Tuesday, November 17, 2015

The weather has turned quite blustery, as was predicted.  The winds are blowing 20-25 knots and are projected to stay that way for the foreseeable future, which in terms of weather prediction is generally 4-5 days.  Fortunately for us, the winds are out of the east and we’ve moved from Spanish Cay to Powell Cay and have a fairly protected anchorage.  

Carl and Annie on Muse

We feel fortunate that we crossed the Gulf Stream and got to the Bahamas when we did.  Long term projections are for windy weather and no good crossing opportunities until around Thanksgiving or later.  We would much rather be here in the Bahamas than waiting in the States for a weather opportunity to cross over.

New trac LED lighting

We met another cruising couple while at Spanish Cay; a Canadian couple who 3 months ago sold all of their stuff, bought the boat and are now full-time cruisers.  This is their first trip to the Bahamas.  They have never spear-fished before so we shared our tools of the trade and went out hunting yesterday.  We came back with 7 lobster and 3 fish (two yellow snapper and one red snapper).  Carl is a natural with the Hawaiian sling and was immediately hooked on the sport.  Annie needs some practice using the pole spear although she got her lobster also.  We cooked the lobster for them last night and discussed cruising plans.  They have family flying into Georgetown in the Exumas for Christmas so they will be heading south as quickly as weather permits.  We have decided to stay in the Abacos as we have family and friends flying in to Marsh Harbor beginning in early February.  Kathi and I had discussed going to the Exumas again this year for December and January but we have heard over and over that “due to  El Nino, this years weather is going to be unpredictable”, so we’ve opted to stay “close to home.”

New countertops

Makani has been working beautifully and we’re pleased with the projects we completed this past summer.  One of our major jobs was replacing all of the fuel lines.  Last year we were having problems with fuel filters clogging which we attributed to the old fuel lines.  We replaced the old 1/4 inch lines with 3/8 inch lines and have had no fuel issues this year.  We also repaired our wind generator and it is helping to keep the batteries at full charge.  Kathi painted our corian countertops to better match our interior and we installed additional lighting which has brightened our home.