Friday, April 5, 2013

Chores, preparation and planning


Chores, preparation and planning   ...   Thursday 4th April 2013

At the marina this morning we worked on boat chores of various kinds.  First there was laundry, then some cleaning of the inside of the boat. Then taking advantage of unmetered water, we cleaned the decks—washing off three months of salt.  Then we filled the water tank and the water jerry cans.  After that it was a trip to the supermarket for items for lunch.

The supermarket was another case of culture shock.  This place is a so called ‘Fresh Market’. We had been to one of these in Vero Beach.  It appears to be a sort of Whole Food wannabe.  The variety of items and the selection was just staggering.  One could easily believe that you were in the US.  We kept telling ourselves that we were just after items for lunch.  It was difficult to resist the temptation to buy, buy, buy.  Provisioning in this market is going to be a very different thing from our experience a Staniel Cay.

In the evening we joined Lynn and Lee for a wonderful dinner on “Serendipity”.  We spent some time looking at charts, discussing plans for the crossing.  Initially there was some discussion of leaving Nassau and heading onto the Great Bahama Bank.  Because of the distances involved that route would probably require a night anchoring out on the Bank.  With winds forecast at about 15 kts, that might be expected to be pretty unpleasant.  Now our favored route is to head for the north end of the Berry Islands—probably Bullock’s Harbor. That would be one long day of travelling.  From there we would hope to travel along the Northwest Providence Channel and out into the Gulf Stream.  Our target in Florida might be Fernandina Beach.  Of course all depends on the weather.  The forecast for the next couple of days sounds too exciting—strong winds associated with a front along with thunderstorms that could bring winds of 50-60 kts.  That’s more wind than I really want to see…. 

Gloria 


Some of the colorful characters in Nassau. The area where I was wandering around was pretty rough and quite intimidating - the first and only time I have felt like that in the Bahamas.







... and an even more colorful character ... Gloria doing crossword puzzles in the cockpit when I returned from my photo expedition









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