Thursday, February 16:

The Allen Cays are known for protected Iguanas and I finally saw one shambling across the beach this morning. But we had too much to do so we will leave the exploring ashore until tomorrow

Who knew there could be so much to do on a little 31 footer? Like stow garbage under the forward beam covers!! Genius.

The day threatened rain so the guys put the dodger on to keep our cockpit drier.  It has plastic windows which zip into place. A nice compliment to the bimini for shade at the stern.

Paul did some sail strengthening with a needle and thread. He worked a good chunk of the day on his task when one of the other cruisers dinghied by and said “I have a sewing machine onboard if you need it.” Too late but very kind.

Jim worked on the plumbing systems… And there are a lot of them. Not sure how some of this was installed but wow is it difficult to access.

I did laundry in a 5 Gallon bucket.  Not easy but I collected rainwater in a tub (thanks Mom) for rinsing. Fyi, as of a couple of days ago, my nickname is now Pinky Bob… Don’t ask. 

Haven’t tried running the water maker yet.  Maybe tomorrow. We are carrying a lotof freshwater.  Fresh running water to the galley and the vanity in the head, not to mention having an actual head,  are luxuries we are certainly not used to in our F-22.

One of our neighbours moved so we pulled the anchors and reset a bit farther out from the rocky shore. Our ground tackle consists of Rocky our 33lb Rocna and Bullwinkle the 22lb Bruce anchors. We haven’t the tiny Bruce anchor in the dinghy yetbut we will!

Just finished a lovely supper of barbequed steak which Paul cooked up for.  Incidentally, the Magma BBQ works fine after the guys fixed a seized valve.

Holy smokes something just crashed into the rigging !!!  We ran on deck with head lamps. It was a bird!! It hit the rig and splashed into the water.  Poor thing. It floated away with its wings flapping. I think just stunned. We were kind of stunned ourselves! Paul thought it was a rogue shipping container and Jim thought it could have been a whale (we’re in four feet of water by the way).

Tonight we are having a drink in honour of our late friend Steve Clarke. He would have had a blast on this kind of adventure. We think about him a lot and we miss him. Fair winds Steve. You were a hell of a good guy.