Great news! The technicians came and facilitated the repairs to the generator. Heck, even the refrigerator, with its untold story, is working again. (Thank you, Herbie, Greg, and Ryan!) Fist bumps all around, and a shared Yippee! We can get moving.

On Wednesday, our last evening in Spanish Wells, a squall came through, and along with the rain, brought the 80-foot Knot a Horse to our dock. Cute, right?

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Friday the 13th

Crossing the Northeast Providence Channel of the Atlantic to get from Eleuthera to the Abacos, while not as long as the final step of crossing from the Abacos to the U.S., is a long one – about eight hours for us. Friday began cloudy and grey, but the seas averaged a quite tolerable 4 ft / 8 second period, with the occasional 5-6 foot roller thrown in for good measure. Nothing the ‘Mare couldn’t easily handle. We cruised through the edges of a few of the squalls, but for the most part managed to keep the lightning and the heaviest rains off in the distance, which allowed us to enjoy rainbows and tankers appearing from, and seemingly disappearing into, the mist.

We weaved through the squalls until we reached the North Bar Channel above Lynyard Cay. As we turned into the inlet to get from the Atlantic Ocean to the Sea of Abaco, our main engine made a terrible noise. While engine trouble is never a good thing, the timing could have been worse. Rather than being out in the ocean somewhere, we were approaching the inlet and able to fire up the “get home” engine, a small Yanmar, to, now, very slowly, steer through the inlet and around to where we could safely drop anchor in approximately 30′ of water to assess the situation.

The original plan for the day had been to anchor off Lynyard Cay, but after taking stock – and a few calming breaths – we knew we needed to get closer to population and the possibility of diesel mechanics. We used the “get home” engine and the few remaining hours of daylight to slowly limp further north toward Great Abaco. Other than being seriously waked by a steady stream of sport fishers (just where did all these guys come from???), all went well, and we managed to get anchored near Boat Harbour Marina, just south of Marsh Harbour, right before the evening squall.

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Early yesterday, the 30 or so tournament boats roared past us, heading back out for another day of fishing. After the “rocking” show, we used our ‘little engine that could’ to move safely, albeit slowly, around the point into the protection of Marsh Harbour.

We reached the shallow section of the entrance channel to Marsh Harbour at low tide, which we knew we would, but that was preferable to staying at anchor out in the open near Boat Harbour, being rocked by the tour boats, charters, and sport fishers zipping by. All we had to do now was drop the “lunch anchor,” as dear Uncle Bill calls it, and wait a couple of hours.

We ate lunch while the tide brought the necessary depth, then weighed anchor and headed for the Conch Inn Marina. Steerage using the little engine is not the best, and backing up is nearly impossible, so using binoculars while communicating with the dockmaster, Terrell, to see where he planned to put us, we were hesitant about his original choice. Terrell quickly came up with a Plan B. Unfortunately, that involved three turns to port (left), another thing the little engine doesn’t do well, but with enough dockhands and the assistance of a very nice couple docked on the other side of the short finger pier, we were able to get her nose up in there without incident. Whew. Another calm performance by captain and crew.

Now. How bad is it? Unfortunately, it’s like checking into the hospital on a weekend. You can’t talk to anyone until Monday. All we know is we won’t be crossing back to the states next week.

At this point, it would be easy to focus on the negative, but we prefer to look at the blessings:

• no bodily injuries
• other than a hurt engine, no crashes or damage to the boat
• we were near the inlet rather than out in the ocean
• we are now safely docked in a small, protected harbor
• we have a network of cruising friends and a great family to help us weather the storm

The SaltyMare got through Derby day without a hitch (pun intended). And what a race! Susie scored an imaginary $1300 “betting” on the long shot. Woo hoo!

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We’d been told the plane carrying the parts for the generator would arrive Saturday. Not knowing what time or how long the unpacking and customs process would take, we rented a cart for the day. Since we had it, we took a joy ride along the waterfront.

No visit to Spanish Wells can go without a mention of the lobster (crawfish) fishing fleet. It’s currently off season for lobster (it closed at the end of March), so all the boats are in port. We’ve been told last season was very good, as prices for lobster were up. They’re main buyer is Red Lobster, and the catch is huge, in the millions of pounds. They (crews of a dozen or so) travel mostly to a huge bank way down off the Jumentos and Ragged Islands, stay for 3-4 weeks to fill their refrigerated holds with nothing but lobster tails. Thousands of pounds a trip! A lot of the boats are now “co-ops,” with each crewman owning a share of the boat and its catch. They are an impressive lot and quite well kept. Here is a special article from CNN/RedLobster about the fleet and its efforts to maintain the fishery: Fishing for the Future

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Although we’ve most likely passed it a dozen times, we just noticed this fun dolphin-themed home.

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We also found a pop-up arts and crafts fair at the end of the island, where we picked up a few things – crafty fish for the front of the no-longer-working refrigerator (say what? that’s another story), some beaded earrings to go with the new summery dress purchased last week. This retail therapy is getting costly.

The most exciting news of the day? As 4:30 rolled around, we’d all but given up on the package and thought we’d wasted the cart rental, when we got a call from Greta at Pinder’s Supermarket that she had our package. We got the parts for the generator!! All we need now is Herbie again.

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Great, but “Groundhog Day,” you may ask? That’s in February. Right. Our friend Peggy uses that term for being stuck somewhere, waiting for something that’s out of your control. Every day is the same. You get up, smile, and go through the same motions, just waiting for something – the winds to decrease, a package to be delivered, or, in this case, a technician or two… So, Happy Groundhog Day, everyone!

