We’ve been in Georgetown now for about 1&½ weeks. There’s
so much to do and see here that we’ll probably stay for at least another few
days. It will also depend on the weather – it looks quite windy over the next
week or so, so we’ll need to find a good day to head out. We’re planning on stopping at Emerald Bay
Marina on our way north for a couple of nights to get fuel. (We slightly
underestimated when we fueled up in Florida).
We had a few more days of relative calm so we explored the harbor by dinghy and got out on our SUPs and kayaks as much
as we could.
Martin SUP’ing (he
stood on the way back but my camera flooded so no pictures!)
We had a pleasant surprise one afternoon when we were called
on the VHF by another boat, Sea Monkey. Hike, Katrina & Troy were with us
in the Dry Tortugas and we were lucky to catch them on their last night in
Georgetown before they started back to Annapolis. They had us over for drinks
aboard Sea Monkey. We had a wonderful evening sharing adventures and visiting
their boat. We were also able to catch
up with Michel & Caroline from Sea Turtle one evening before they headed
north as well. We were hoping to catch up with them and get to dive but I think
we’ve stayed in Georgetown too long now.
Katrina had mentioned visiting the meat market so decided to
give it a try. They advertise in the morning on the cruisers net when the store
will pick people up in town, usually Mon/Wed/Fri. About 20 people were waiting
for the owner to show up in his pickup. He was right on time and we all piled
in. A few lucky ladies got to sit in the cab while the rest of us jumped into
the back for the <10 minute ride. It was a fun adventure and we came home
with fresh grouper, a pork loin, cheese and a freshly baked scone.
“Selfie” from the bed
of the pickup truck, en route to the meat store
The calm has ended now and we're back to
windier, and lately, overcast conditions. I'm just recovered from being under
the weather too. We’re living a fairly isolated life down here so I’m not sure how
I caught a cold, but I did, so I was thankful for DVDs and my hand sewing a for
a few days. I got sick just as Louise returned from the states so there was no
hugging when she returned! I was well
enough to enjoy dinner aboard Vector though so we were able to catch up!
With me sleeping most of the day for a few days and the windier weather,
Martin decided to test the sailing rig that we can attach to the kayaks. He assembled the rig (which took a couple
hours) and set off…
Martin on his maiden
voyage. Sailing, sailing…
(past Vector)
Oops!
I’m a bad wife, I admit it, I laughed so hard I almost
cried. Sean saw an overturned kayak and came out to see if he could lend a hand…
Need a tow?
With the sail upside down in the water there was naught to
do but swim her in. Poor Martin got his exercise in for the day. Upon reading the instructions (post tip-over)
we found that the ideal wind for sailing the kayaks is 5-10 knots. I think the
15-20k winds were a bit too much. Now we know for next time ;)
The other night we had a squall blow by. We were just on the
edge but had a bit of excitement just the same. At about 5:30 we woke up to the
sound of a metallic crash. The wind was howling so we checked the fly bridge
and boat deck. Everything was secure though we tied a couple things up more
tightly. (I think everyone in the anchorage was out doing the same. Some in
undies, some “au natural”. What a sight an anchorage is in the dark when a
storm comes through J)
When we checked inside, we found that the bathroom screen had been blown in
with enough velocity to hit the opposite wall and knock some things down. That
was the noise we heard.
Here is our anchor track:
You can see our second circle after we let out more scope.
Normally, we move around and make a thick-ish line as we sail back and forth.
Here you can see where there’s one movement that whipped us around.
Big gust!
Our Maretron system showed that the gust that woke us up was
a strong one - 39 knots. It hit our
starboard side, blew the window in and shoved Blossom right around. Yes, we’re
happy that we let our more scope J
So now, I’m on the mend and feeling better. The weather is
overcast and cool (everything is relative – 74F feels quite cool at this
point!) It’s been nice to have some gray days to stay in, cook and quilt.
Boat business:
- Transom shower. Martin dropped the shower head and it broke off last week. Sean had some hose and clamps amongst his spares so Mart was able to rig up a temporary fix until we get back to the states and can replace the nozzle.
Filling tanks
- Dive compressor. Martin used the compressor to fill our tanks so he could finish cleaning the bottom of the boat. One more day and it was finished.
- Gori prop. We were expecting squalls and high winds so we let out a bit more scope. While doing this, Martin ran our gori prop (the wing engine prop) in forward & reverse. We run the wing engine in neutral a lot because our hydraulics - thrusters and windlass - are powered by the hydraulic takeoff mounted to this engine but we rarely ever engage the prop (this is a maintenance no-no). He had knocked off a couple barnacles and wanted to make sure she was moving properly.
No comments:
Post a Comment