Our Buddy Rick 1/23/13

We decided to anchor at Highbourne Cay as opposed to Allen’s, where the iguanas are, so as to meet up with our friend, Rick.  We sailed with Rick for quite some time already this year after meeting him in Melbourne during the SSCA gathering.

Rick is quite an unusual character – a solo sailor on a boat identical to ours.  He does solo what Rob and I struggle to manage with the two of us.  From anchoring and docking to setting and dropping his sails, he’s got the science of his sailing technique honed to an art.  Along with that, Rick is a master of everything CSY (that being the type of boat we both sail). 

When we arrived at Highbourne, Rick was waiting and brought his dinghy immediately over.  We had parted ways in the Berry Islands where he went to Spanish Wells on Eleuthera and we headed to Nassau to meet up with family. 

Rob and I took our dinghy over to visit the iguanas on the neighboring island and chat with the many cruisers who had anchored there for the night.  It was fun to meet back up with numerous boats we have seen along the way.

I’d like to relate more about the Exumas at this point but, other than the aforementioned terrific snorkeling interlude after the iguana viewing, we’ve been a bit tied up.  I got up with the dawn yesterday, grabbed a couple of good photos of the sun rising and proceeded to tune into the area weather forecast on the SSB.  The front we had heard of was due that evening and the weather was already starting to threaten.

We decided to weigh anchor and head further south to the northern border of the Exuma Land and Sea Park at Shroud Key.  We had hoped to “score” on some decent afternoon weather to take in the acclaimed favorite activity there of riding a small creek through mangroves to an amazing beach on the other side of the island.

Unfortunately, along the journey south, we sprung a good sized diesel leak in the engine and had to do some quick maneuvering to get safely on our mooring and better assess the situation.  I won’t go into the details of how the starter didn’t want to cooperate during all of this! 

Anyway, the balance of the day didn’t offer favorable weather with the westerly winds kicking up big wave action and lots of rocking and rolling in the anchorage so it was a good time for Rob to do his magic and analyze and subsequently fix the problem (the glories of a 30+ year old engine and its parts!)

We had a nice evening playing cards and the new game, Dao, that Matt and Danyelle brought us and we hit the sack exhausted after another big day.  (ps – Jacob, if you’re reading this – your game was a HUGE hit in Nassau and we played it repeatedly!!!)

Overnight the wind did its scheduled shift to the N/NE and picked up to over 20 knots so this morning is a bit blustery but at least more comfortable with the anchorage having better northerly than westerly protection.  We still plan on taking our ride through the mangroves this afternoon but, in resolving one issue in the engine compartment, two others have sprung up so at least another temporary delay is at hand.

I’m keeping busy puttering around – organizing, cleaning, cooking and otherwise occupying myself.  Rick is making himself indispensible once again fabricating an essential part that was found to be “shot”.  This guy is a walking boatyard! 

We are due to catch a mooring in Warderick Wells tomorrow, the headquarters of the Exuma Park and, with our engine once again fully analyzed, hope to be 100% into the fun and exploration we’ve been waiting for!  Watch out – we’re more than ready!