I dozed off last night looking at Orion through the open hatch cover and wondering if we’d see Howard in the morning. He hailed us around 7:15 and said he’d be out. Okay (smiling). He finished up around 9am with me hovering over his shoulder and playing his assistant. I was amazed at what a good teacher he was. He didn’t mind me observing or helping at all and everytime he’d do something, he would verbalize what he was doing for me. Most guys usually just do the job and ignore you. I guess I should have told him I thought he’d make a good teacher. He would. He said he couldn’t accept pay for helping us out but heck…he put in some time with us and we thought he should be compensated. I asked him if he could receive a tip? Yes, I can do that. So we paid him via a tip.
We were going to stay around for another day to put everything back together. We’d emptied out the cockpit seat to access the engine area from the back of the boat and had the battery compartment open and emptied, the stairs and cabinet removed from the main salon to access the engine compartment and things were just in disarray.
Mary hailed us. She’d seen his skiff take off back from the dock and was wondering how we were doing? It’s done! Yay! She thought we could be out of here and at New Providence if we left by 11am. We decided that that sounded pretty good if we could get the boat back in order and if Wayne could get a shower first. They wanted showers too so we put things back in order and headed to shore for showers and to say goodbye to Howard.
I liked our stay here. I should have gotten off the boat more and explored, but between the boat problems, and Wayne being ill, it just didn’t feel right. The only thing I really missed was internet access and they could use a dinghy dock too for people with pets.
We pulled out around 11:20 under calm sunny skies and light one foot swells. Winds were light from the southeast and we traveled about 32 miles to the West Bay anchorage off New Providence Island. The closer we got to New Providence the more the swells had grown. When we’d left they were about one foot. By the time we got to New Providence they’d grown from that to 6-9 foot, with 1 ft waves on top of them. They weren’t bad though, because the interval between the swells were 12-15 seconds. What was a little scary was looking at the breaking waves that surrounded the entrance. It looked like the entrance was surrounded by rock and reef but it was just our perspective on approaching the opening of the bay. We were coming in at low tide so could see the surrounding rocks awash with the waves. Once we got closer we could see a straight shot in. It’s an interesting place. It looks fairly new and still under construction in places. As you enter there are totems and tikis like what you’d expect in the south Pacific. Everything looks upbeat and thriving, with new condos being built and well groomed water front places. We anchored close to shore in 8 feet of water. It’s a nice protected bay and definitely much better than going into Nassau. A bonus – wifi!
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| Entering the West Bay Anchorage at New Providence you're greeted with a Tahitian style point (Back view of it) I was busy coming in so didn't get a good shot of it. |
After updating myself on word from back home I decided I’d better get some weather reports before my computer battery gave out so downloaded the Bahamas weather and Passage Weather then used up the last of my battery uploading journal posts.
Wayne’s still hacking but I can tell he’s feeling better. He had some chicken salad for dinner tonight. Wish I could say I’m staying healthy but I’m really starting to feel worse. I think it’s time I joined Orion in the forward berth…He looks down on me from the heavens above. I look back up at him in the sky. It’s comforting to look up through the open hatch and watch him dancing about as we rock back in forth in the gentle swell that enters the bay from the west.
Lat/Long: 25 01.647/077 32.912
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