A Tale of Two Chemists: Marina Madness ... Wed May 2nd

Marina Madness ... Wed May 2^nd - Sat May 5th 2018

There seems to be a type of brain fever that overcomes me in a marina. It’s so safe and secure, there are so few things to worry about...

Flying Fish Marina is mostly occupied by large sport fishing boats. Having said that it seems to be very well run and has a lot of amenities. The docks are fixed (not floating) and held in place with pilings. We are tied up to the pilings rather than to cleats (more common on floating docks). When the tide is out, it’s a pretty big step up to the dock! It’s a challenge for those lacking in height.

Our first afternoon and evening was characterized by many strong squalls. With the stern of the boat facing the wind, rain was being blown down the companionway. We were forced to put all the boards in to keep the bulk of the rain out. I found myself overcome with tiredness by about 8:30pm. It pains me to have to admit that I slept until 7:30 the following morning. Eleven hours seems ridiculous but there you have it.

We worked on some boat jobs on Thursday. Mike investigated the fuel supply lines from the forward tank. He was able to blow through the lines and eject some lumps of crud. It didn’t seem like that significant an amount of stuff but after switching back to the forward tank the engine would run. (Did we mention that the engine died on us out in the tough conditions on Wednesday morning? As it happened, a large freighter was about to cross our path when the engine cut out. Luckily by switching to the main tank and the other fuel separator, Mike was able to get the engine started again.)

We had a diver come look at the prop. Although we are sensing a vibration while motoring, he couldn’t see anything much wrong with the propeller. We ran fresh water through the water maker, which should keep it in good shape for a couple of days.

In the afternoon we went for a little walk. The town boasts two churches, one Anglican and one catholic. We strolled to the Anglican church, went inside and admired the lovely space. Our walk took us to the Catholic church. Sadly it was locked up and we couldn’t compare and contrast. From the hill on which Sts. Peter and Paul sits we walked down to the so-called government dock. There we chatted to a French chap who had arrived just before we did on Wednesday morning. He had come ashore to clear in with Customs. He was waiting on the dock for his brother to come pick him up in the dinghy. We suggested that if he got fed up of waiting, he could walk to the marina and we could call his brother on the VHF radio. We continued on our way and stopped off at the local bar for a drink. When we got back to the marina, Pierre was waiting for us. His brother, Jean, came to the marina and we all had a drink together.

Once they left, I noticed that a chap from one of the fishing boats was cleaning fish on the dock. I walked over and saw a mass of sharks in the water next to the dock. They were swimming over one another and swirling all around. The fishing guys told us there were black-tipped reef sharks and nurse sharks present. Sometimes there are bull sharks but not yesterday.

Today we did more jobs: Mike filled the tanks with diesel using jerry cans (rather than move the big boat).I think it took him three trips to get the tanks full and the jerry cans full. It’s always a great feeling to have all the tanks full before you set out again. Usually we would try to fill the water tanks also. Now that we have the water maker working though, we probably won’t do that.

I did the laundry. First we started off with just some clothes including a bunch of things that got very wet on the passage. Then we had the “bright idea” to wash the blankets that cover the seats in the dinette area. We threw all three into a second load. All seemed fine until I came to take those blankets out. Either the machine got off balance or something—the spin cycle hadn’t worked. The blankets were dripping. I had to get Mike to help me wring them out. We then draped them over the boom to dry. Thankfully it didn’t get rainy right away! When we had to take them in because of rain, two were reasonably damp. The third one was still quite wet. In the end, we resorted to putting it into the dryer. It’s pretty hard to get things dry when it rains every half hour!

Mike went out for another walk this afternoon, I hopped into the pool. It was fairly cool but so nice to be in fresh water. I have so many things that I want to rinse out (or get the salt out of) that I might have to take three or four showers tomorrow.

We managed to get an extra night at the marina so we will start moving again on Sunday, if the weather forecast continues to look good.

Sailboat entering Clarence Town Harbor - It's a clear wide entry, but you can't afford to deviate as there are reefs to either side. The conditions when this photo was taken are a significantly better than when we entered

The Flying fish marina as seen from "Government Dock"

Flying Fish Marina from behind Government Dock

Blue house highlighted in the dramatic light caused by yet another squall

A happy and relaxed Gloria in the evening light

Jean - captain of "Mr Barthelemy" - we crossed from Turks and Caicos to Clarence Town at the same time and came within a mile of each other in the middle of Tuesday night. We met up by chance with Jean and his brother Pierre on land the following day