Busy Saturday

Busy Saturday   ...   Saturday Jan 19^th 2013

We started our jobs early with the laundry.  Based on advice from experienced Abaco cruisers we chose to use the facilities at Man of War Marina—said to be the best around.  Being a “price sensitive shopper” I must say that these aren’t the most economical facilities! Sadly not everything dried well possibly because we had overloaded the drier.  A wee bit too price sensitive perhaps…

After a quick lunch we got ready to bring the boat into the dock to fill up with diesel and water.  The docking maneuvers went well.  We filled the port water tank (ran dry on Tuesday) and topped up the starboard one.  Then filled the main diesel tank.  After getting all squared away we cast off from the dock and negotiated the very narrow channel out of Man of War Harbor, taking advantage of the high tide.  I give Mike a ton of credit for doing this.  The rocks on either side seem way too close to the boat, spooky.  We felt that all was right with the boat/world having filled up with all fluids.  We decided to just motor over to Marsh Harbour as it’s only about 3 miles.  Following the guidance in the owners manual we decided to rev up the engine for a few minutes to make sure it continues to run well. 

To our dismay the engine wouldn’t hold 2500 revs for two minutes.  This happened to us once before after our return from Maine.  At that time we had changed the fuel separators and the fuel filter.  Once we were anchored in Marsh Harbour, we checked the engine manual.  The recommended interval for changing the fuel filter is 300 hours.  We were just over 300 hours from the last change.  So without pausing for breath, or a cup of tea, we set about changing out one of the two fuel separators (the one that we had been using) and the fuel filter (in the engine compartment itself).  Clearly we had learned a thing or two from the first effort.  There was much less diesel flying around and within an hour we were all done.  The engine started up and ran with no problems.  It will be a while before we can check out if this has fixed the problem with the engine. 

Tomorrow, Sunday, we have other obligations—football!  We had to travel to Marsh Harbour today because the high tide tomorrow will be too late to get us to Marsh in time for the first game.  Neither of us fancied trying to go out that delightful channel out of Man of War at mid-tide! Besides, being here this afternoon has allowed Mike to go in search of rum.  There was none of that to be had a Man of War—it’s a dry town/island.  Here in the Bahamas rum is the beverage of choice for those who are price sensitive! 

 Gloria

One of the few dilapidated houses on Man of War - most of the property is beautifully maintained

This is the last who bakes bread on Man of War and sells it from the back of her golf cart - good bread too!

The guy who runs the fuel dock at Man of War Marina