD managed to buy one battery here at a cost of $1,000. And he needs 6 more--but not at those prices. So now Brian is off to West Marine in North Palm to see if he can get the batteries shipped over to Old Port Cove Marina where John and Cathie Conly on “Fanta-Sea” are also waiting for a window. And if they both can hoist 3 batteries apiece onto their boats, and cross over without serious "mishap" (you can only imagine!) perhaps Ben "will have his bacon pulled from the fire" after all. We can only hope.
While waiting for the next window around the Whale, the guys have in fact managed to get Ben's GPS sent to Green Turtle and installed but the sink problem will have to wait. Ben and Margaret continue to eat from tins and traipse up to the "loo" at all hours of the day and night at Leeward. And we ALL want to get the heck out of here ASAP and settle safely and securely into the relative comfort of Boat Harbour. Until then, we continue to enjoy long walks on the beach and the wonderfully comraderie that is only possible with like-minded friends.
Linda on Manjack Cay - Looking for treasures
Force of hurricane Sandy brought stones and logs up on the beach.
Vince resting while Linda wonders.
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