Thursday, December 19, 2019
Cave Cay Marina, Bahamas
25.54.467N
76.16.305W


Well it was one of those two steps forward, three steps back kind of days.  Dale used the air compressor to blow the fuel lines backwards (spraying himself and everything around him with diesel) but he cleared whatever was blocking the lines and then began to run the fuel polisher.  I ran outside and began squirting Dawn all around us to keep the diesel corralled. 


Remember I said that I encouraged him to run it for two days?  Well, he took it to heart and has run it from sun up to sun down ever since, except for the times when he actually got the engines to start and ran them for a couple of hours.  Once he shut them down, he ran the polisher again and will continue to do so until bedtime. 


Also, when I left you yesterday, he had discovered that a line on the hot water heater had shot off and syphoned out more than half of our water tank into the bilge plus covering our newly commissioned watermaker’s oil tank to the high pressure pump with water which contaminated the oil for it.  So, this morning he tore the watermaker apart and dried everything off, changed the oil (twice just to make sure all the water was out) and put it back together.  Unfortunately, it still tripped the breaker and wouldn’t start which necessitated a call to the technical people to ascertain what he could have missed. 


I, on the other hand, resumed my Jill (of Jack and Jill) and started ferrying water back and forth up and down the hill to be syphoned back into the tank as well as putting in a few loads of laundry and squirting more Dawn around us.  I had done this about 5 times when Dale said that the next one was my last trip as we had filled the tank.  So, up the hill I go one last time, fill the jerry can, disconnect my filter, gather my laundry, head back down the hill and squirt some more soap.  Only this time, when I get back to the boat, Dale says well, maybe not my last trip as the line on the hot water heater has fallen off again and syphoned water out again and blown water all over the watermaker—again!  There are no words to describe my frustration at this point, so I start the process over just to get away from the boat.  Up the hill, attach the filter, turn on the water, fill the can, turn off the water, back down the hill, attach the halyard, haul the can up, squirt some soap, gather the can.  Up and down, up and down, the third trip one of my wagon wheels falls off.  I really don’t know how much more of this I can take and tell Dale so.  He’s just as frustrated and takes over the jerry can ferrying as now it has to be carried.  I string lines and hang laundry in the cockpit; and squirt some more soap. 


Our new neighbor, Sonia drops by and tells me about the turtles that live in the marina.  Aw man!  The poor things are probably blowing bubbles everytime they come up for air by now. 


Just before the “big blow” came through this evening, we donned our headsets and once again tried to get the genset to start.  Although it did take a bit of effort (had to get the air out of the lines apparently), it finally started and after a few minutes of sputtering, settled into a hum before Dale turned on various switches to see if it would carry a load.  It did, so we shut it down and put it back to bed. 


As I mentioned, the “big blow” has finally arrived and we are glad we are securely tied up in the natural hurricane hole this marina was built in.  High hillsides protect us from every direction so we’ll stay put until it passes and, if I’m not mistaken, the storm behind it is just as bad.  In any event, it’s blowing a “hooley” and pouring rain.  Since we’ve had to button up the Palace to keep the rain out, we’ll break down and turn on the AC after the polisher turns off and turn on a movie.  I bought the original series of Battlestar Galatica and it’s calling my name.