Shroud Cay to North Harbor, Warderick Wells

This morning it is time to move on.  First Bob checked out the generator system and, using jumper cables, it immediately sprang to life.  While the generator was running we used the power to charge the house battery banks and refrigeration plates, and the stove to fix a true cruising delicacy, scrambled eggs with sautéed onions and cheese with the last of the Bahamanian Coconut Bread toasted for breakfast.  At 9am we tuned into Channel 9 for Warderick Wells buoy assignments and received a mooring ball assignment for the north harbor of Warderick Wells for this evening.

Arriving at low tide we were amazed at how narrow the channel was, how brisk the wind, and that there was still a strong current with everything in the wrong direction.  Assigned Buoy 7, we quickly passed it in the current as there was no place to turn around.  Finding a wide enough area to turn followed by more radio chatter we were reassigned to buoy 12 but started to pick up 10 instead.  Realizing our mistake Peggy released the mooring buoy and it slipped directly under the boat and was in seconds wrapped around the prop.  Andrew, the park person, dove down to free the lines, and we ended up tied to buoy 10 without the bouy.  Lesson # 42; once you have a mooring ball, even if it is wrong, tie up and then re-think.

A pilot Whale skeleton.  It died from eating plastic.

We checked into the park office and the wind increased during the evening.  One cruiser anchored here told us that in the 15 years he has been cruising the Bahamas, this is the coldest and windiest winter he has seen.

Bobs foot which was infected from Bimini has been re-infected.  We began to soak it three times a day, apply topical antibiotic and bandages and Bob has been relegated to tennis shoes and socks with instructions to keep his feet dry.  Beaching the dinghy Peggy had to jump out to wade ashore and got her shoes and shorts wet!  And all these years she has been perfecting the dry exit only to have it dashed to save her husband from having his feet amputated.

K2F in North Harbor, Warderick Wells

Beachtails are at 5pm on Saturdays under the tiki hut near the park office.  Everyone brings something to share and their own libations.  Dave, the park service launch driver, supplied pizza!  I have never seen one disappear so quickly!  We met people from Harwich, Chatham and Pine Hills, Plymouth, MA and Marty and Susan Tuck off Allizon who are the 2016 Krogen Rendezvous chairs.  We thought we were coming down here to get away from it all but apparently that is not an original idea.

Nocturnal Hutia, a pineapple sized rodent native to the Bahamas, became bolder as the evening progressed.  With three inch hairless tails, round bodies and a boldness matched by all wild creatures fed by humans, they had to be chased off to keep them from being underfoot and after the crowd dispersed several climbed onto the picnic table.