Hello everyone!
Hope this email finds everyone well and happy. Sorry we haven’t emailed for awhile, the internet here is terrible and we have had a lot going on. To get a proper connection, you have to walk up to a tiny green shack called “J & K Productions”. It has a dirt floor and a narrow counter. You sit down with your laptop (about two inches away from the next person) and then he signs you in, and for $5.00 you have internet. There is usually a lineup outside the door, so you don’t want to take too long. They also have a phone where you can call out. The wait to use the phone is about an hour as most times there is a long lineup ahead of you, it is only 20 cents per minute. The good part is they have a couple of huge fans going and it is actually nice and cool in there!
We are happy to say we are finally leaving Georgetown today (Tuesday morning). We have been waylaid here due to electronics issues on the boat. Upon arriving in Georgetown (thankfully not sooner!) our GPS died. It had been freezing up off and on since leaving Charleston and then the little button that moves the cursor around fell off. Greg went into town and used the phone and ordered a new one from West Marine. We had it shipped here to the major grocery store, Exuma Markets, by Fedex and it arrived in a few days. The duty here in the Bahamas in painful, 46%! Only part of our order came though, we were missing the black box fish finder that we ordered with it to give us depth readings. Our old GPS gave us depth, and we relied on it totally as our depth instrument on the boat was not working. About this time our wind instrument, that tells us what the wind speed is in knots, quit working. So we decided to order a new set of Raymarine instruments to replace the old set so we would again have depth, wind speed and boat speed. While we were dealing with this, we noticed our boat batteries were not charging properly. Upon inspection of the four huge batteries, Greg found that one was bulging, and one was leaking and they were not keeping a charge.
We decided to come into the marina here and tie up to the dock, as running back and forth in the dinghy from our anchorage in the rough water (lots of wind here) was getting to be a pain, and we needed to be at the dock to take delivery of the new batteries. There is a NAPA store a few miles up the road, so Greg and Dylan hitch hiked there (a common thing here, they always pick you up) and bought four new lead acid batteries. They are a different type of battery so we had to replace them all. These were the only kind they had. As they weight 130 lbs each, the NAPA guy loaded them up in their truck and delivered them and the guys to our boat. Jim from Opus came over and helped Greg to lift the old batteries out of the engine room, with help of a block and tackle off the main boom. We had to take our table down in the salon, and take the floor panel out so the batteries could come out. The old batteries were even heavier, 160 lbs each, so Greg was glad to have some help with this job!
I don’t know if you have been counting, but that makes three: the GPS, the wind instrument and the batteries. Trouble comes in threes, so we hope we are done!
Greg did a great job installing the GPS and the new instruments. He took panels off the helm and inside the boat. There were wires everywhere, as he had to trace the wires throughout the boat. With the prospect of having to go up the 58 foot mast in the bozens (sp?) chair to install the new whirlybird, Greg was very motivated to match up the old wiring with the new. He managed to do this, so we are using our old wind instrument with the new electronics. He did the same with the transducer for the depth instrument which also saved a pile of work and hassle for him.
In spite of our electronics issues, we have had a lot of fun here in Georgetown. We have been to Volleyball beach a few times, and went on a great snorkelling trip with Gordon and Debra. We hopped in our dinghies and motored a couple of miles through the bay to a cut in the ocean. We got in some awesome snorkelling over a few reefs. Gordon and Debra left Georgetown to head back to the States, it was soooo hard saying goodbye and we sure miss them and their two cats T.C. and Witchy Bitchy. Hi Debra and Gordon!
While we were here the cruisers here hosted their 29th annual Regatta. There were different events throughout the first two weeks in March. Most of the participants are from the states, and they come south every winter to Georgetown for the Regatta. They are a close knit, rather “clicky” bunch, and we just didn’t fit in! They have a cruising net every morning on VHF radio and let me tell you, these people remind me of the Stepford Wives movie. They are all way too nice and way too happy! We have met lots of “real” people though. As we have been in the marina for about 10 days now, waiting on one part or another, we have met many people. Everyone seems to love our boat! We usually end up on the back deck sitting on our lounge seat around 4:30 to have our daily cocktail and watch the sunset, and there is always someone walking the dock that will see us relaxing and will come on board to share a drink and visit with us. We have met people from all over the world, and even from Winkler! We met a guy who’s Dad was born and raised in Winkler, do you know him Dad, his name is Richard Toews and he would be in his late sixties??? His Mom’s maiden name is Dyck. What a small world! There are lots of Canadians here, but mostly from Ontario.
We always get a kick out of the neat boat names. Here are a few: Idunno, Nice Butt, One Eyed Parrots, Holy Smoke, Hullaballo, Better Than Working, Gotta life, Plan Sea, Never Bored, Nauti Nauti, Son of a Sailor, Feelin Lucky, Bird on a Wire and my personal favourite, Hormone Hotel! There are cute stories to go with some of them whom we have met. Nice Butt are a retired couple from Ontario travelling with their 17 year old granddaughter. They had a hard time coming up with a name, and their conversations always ended with.... “nice, but”. So one morning she said, that’s it, that’s going to be the boat name: “Nice Butt”! As for the One Eyed Parrots, they are a retired couple whose last name is Parrot, and each of them are blind in one eye. Go figure!
The one event we did participate in the regatta was the Coconut Challenge for kids. Brett, Dylan, Jennifer and her friend Mara used Jim’s little dinghy. A few sacks of coconuts were thrown in the water across a shallow bay, and the boat who collected the most coconuts won. You were not allowed to have a motor on board, and you had to use a swimming fin to paddle. It was quite hilarious to watch. The kids’ boat managed to collect 32 coconuts. They didn’t win, but had a blast anyways.
We have made good friends with Jim, Linda and Jennifer from Opus, a 25 ft. Sailboat. Jennifer just celebrated her 12th birthday on Sunday (same day as Linda’s birthday) so they parked at the dock beside us and we had a great party. I baked a huge birthday cake for them and the boys and I decorated it with a beach theme.
During our stay here Greg, along with Dylan attended a weather seminar put on by Chris Parker, who airs the weather on the SSB radio for the Caribbean and the Bahamas. We listen to him every morning at 6:30 to get an up to date weather forecast, and if you subscribe, you can call in and ask for specific weather for your area and wherever you are heading. It was very informative and Greg bought his book on weather.
Now that we have our boat put together and everything appears to be working, we are going to take advantage of a good weather window we have from Tuesday to Friday and leave for the Dominican Republic. If you want to follow us on a map, we will be travelling from Georgetown which is at the bottom of the Exuma chain, to Long Island, then Crooked Island, Acklins, Great Inagua and then to the Dominican. It is a long haul, a total of 375 miles, which at 6 knots per hour, will take about 62 hours. I have made a sail plan, and have all the waypoints entered into the GPS as well as a paper plan for backup. We will likely do an overnight or two, where Greg and I will take turns being on watch. We have stayed about three weeks longer than we anticipated here in Georgetown and are anxious to move on. From the DR we will head to Puerto Rico, and then at last into the Virgin Islands. Doug and Lois, when are you going to be in St. John???? It would be great if we could hook up with you there!
We love and miss you all. In spite of all the challenges, we are having a wonderful time. After all, you just have to look around at all the white sand beaches, the turquoise waters and think, how bad can it really be....
Love from the Dutch Dreamers
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