Warderick Wells to Black Point Settlement, Great Guana Cay, Exumas

     

Time to move on again!  Off into the Exuma Sound for another exciting day of dodging coral heads . . . not.  Diligently following the rhumb lines on charts keeps us in 10 to 20 feet of water and once we even found a deep hole of 30 feet!  Around 10:30am, after only an hour of cruising, Peggy heard a strange hissing noise when she into the galley.  And then there was the water, not usually something one likes to see on the inside of a boat.  Bob came to the rescue when he discovered that the constant movement of the stabilizers had rubbed a hole in the pressurized fresh water inlet of the washing machine.  Our limited fresh water supply was becoming a fine spray which soaked everything behind, under and around the washer/dryer unit but Bob soon found the valve to shut off the water supply.  A sponge and a fan finished up the job and the excitement was over with no more than a gallon of water lost.  

Roadside gardens

Anchoring at Black Point Settlement in the early afternoon we had hoped, to no avail, for internet or phone service in the anchorage.  Silly us!  It meant going ashore with the laptops in search of free WiFi.  First we ran into other cruisers and ended up going to Scorpios, whose Happy Hour was tonight from 4-6, so of course we stayed from 3:45 to 7:00 and each of us had a Kalik (Bahamian beer) and downloaded and answered emails, and returned to the boat after dark.  Late night!

Which way to go?

Warderick Wells, Exumas

We woke up sweating this morning with not a cloud in the sky, the humidity at 91% and the temperature of 77^oF.  OK, now it is warm enough to believe we have officially escaped the New England winter but Bob still cannot get into the water.  He has been diligent at doctoring his toes and each day the lesions are a little bit better.  One ulcerous area was so deep I think it will be at least another week before it will be close to healing over.  A good thing is that with the increased attention gained by treating the wounds, soaking his feet three times a day in a fresh water bath followed by scrubbing with a pumice stone and rubbing with a moisturizing gel, he is slowly losing the thick layer of dry cracked skin around the heels and balls of his feet.  The painful cracks in the thick dried skin have healed and we have learned the seriousness of being more diligent and attentive to the condition of his feet in seawater.  Wearing shoes and keeping them dry has probably been the hardest thing for Bob to ever do!

Bob on the deck.

Over the morning hours the wind finally clocked around from the west, several days slower than predicted last week, and should keep swinging around over the next few days to return to the normal North, Northeast direction which we have become accustomed to.  Having exhausted our interest in Warderick Wells we are more than ready to move on, waiting only for more favorable winds.  The thick, dark clouds rolling in from the west dominated the skies for the rest of the day, and with them came lower temperatures and humidity.  No thunderstorms were in sight and we spent a productive day cleaning out cabinets and putting things in order, something we had been putting off for ages.  Neither of us were motivated enough to go ashore but more books were read by Bob in his deck chair and Peggy in her hammock.

The bamboo and poinsettia are still going strong!