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More importantly the SaltyMare is “decked out” for this year’s Triple Crown! Alright, alright, we live on a boat, so “decked out” may be a stretch due to the limited storage space allotted to trinkets, but given our history and living on a boat affectionately known as “the Mare,” you know we’re going to celebrate the season!

Okay, this is funny. The gooey-looking stuff under each decorative item is Museum Putty. We use it to prevent stuff from being tossed about as we cruise. Umm, Susie, we’re stuck at a marina. So.
Think of it as “Optimism Putty!” After all, we will get to move e-v-e-n-t-u-a-l-l-y…

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Given last year’s Derby Day ordeal, – what, you don’t remember? It’s most certainly a day we’ll never forget. The events are captured on the posts, Derby Day 2021! and Nightmare.

At any rate, as we were saying, given last year’s Derby Day ordeal, we are very much looking forward to a calm day this year, except for the two minutes of racing, of course. Given our luck of late, however, we’ve covered the boat with prayers and will keep our fingers crossed (and toes for good measure) that all goes, well, without a hitch. Just to be sure, though, Susie will NOT ask to go for a dinghy ride. In fact, she says we cannot even get the dinghy down until Sunday. 🙂

Everyone we talked to said the same thing, “Herbie is the guy,” as he has apparently been “the guy” for more than 20 years before taking over the co-op power plant. Well… on Monday, one of the local tugs had a problem, hence Herbie got to us on Tuesday. He immediately determined one problem and quickly bypassed the “run solenoid.” Man, it’s fun to learn. We, along with Herbie’s brother Gregg, spent a couple of hours trying this and that, to no avail. Susie was in the pilothouse repeatedly trying the gen while the guys were in the engine room. Stumped, the boys went off to research and later advised we need “a run solenoid and injectors.” Great, we have a direction! And of course, have to do the whole “ship to the freight company in Ft Lauderdale, they’ll fly it over hopefully on Saturday” thing. Different island, different freight company.

In the meantime, both Herbie and Justin at On-Site said, “you might do oil changes because sometimes that works unexplained wonders!” Hey, we just got extra supplies, and Todd can do that!

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There’s been a fair amount of rain and cloud cover, and this waterway is lined on one side with mangroves, so the sunsets have been a bit muted. Still pretty though.

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So, the next day or so was spent online finding the needed parts, getting them overnighted to “Lauderdale,” and arranging with Sheldon (Twinex Freight forwarders), the Eleuthera rep. Nerve racking process.
Other than that? And thumb twiddling? Well, basic housekeeping (always, it’s a tiny house!), Susie whooped Todd in games, we read a couple of books, and we watched a lot of boats come and go. All day, all sizes. They come. And they go. We finally started taking pictures. Hey, is that the tug that bumped us off Monday’s schedule? Good to see it working!

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An awful lot of them just flat out “went,” because the marina went from this…

to this!

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Hey, wait! We want to go toooooo!!

We are in a marina in Spanish Wells for one reason and one reason only (heck its been nearly 120 days since we docked), and that is to find a “diesel guy” to look at the generator. Unfortunately, the folks at On-Site Service Station are booked out for two weeks.

We were told we need to call Herbie, who now works at the electric company. Unfortunately, Herbie couldn’t get away Friday but might be able to make it Monday. Shucks. Well, since Susie, although on the mend, isn’t quite back up to snuff for the shoe leather express, we rented a golf cart for a couple of days to bring supplies back to the boat and explore. So, after dropping off the oil, we went back out for a bite.

When in Spanish Wells, you have to eat at Budda’s, which is something of a local institution.

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It had been such a push to get here that we decided Saturday would be a “play day” with the cart. We’d get back to oil changes, laundry catch-up, and general boat chores on Sunday.

The Sandbar was a “must do” once Justin said, “they have a good Philly”! Right up Susie’s current not-fish alley, and they didn’t disappoint. Nice place, variety on the menu, and the fastest moving waitstaff you’ve ever seen. Sitting there we looked out right at Meeks Patch! Heck, had we known when we were there two months ago, we would have dinghied over for a bite!

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After lunch, we decided to check out the rest of Russell Island. We saw all the way down to the cul-de-sac at the end of the road when the rental cart stalled.

Call to the marina – they send someone out – we pass him on the road because Todd (the in-house mechanic) got it started – stop to meet their guy – stalled again – he left for a battery – got started again! – he passed us on the way and followed us s-l-o-w-l-y all the way back – he installed the new battery, and Wow! This cart is downright zippy! Not really, it now goes about as fast as our boat! Ha!

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It may be a tropical day (sun then rain and repeat), but it’s springtime and there are pretty flowering shrubs everywhere.

The lavender and white home with the lovely yard includes an extra surprise – check out the stained glass windows.

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And the flowering plumeria beside “Hutch’s House” is taller than the house!

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As we cruised through the town, we thought it again – folks in Spanish Wells take pride in their homes, large and small!

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Of all the houses we saw, Todd definitely had a favorite. If the owner had been out and about, he might have stopped to make an offer. 😉

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Some fun shots from around town:

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This wonderful community is, after all, on an island, so there’s also the view:

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We can’t just cruise around town and not stop in for some shopping! We hit a fun shop where Susie picked up a summery dress (girlie retail therapy), and, as always, we have to get some grub. Fortunately, Spanish Wells has a really large grocery store.

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In a marina, with its close proximity, the whole experience is much less “expansive,” so between the neighbors, cloudy days, and muted sunsets, the conch horn is getting lonely.

Meanwhile, we are keeping our fingers crossed that Herbie can make it tomorrow. We are also listening to the crazy Laughing Gulls. I mean, it is springtime…. And love is in the air!