Wednesday, December 11, 2019
Palm Cay Marina, Bahamas
25.01.205N
77.16.418W


We held fast to our one day good, one day bad with today being better than yesterday.  We were underway by 5:45am but with it being darker than the bottom of a well, almost ran into a channel marker on the way out.  The rest of the day was rather unremarkable with the wind veering to south of east and since we were traveling south, was on our nose once again.  However the waves were manageable and once we realized that we were going to make New Providence (where Nassau is located) by 11:30am, we made the decision to continue on to Palm Cay on the southeast end of the island as we could make it before dark to check in. 


We attempted on several occasions to hail them via the VHF radio and by telephone to no avail.  So we waited until we got closer and tried again.  This time, they could hear us but we couldn’t hear them clearly.  The closer we got, the more coral heads we had to maneuver through but Dale was doing a really good job.  When we got close to the entry channel we tried once again, using the inside radio, the outside radio and both portable radios to make arrangements.  This time I was on the helm, when the earth reached up and caught our attention.  The crunch sound made us both wince and I threw the throttle into idle, however, the forward motion continued the chunk, chunk, chunk as we had obviously hit one of the coral heads.  We both looked behind us but could not see the tell tale dark patch. 


Dale immediately went down to check for water intrusion; there was none.  So we rather cautiously returned to entering into the channel and following the circuitous path to the fuel dock as they finally responded by saying that we could clear in, fuel up, take on water but there was no room at the inn. 


Once tied at the fuel dock, Customs and Immigration was called, so Dale fueled up and I went in to start filling out the forms.  Dale jumped in after fueling to take a look at our damage (scrapes in the bottom paint along the keel.)  After about half an hour, the Immigration Officer and another Officer showed up and signed and stamped our documents, the extra Officer drank a beer and said that all we needed now was the Customs Officer to show up and take our money.  Except that he was having car trouble and was running late.  The Immigration Officer bid us farewell and we began the waiting.  We had arrived at 3:30pm, the Immigration Officer left by 4:15 and at 5pm, when the marina closed, they said that the boat that was supposed to be berthed where we were, hadn’t shown up, so we might as well stay where we were as we couldn’t leave until the Customs Officer came in any event. OK, works for us. 


As 6pm rolled around and it was dark, we figured the Customs Officer probably wasn’t coming.  So we left a note on the cockpit enclosure telling the time we left and that we could be found at the marina restaurant.   At 6:30pm the Customs Officer arrived at the restaurant with our note in his hand.  He was very friendly and very professional, although neither one of us can remember him commenting about his tardiness.  I ran back to the boat to get the paperwork and fees and hurried back to our table.  The transaction was completed within 10 minutes and he was on his way.  Our dinner arrived; two cheese burgers in paradise. 


So now we sit under our newly raised Bahamian courtesy flag, contemplating whether to strike out in the morning or sit for perfect weather on Saturday.  We shall see.  The Marina doesn’t open until 9 am in the morning, so that will have an effect on what we do, as it will take 7 hours to get to Highbourn Cay, our next stop. 


Until then, let's see if I can find a WiFi connection so that I can upload these posts.