Stay Over Days in Emerald Bay

—Blogpost written by Bob

Monday, April 13

That beautiful 10 to 15 knot wind out of the east that we experienced yesterday has remained with us another day.  Large moisture-laden clouds moved overhead in the morning and I could feel the humidity in the air, even though I was sure that no rain would result—it rarely does here on Great Exuma Island in the Bahamas.  Some rain drops fell from the sky for a few seconds--it would hardly qualify as rain though.  Today was hot and muggy.

Computer games like FREECELL (shown 
above) are just one of the many ways 
we spend our time in isolation
during this pandemic.

A Review of Elton John's Autobiography

I just finished reading Me by Elton John.  I felt compelled to put the book down for several days before finishing it. I even thought about not finishing it at all.  I quickly tired of the rampant drug use described throughout the first half of the (audio) book. 

The cover of Elton John's
Autobiography

I liked the fact that Elton John grew up in a working class neighborhood in England and he worked very hard at his craft to get to stardom.  Elton came from a broken home where his father found fault with everything he did and his mother was not very loving.  He got into music by collecting records.  After he finished school, he played his first gigs in pubs as a piano player.  Many times his playing was interrupted by fist fights.  When his singing career started a friend of his would write the lyrics first and then Elton would compose the music to accompany the lyrics--this method was very unusual.  When his songs did not sell, Elton John (an invented name) became a performer.

As I mentioned previously in this blog, I loved Elton John’s early music—it became popular in the U.S. while I was in the Army Reserve (1970-1976).  He loved touring and performing to live audiences to promote his music.  Along the way he became addicted to cocaine.  Decades later he went to rehab and rid himself of his cocaine habit.  After rehab he met his life partner and got married and they had two sons through a surrogate. He is very active in his worldwide AIDS Foundation.

Maggie Cleans the Rudder and Waterline

Just before lunch today, Maggie cleaned the rudder using our deck brush while siting on our swim ladder.  She also cleaned the waterline which had attracted some sticky scum.

While she was cleaning the rudder
a number of small fish gathered
around out of curiosity.  We
were glad the resident 
nurse shark wasn't 
in the area.

Tuesday, April 14

The 15-knot wind had shifted a little more to the south, actually from the east southeast, in the morning, as we started our 27th day of lockdown in the Bahamas--the COVID-19 (stands for Coronavirus Disease 2019) restrictions started on Monday, March 18.  There are presently 47 confirmed cases and 8 deaths from the coronavirus in the Bahamas, all in Nassau on New Providence Island.  Nassau has a population of 266,100 people, 75% of the total population of the Bahamas.  We are currently on Great Exuma Island, one of the many family islands about 100 miles southeast of Nassau.

Sunrise this morning as seen
from our boats cockpit.

A Problem With Our Onboard Battery Charger?

Yesterday I noticed that the house voltage dropped to below 13 volts early in the morning, even though the battery charger was turned on all night.  As the sun came up, the solar panels boosted the house voltage to above 13 volts.  (The house voltage being less than 13 volts while the battery charger is operating is very unusual in my experience.  However, it is common while we are at anchor and don't have the battery charger available.)  I turned off the battery charger and allowed our solar panels to be the only source of charging for the remainder of the daylight hours on Monday.

Late on Monday afternoon after I had just finished running the water maker for the day and pumped 12 gallons of water from the day tank to the forward tank (Monday), the house voltage was at about 12.8 volts. When I restarted the onboard battery charger, it was producing 30 amps and quickly boosting the house voltage to 13.75 volts. This operation seemed normal to me.

First thing this morning, I checked the house voltage again and it was sitting at 13.2 volts, pretty much where it should have been.

So, I have to conclude that we don’t have a problem with the onboard charger.  The low voltage could have been caused by the fridge running excessively.  There was a half-inch thick buildup of ice crystals on the cold plate and it needed to be defrosted.  We are currently defrosting it.

Cabbage Pie Anyone?

In my daily excursions through the YouTube universe I came upon an interesting recipe for cabbage pie.  At this point you might be wondering what this recipe has to do with sailing or cruising--nothing, but it has a lot to do with the situation in which we currently find ourselves. In the middle of a pandemic, we all have way too much time on our hands and we're looking for things to do.

This photo of cabbage pie was
taken from the YouTube video.

Of course, it’s not like a conventional pie and it’s not sweet like a dessert--it seems like is would be most appropriate for a weekend brunch or weekday lunch.  We’re going to try out this recipe sometime during the week and we’ll report on the results and include our own photos.


Three New Books in My Library

Recently, I have downloaded the following three new books to read:

FDR by Jean Edward Smith (kindle book)

Clapton: The Autobiography by Eric Clapton (audio book)

The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr. by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (audio book)

If you click on any of the aforementioned book names, you will find a hyperlink to the source for purchase.  You can expect to see future book reviews on these three books in this blog.

Until our next blogpost, stay safe and thanks for following our blog!