Saturday February 12, 2011

I woke up at 3AM. The wind was cold and now coming directly out of the north. I warmed up a cup of coffee on the butane stove. I learned from Sandy how to heat up day old coffee. While the coffee was heating up I checked the painter to make sure that the dingy would not get blown away in the stiff wind. I then made sure that the anchor was holding, drank the coffee and then crawled back into my sleeping bag and was rocked to sleep by the waves.

At 9AM Jim and Ellie slowly dingied by me and said that they were headed back to shore to return the rental car. We arranged to meet about 10am at Mango’s for breakfast.

After breakfast Jim and Ellie headed back to FinniIrish. I stayed at Mango’s and connected to the Internet. The connection worked. I tried to Skype Sandy. She did not answer. I then Skyped her cell phone and left her a message that I was safe in Marsh Harbor. I carefully checked the weather and caught up on a few emails. It was now raining, damp and cold on the covered patio at what has become my table at Mango’s. It was time to try and add photos to the blog. I downloaded several applications, Flickr and Picasa. Picase somehow took all of the photos on my laptop and automatically organized them into folders. I then created a slide show and presto. Somebody other than my photos appeared on the blog. I think I finally figured out how to get them off but am not sure.

If you see a really nice slide show in the blog they seem to be photos of the Bahamas, just not mine.

Buy this time it was 3pm in the afternoon and my feet and hands were freezing. I put on my fowl weather gear, jumped in the dingy and headed back to WaterMark. I heated up a pot of coffee and let the butane stove drive the cold and dampness out of the cabin.

About 4pm the rain stopped. The wind was still blowing 17 to 22 out of the north. I studied the way that WaterMark sails when laying at anchor. She will sail 45 degrees to the left of the anchor placement and 45 degrees to the right of the anchor placement. This means that during a strong wind the boat sails ninety degrees. I know that she sailed but not that much. The previous time that I observed this characteristic of WaterMark carefully was when she was anchored in Safety Harbor, North Captiva Island, Florida. I studied her then from the shore. This time I was aboard and watched the compass rose.

The mom and pop bakeries here in the Bahamas make a wonderful sweet bread. (I split a loaf with Jim and Ellie.) Since the bread was fresh, I cut off two slices and made a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. It was delicious mainly because of the bread.

I then spent the rest of the cold rainy afternoon playing guitar.

Its now 8:30pm and I am ready for the 20 knot wind and waves to rock me to sleep. I am confident that the anchor is set and I am safe here in Marsh Harbor.