Mikey the diesel guy came Tuesday afternoon and installed the belt. He was able to tap it into the very tight place without removing any hoses as Mike feared.
The weather sounds iffy from now until after Christmas. The two Canadian boats we met were heading out at 6 am Wednesday for the direct 10 hour power to the moorings at the park. I had made a reservation for Wednesday thinking we would be ready to leave Tuesday for Highbourne Cay then down to the park.
The attraction of the park is the moorings – less common here than in the BVI where anchoring is discouraged if not prohibited.
We got a mooring suitable for a really big boat. Getting the eye up to thread the bow lines required both of us. Guessing the whole thing with the massive line likely weighed 30 pounds.
We were immediately greeted by the welcoming committee – a 5 ft brown Nurse shark and a bunch of smaller foot long Remora. We later went for a dip anyway. People from other boats were all swimming too.
Later a big Green turtle came by and checked us out before continuing on its way.
Park is low sandy dunes, creeks and scrubby vegetation. The are hiking trails throughout.
Park headquarters and visitors center has a small gift shop and DVD rental in addition to taking mooring fees – $20 / night for boats under 40 ft. They sponsor Sat night happy hour and will host a pot luck Christmas dinner.
Thursday afternoon dark clouds rolled in. Temperature dropped. Rained briefly. Then the wind shifted to North east and picked up. Less than forecast. Gusts to 25.
A surprisingly large number of cruisers have big dogs like labs that need to go ashore at least twice a day if not more regardless of the wind and waves.
Thursday night was pretty wild. Winds over 35 kts. Rain off and on.
Friday it is still gusty especially in rain. There have been several downpours. Then the sun comes out for a bit. We can see the waves breaking outside the park channel entrance. It’s rough out there. It is quite protected in the park bay although it gets rough went there is wind against tide. Monohulls report rocking and rolling. We have been real actively steady even in the strong gusts.
Friday afternoon check of the weather at the visitors center was not encouraging. They have Wifi for staff use only. Predicting 40+ kts overnight and through the weekend. We paid for 3 nights in case we leave in the morning (Sat). Back at the boat we doubled up the mooring lines with the help of Whisper from Newfoundland.
Internet withdrawal. We last had wifi Wed morning after leaving Palm Cay at 6:30 am. We had cell and Google Fi until noon. Since then no cell service.
Sat dec 21. Still here. Still frequently blowing over 30 in gusts. Everyone staying put with occasional dingy trips for dog and people to go ashore. May be a bit of lull with west wind so very unpleasant for trying to return to Nassau. then pick up again and finally calm down later in the week. Very frustrating.
Project. Learn the systems on the boat. Should have done this sooner. Volvo information is mostly in French. Most of other information is available in English.
So rough and windy we stayed in the boat all day so as not to have to launch and retrieve the dunk. Several boats have dogs and/or adult children aboard so the made the trip. We saw several group walking along the ridge with great plumes of waves breaking along the exposed shore on the other side of the island. There is a Sat afternoon 4:30 happy hour on the beach by the park headquarters building. Several dinks braved the conditions to participate.
The Bali left first thing. Think they had to get back to Nassau for the end of their charter.
A Catana 42 arrived late afternoon.
Sun dec 22. Still here. The wind has gone down. Now just 20 in gusts. And shifted into east. Water in bay is relatively calm compared with yesterday.
Chatted with the fellow doing some maintenance. He and 7 others live on the island – 5 are Bahamas National Trust (Park services) and 3 are Marines with the Royal Bahamas Defense Force.
Got the shirt – Bahamas, orange with coral motif. The park office and gift shop had several of the nice Andros batik t-shirts – same folks who made our batik airplane Aloha-style shirts.
Headed out for Highbourne Cay 30 km to the north.
Cassandra Too 