Rudder Cay to Big Farmer Cay

We motored all the way.

It was shallow approach

Visited the Island

Lee Stocking Island to Rudder Cut

We did outside and inside. I changed the shaft anode at anchor.

We anchored in shallow waters, touched bottom overnight (lightly)

Lee Stocking Island

We had an uneventful sail to Lee Stocking Island.

Cat Cay

We went outside to the Bahamas Banks - it was a little rough, especially for Norm's back.  We came back in and anchored at Cat Cay,  

I cleaned the bottom with a focus on the speed transducer.

George Town

On February 9, Norm arrives.

Feb 10 We did groceries and went to Chat n Chill beach, where we visited various harbours.

Norm twisted his back on the dinghy. 

Feb 11 We departed Chat n Chill beach to Monument Beach and had some beer and snacks at Coconut.  

We lost the dinghy!!!  Recovered by a fellow boater!

Attempt to go to Long Island

On Monday, I finally tried to go to Long Island and Conception Cay. 

I went to George Town's Shell fuel dock to fill the diesel Jerry can and replenish the dinghy fuel tank. I  listened to the net and set sail to Long Island. 

After over a week in George Town, I was getting anxious to move on.  I was going to leave two days ago, but the opportunity to buy two flexible solar panels from Gavin delayed my departure. 

I weighed anchor at 10:50 and headed south to the Exuma Sound.  After battling the east wind for half an hour, I still had 4 1/2 hours to go to reach Long Island, arriving at 16:30. I figured there was a chance I could make it after sunset.  I decided it wasn't worth it, so I turned around and headed back to George Town in search of an isolated anchorage.  Nothing appealing, and I ended up outside Char and Chill again.  

The shaft packing was leaking badly, so I re-tightened it.  It had been 80 hours since I last tightened the packing at Bimini.  I discussed this with Maurice, Josh, and Will.  Josh didn't have the 5/16 in stock, and I decided to address this when I get back to Florida  🙏🏻

George Town

It's a windy Saturday and Sunday.  I stayed aboard, downloaded Apps, podcasts and videos from Summer Salt Starlink. 

I updated my blog and log sheets.

Recharged the batteries, performed an oil change, and retightened the shaft packing.  

Had no appetite  

Monday, visited George Town to do laundry and walked through town, finding the BTC office, which had free high-speed wifi and a comfortable couch, a CNN on the big TV.   

Laundry at George town

I bought a lobster tail from a fishmonger.  He would not sell any fish less than 3 LB.  

Norm had my cruising decal

Lobster from fish monger

I filled up the dinghy tank with 2.1 gallons.  I found a piece of wood to let me tilt the outboard up for beaching.  

New block of wood to hold up outboard

Went back to the boat and dinghy to visit Chill n Chat beach  

Tuesday morning, moved the ship to outside Chit n chat beach, did yoga, dealt with the bilge, and bought a Renogy solar panel, which is battery-charging  on up to 5.5 amps

Wednesday, I did yoga again and dinghy through the various hurricane holes.

Thursday, Andy came and replaced the MC4 connectors on the solar panel.  I twisted my back and decided to spend the rest of the day aboard.  

I did a lot of daily Yoga with Anne while at Chat n Chill beach.  Lisa took over on Tuesday and Thursday.  

On Saturday, I walked around George Town, updating my devices at the BTC office, which was closed, but the free guest Internet access was open.

Sunday, I was going to Long Island, but Gavin had two 150-watt flexible solar panels for sale.  I repositioned Bellum, picked up the new panels, and replaced the rigid panel.  

The new panels put out about 10 amps or more.  The old panel put out 4 amps.  I had used banana plugs to connect the solar panel to the Telecom batteries.  When I switched to the new panels, the banana plugs melted!!  I reworked the panels directly to the DC-DC charger output to the Telecom batteries!  Tremendous how much power the solar panels produce  

New solar charger melted my banana plugs

On Monday, I tried to go to Long Island.  See separate blog entry  

Tuesday, I did yoga and tidied up the boat  

Wednesday started with a conversation on the phone, and I sold the rigid panel to a boat from Ottawa.  I wanted to keep the panel, but since it was taking up valuable space on Bellum and he was desperate for an additional one, I offered it to him for $20.  He insisted on giving me $40.  The panel was worth $200

The rest of Wednesday was spent at the beach, playing volleyball, and playing bochi ball.

On Thursday, I went to George Town, walked 5 km to Browns Marine, and hitchhiked back to town. The walk was at a slow pace, taking 90 minutes in 26 degrees.   

I went to BTC to update my laptop and iDevices, then at 2PM I went to the Junkanoo practice. 

On Saturday morning, I did Yoga and went to George Town to do groceries.  In the morning, I noticed the outboard starter cable was frayed.  In the afternoon, I was planning to go to Peace and Plenty and Sand Dollar beach for a bonfire, but the starter cord broke.  I opened her up and discovered the recoil spring had unwound, which made it difficult to put it back together.  No bonfire for me.

Sunday, Norm arrived.  Got outboard working with help from Glen of Silent Running  

Sunday and Monday were spent at Chit n chat.  On Tuesday, we moved the boat to Kidd's Cove near Lake Victoria for provisioning. Norm hurt his back on the rough dinghy ride back to the ship.  We moved to Monument and had drinks at Coconuts.