Boat Prep for the Exumas

Our time to relax was cut short by our need to knock off boat chores around the weekend. Stores shut down on Sundays and most establishments are closed or have shortened hours on Saturday.

We refilled the water tanks with four of our plastic compressible 5-gallon jugs – dockside in Victoria Lake. It took about 5 trips to top off our 3 tanks (hold approx. 50 gallons each). Had our propane filled on a Monday, did laundry, grocery shopping, and one last alcohol run. And last but not least we topped off the diesel fuel tank and gas tank on the dinghy. We went to the Georgetown Yacht Club for diesel and they were great but the nozzle was one of the worst we’ve experienced. Our fuel intake valve is narrower than most other boats and tends to “bubble up” quickly. Many! Many paper towels and cursing accompanied this particular fill up.

We still bring our own grocery bags when we grocery shop. The French trained us well. In Guadeloupe many grocery stores didn’t cary plastic bags at all. We made the mistake of not bringing our own bags…. only once. But now that I use my own, I wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s seems silly to keep using plastic bags, throwing them away, then going back to the store to use new bags just to throw those away too. Case and point of ‘reality’ is stranger than fiction. (Mark Twain once wrote ‘Truth is stranger than fiction.’)

We spent one day fixing screens and cleaning the boat. And when it got too hot, we jumped in to cool off. Our last night in Georgetown we witnessed some amazing lightening storms in the distance. The wind picked up a few times but the anchor held strong in sand along with everyone else.Read more