I was debating last evening whether to start moving north in the Exumas and visit the Cays missed on the way down, or stay a few more days in George Town and get started fixing things. I’ve got three major project that need my attention, one of them includes climbing up the side of the arch and repairing the radar mount. With the winds and weather expected to be stellar for the next few days, I choose to stay and work on stuff, with an occasional beer break of course. Going ashore for a beer has the added benefit of watching people and that’s what inspires episodes of DragNail. I know everyone wants that.
I climbed to the top of the radar mast, the boat was leaning in the direction where I was hanging over the water. Not to worry, even if I was to fall in the dinghy is floating off the back of the boat with a long painter (line attached to the bow of the dinghy). Climbing up the mast was an interesting sensation. Once at the top I found out it will be much easier to fix when Aine is tied to a dock. I’ll have to find a fixed dock (means it doesn’t float up and down with the tide) and go at low tide, that will make working on the top of the mast much easier. I don’t really need the radar in the Bahamas or on the trip back to FL, so it can wait for Ft. Lauderdale if need be. Project #2, reworking some plumbing and electrical issues with the water maker.
Before I could get stated with the water maker project, I remembered that we had a sheave failure on the port headsail halyard rail block on the sail down to George Town. (Sheave is the round rope guide that rolls with the line as you pull it in or let it out in the turning block). It took me about 3 hours to find replacement sheaves, the manufacturer isn’t around anymore, the internet came and went, entered 2 orders online only to find out that they really don’t have any stock and have no idea when or if they will ever have stock (all too common these days). Ultimately, I order from the only, mostly reliable vendor… Amazon. Talk about having the right business model at the right time.
When we arrived last Sunday (Superbowl Sunday) we walked a long way to get to an eatery, Sherley’s, and took a taxi ride back to the boat after eating, drinking, and watching the first quarter of the Superbowl. The taxi driver was telling us about the different highlights in George Town as we passed them, I caught my first fish there, I grew up there, etc. One of the places he told us about was St. Therese’s Catholic Church where he received all his sacraments. Today in anticipation for attending Mass at a Catholic Church in the Bahamas for the first time (On my last trip 3 years ago, every time Sunday came around there wasn’t a Catholic Church anywhere around me). But I knew there was one here and I searched the internet for all the info I could find, exactly where St. Therese’s was, what time Mass was, how I was going to get there and how long it would take to get there, things like that. I did a local internet search, I found that the church was on the other side of Lake Victoria, and I knew that I could get there by dinghy, and mass was at 10:30 am. Out of curiosity I visited the website for the Archdiocese of Nassau, which St. Therese is under, and searched all the churches in the family islands (that is what they call all the Cays), but to my surprise St. Therese’s isn’t listed as a parish, so who knows what I’m actually going to find when I get there… I draw the line at snake handling (that was a joke, all you non-Catholics).
I don’t care who you are, that’s a damn good looking breakfast. Tasted terrific, going to do that one again.
Breakfast – Corned Beef Hash, 2 – eggs, and Shredded cheese, Iced Tea (I should explain, it’s not technically Iced, Tea, since I have no ice making capability. It’s actually cold Ice Tea Mix with lemon. Kind of the same, but different.), Lunch – PB&J, Peanut Brittle (new crown cement working obviously), Fig Newtons, Coconut Maroons, Dinner – Hormel Tamales, Ziti with Garlic-butter sauce.