Odd Jobs

Odd Jobs   …   Tuesday 12th February 2013

We pulled up anchor at 8am and motored over to Man of War Cay to meet up with a diver and get the zinc changed on our propellor. (Whilst Dave and Kathy were visiting we had snorkeled around the boat and realized that the zinc on the end of the prop was all but gone). The entrance to this harbor is very narrow so always exciting, but the tide was almost high so we had no problems and were able to pick up what looked like the only free mooring in the harbor. Michael from DiveTime arrived about half an hour later and pulled up his boat alongside. We chatted for a while as he prepared his gear. Michael comes from Cornwall and met his Bahamian wife in the UK whilst she was over studying at University. They originally planned to stay in the UK but when her mother became ill they made a trip back to the Bahamas and ended up settling here on Man of War Cay. He opened up his diving business early last year and it seism to be going very well. Most of the business is guiding reef dives for tourists, but they also do a fair bit of boat work replacing zincs, changing props and cleaning bottoms. Once geared up it only took about 10 minutes to replace the zinc and clean the prop - nonetheless I was very happy to have a diver do it rather than have to try and do it myself. I was even more happy when he told us that the bill was $25 - when you think of the combined time to motor over, sort gear, dive, get cleaned up etc I think this was a real bargain. He also reported that the feathering propellor and shaft looked just fine and were moving freely. 

We also did our laundry - thank goodness I  hear you say - and did some cleaning on the inside of the boat. During the afternoon we became a little concerned about the lack of depth below our keel. We were in fact OK, but we could see a number of other boats were clearly aground on their moorings. In the evening we went "next door" to visit a couple on a beautiful Cabo Rico 38 moored next to us. Ken and Sara have tons of sailing experience including several multi-day passages, such as Moorehead City, North Carolina to the British Virgin Islands (11 days). It was great to pick their brains and try and learn from their experience, as well as see a set of beautiful pictures of the Caribbean and the Exumas where we hope to get to in 2 or 3 weeks. At some point (not this year) we have to sail to the Caribbean!

Mike

Taking the plunge ... (he picked up his air line off the front of the boat)

Michael from DiveTime