Ahoy there!

 

Have you noticed that our e-mails are like buses? None for ages and then they're queuing in your in-box. Well you've struck lucky! We didn't intend to send one so soon but circumstances changed and well…………..that's cruising!

Last Thursday & Friday had no wind but with the promise of some at the beginning of the week we left George Town on Saturday for a crossing to Conception Island and then a two night passage to Turks & Caicos . We had a really enjoyable forty mile motorsail and arrived at Conception at about 3 p.m. It's a very small island managed by the Bahamas National Trust, you are allowed to visit but are not allowed to take anything from the shore. The entrance is quite tricky, lots of coral heads but easy to see. We anchored between a reef and the beach and sat stunned, ‘clear water' took on a new meaning. We know that we have gone on about the   water before but this was incredible. As we came in we thought there was a convention of turquoise boats as the half a dozen anchored all had the same colour hulls, as we approached we realised it was just a reflection of the sea! We dropped the anchor in twenty feet of water, watched it set and as we drifted over it later on could see all the way to the bottom!

As we could see that the anchor wasn't going to give us a problem we took our snorkels and went swimming to the reef. We saw dozens of small neons , plus some larger intense blue fish and an assortment of coral. After refreshment we swam to the beach which had wonderful soft white sand, it really was a stunning place.

 

The following morning we didn't rush to leave as we had a forty-eight hour passage to Turks & Caicos and wanted to arrive mid-morning for the right light. Sharon had a last swim while Andrew did a final engine check and discovered water in the oil of the heat exchanger. No real problem as we knew the previous owner had kept a spare. Andrew fitted this but as he tightened a previously welded piece it sheared! Now we did have a bit of a hiccup! We decided to re- fit the original and sail back to George Town where we knew we could get the part ordered and sorted. We decided to risk the engine for getting through the reef, and for the reef at George Town and sail the main part of the journey even though with very light winds it would be a slow journey and we would be arriving about 10.30 p.m. We did have a great sail, if a little slow sometimes as our twenty ton boat is not really made for five knot winds.  

The entrance to George Town was a little unnerving. There are no navigational aids, apart from two sticks, and at one stage the entrance through the reef is about twenty feet. Fortunately our G.P.S. had kept our previous track through and Sharon stood on the bow with a search light. But by 10.45 p.m. we were anchored and on deck with a mango rum night cap!

 

Monday we managed to get the part ordered from a company we have previously used in Virginia and should have it two or three days. As it is a replacement part we should be able to avoid the Bahamian fifty per cent import duty! So now we have a few extra days in George Town . We will probably catch up on some boat jobs, e-mails etc. and do some more planning. We are hoping to be in the B.V.I's the third week of May.

Thank you for all your comments about the website. We haven't got it perfect yet and will keep on tweaking and fixing the glitches. Some of you have asked for larger photos but sadly this isn't possible. We have capacity on the website, the problem is uploading. Most of the time we have to upload through fairly dodgy wi-fi links. If we can get a signal on the boat it means getting the aerial as high as we can and Sharon objects to standing on the boom for long! If not we can often get free wi-fi at bars and but cannot be responsible for what gets loaded after three or four beers! To give you an example the last upload of the round robin and forty two photos took fifty five minutes! Hence the four beers!

But if anyone wants larger copies of any of the photos then let us know and we can send them individually. We always have two versions, with a soft edge and captions or un-captioned and square.

 

Anyway must close now as we are working on an exciting new development for the site! Just keep your eyes peeled!

 

Warm regards

Sharon & Andrew