Stay Over Days in Emerald Bay

—Blogpost written by Bob

Saturday, April 11

Yes, we are still here in Emerald Bay Marina on Great Exuma Island in the Bahamas and the pandemic is still ongoing.  I feel safer here than in the U.S., particularly safer than in the state of Florida.  My thoughts are with everyone back home.

Again this morning, there was very little, if any, wind.  From inside our air-conditioned boat at the navigation station, I could see about a half dozen “no-see-ums” flying around outside the clear cockpit door in the still air.  The weather forecast was for less than 5 knots of wind for most of the day and much warmer temperatures.  It sounded like another day of the A/C running all day.

The temperature got up to 82 degrees in the afternoon but it felt like 89 degrees.

Three Small Projects for the Day

Since I expected to be indoors today, my day’s agenda included three small projects: (1) thoroughly cleaning all six of our cabin fans, (2) fixing the overhead light in the head, and (3) some additional interior teak refinishing.

We have six HELLA-brand fans onboard.
They move a lot of air at very little
amperage draw but they
gather dust. (My hands
really look frail and 
old in this pic!)

Once all the fans were cleaned, I took the overhead light in the head apart.  This is the second time in about 3 months that the LED bulbs have burned out--it's time to try a different brand light bulb out of my onboard stock.

Next up, was changing the LED bulbs
in the overhead light in the head.
(It's working for now.)

Touching up interior teak with varnish was another easy task.  I started the process of refinishing the interior teak next to the head door—it required several steps since the bulkhead was satin finish and the trim was done in gloss finish.  I sanded all the worn areas with 320-grit sandpaper and then taped off the area where it is a gloss finish.  I applied a coat of satin finish varnish to the subject area of the bulkhead. (Tomorrow, I will apply the second coat of satin finish varnish before removing the masking tape and addressing the gloss finish varnish on the teak trim.)

The are to the right side of the blue masking
tape was anded and one coat of satin
finish varnish was applied.

Ice Cube Giveaway in the Marina

Because the marina staffing has been cut back and the ice machine produces more ice than can be sold right now, the marina is giving away ice cubes as long as we provide the bag or container.  We took advantage of this "giveaway" two days in a row.  

We have plenty of food onboard and get weekly grocery deliveries but we are starting to run out of liquor and the liquor stores are closed (deemed "nonessential").  We have some beer (maybe 2 six packs) in the bottom the fridge plus three or four third-full bottles of various kinds of rum.  (I don't know how Prime Minister Minnis of the Bahamas deemed rum as "nonessential"!  He must not be a sailor.)

Sunday, April 12 (Easter Sunday)

The wind picked up to 12 to 15 knots out of the east this morning and was expected to reach 18 to 20 knots by the evening.  The outside temperature reached about 81 degrees in the afternoon from an overnight low of 76 degrees F.  The wind made the weather feel very comfortable.  I have sworn off boat projects for today (Easter)--the continued touch up of the interior varnish can wait a day or two.

Today marks the end of our second month in Emerald Bay Marina marina and we have 4 to 6 more weeks to go...

Coconut Bread French Toast for Breakfast

We were able to get some coconut bread at a nearby bakery when a fellow boater with access to a car drove there for the little Emerald Bay Marina community of boaters. This was the first loaf of coconut bread we’ve had this season. Bahamian bread is made in little bakeries all over the family islands. We had purchased home made whole wheat bread a number of times this season, in fact almost weekly. (I found a recipe for coconut bread and it can be found at this link but we have not tried making bread using this recipe.)

Maggie's French toast using
Bahamian coconut bread.

On Easter morning, Maggie made French toast using the coconut bread—it was absolutely delicious!

John Kretschmer Interviewed on a Popular YouTube Channel

John Kretschmer, one of my sailing heroes and author of six sailing books, was interviewed on the YouTube channel "Sailing Millennial Falcon".  You can watch Part 1 of the interview at this link.  (I suggest subscribing to "Sailing Millennial Falcon" if you are a sailor and you want to see Part 2 of the interview.)

John Kretschmer aboard his sailboat,
Quetzal, being interviewed in the 
first of a 2-part series on the 
Youtube channel called 
"Sailing Millennial 
Falcon"

Maggie and I attended a presentation by John Kretschmer at Fawcett Boat Supplies in Annapolis one winter before we sold our house and went cruising.  I read all six of his books and he signed a copy of his last book for us.  He is a great sailor and genuinely a nice guy.  He is not at all pretentious.

John currently owns and operates his adventure sailing business.  The website for his business can be found at this link.

Marina Personnel Now Wearing Face Masks

Even though we occasionally escape the reality of the pandemic in our minds, signs are all around us.  Just today the marina personnel started wearing face masks.  We got to know most of them on a first name basis: Ericka, John, and Shane.  Up until today, Emerald Bay Marina seemed like our little germ-free piece of paradise.  There are probably two dozen boaters here in the marina and we all have been here for the duration.

Stay safe and Thanks for following our blog!