Stay Over Days in Emerald Bay

—Blogpost written by Bob

Apr 3 and Apr 4

We are still sheltering in place in Emerald Bay Marina on Great Exuma Island.  We are practicing social distancing to the maximum.  We expect to be here through May--it depends on progress made in containing the Coronavirus in the U.S.

Friday, April 3

It was cool enough last night that we didn't need to run our onboard A/C.  A nice cool easterly breeze blew through the boat from the stern.  (The cockpit enclosure with the front window in place acted like a big air scoop, funneling the cool breeze into our boat.)

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As I was lying in bed this morning my mind was on the leakage for which we have been searching for almost a week now.   All of a sudden, I realized that the biggest leakage on the boat was coming from the raw water strainer for the water maker.  I have known about this leak since I installed the water maker but never got around to fixing it because it involves removing the raw water strainer, cleaning it, and refastening the clear bowl.  (The salt water leak was between the clear plastic bowl and the bronze base.)

The culprit that has been causing our
leak. It needs a new o-ring seal.
I had to use some butyl tape
and the old o-ring to
stop the leak.

The salt water leak was about 1 drip per second which equates to 5 gallons per day.  This leak, alone, would explain the intermittent cycling of our bilge pump.

After breakfast, I removed the raw water strainer.  Maggie helped me clean it thoroughly in the galley sink.  We also cleaned up the salt water residue in the water maker compartment. It took about 1-1/2 hours to fix the leak.

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I just finished reading John M. Barry’s book entitled The Great Influenza (image of cover below). This book is available as a Kindle book on Amazon at this link.

The book is about the influenza pandemic of 1918 and 1919, the deadliest in the world (to date). Some of my takeaways from this book follow:

(1) The pandemic of 1918 and 1919 began in Maxwell, Kansas and quickly spread to nearby military bases in the mid-west and elsewhere. It then spread from the military to civilian populations.

(2) The pandemic became known as the Spanish Flu because Spanish newspapers were the only ones writing about it. (It was wartime and U.S. newspapers were censored. Spain was not involved in the war.)

(3) The influenza virus is a close relative of the Coronavirus. It wiped out about 5% of the world’s population at the time of the pandemic. (NOT 50% as stated by Trump in one of his recent press conferences!)

(4) The influenza pandemic had two waves, the first (more deadly) wave in 1918 and the second (less deadly) wave in 1919. (It is believed by many that the second wave was less deadly because the population had developed an immunity to the virus after the first wave.)

(5) “The virus is airborne, so it can be inhaled, which seems to be the primary manner of transmission, but it can also survive on a surface—a doorknob, say, or a can of beer—at least for hours or, depending on temperature and humidity, possibly for days. So it can also be transmitted if someone opens a door, then covers a yawn. The only way to avoid it is to completely isolate oneself from society for the six to ten weeks it takes an outbreak to burn through a community, including not accepting deliveries, not going out, and so forth.”

(6) The City of Philadelphia was hardest hit of any U.S. cities by the influenza pandemic of 1918 and 1919, although all major U.S. cities were eventually impacted as the pandemic moved across the country.

(7) Many scientists devoted their lives to finding the cause, a cure, and a vaccine for the pandemic—while they made important breakthroughs, they did NOT succeed in saving lives.

(8) Deaths caused by the influenza pandemic were swift—a person who felt sick in the morning could be dead by nightfall.

(9) Government leaders need to be transparent and truthful in their communications during pandemics. Lies and misinformation leads to public fear and panic. The censorship surrounding the war effort created a lot of the fear and panic in 1918.

(10) Since the influenza pandemic of 1918 and 1919, pandemics have occurred in 1957, 1968, and 2009 but were mostly identified early and contained. 

This book should be required reading for everyone in government and everyone in the medical profession. 

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One thing that I find interesting is that our official government stance has been that face masks won’t help curtail the virus. The aforementioned book makes the same claim. Is there any scientific basis for this claim?  So, why do medical professionals wear them (and safety glasses I might add)?  Why have the Chinese been wearing them in the affected areas of the country. Why has our government recently reconsidered the recommendation for face masks?  Could it be that there is not enough masks for everyone in the country and it would create a panic with everyone trying to get them?  What is the truth related to this issue?

Saturday, April 4

Last night was cool as we slept without our A/C running. There was hardly any breeze this morning and this is a situation that encourages visits from “no-see-ums.”  In fact, I think I got a couple bites around my ankles overnight.  As the day progressed, the breeze strengthened a little (fortunately).

The transom of GOLO, a nearby
sport fishing boat. (The stream
of water is from the A/C.)

In the morning, I moved around a lot of boat projects on my iPad. I had (all 42 of) them organized as to where I would complete them, the first ones being in Vero Beach, shortly after we arrive in the U.S. However, our stop in Vero Beach may not be as long in duration as we originally thought (since hurricane season might be on our heels)—so, many of those projects have been moved to the summer in Baltimore. (However, we hope to spend at least one week in Vero Beach before proceeding north on the ICW.)

Our daily routine here in Emerald Bay Marina has been to get up between 7:30 and 8:00 AM. We each have a cup of tea or a cup of coffee—Maggie almost always has two cups of coffee. While I’m drinking my tea, I read the news (from 3 or 4 different sources) on my iPad. Maggie plays games (designed to keep her mind sharp) on her iPhone. Then we have breakfast onboard which varies daily between French toast, low-carb pancakes, eggs, oatmeal, and cereal. At this point, Maggie usually takes a walk around the marina property (maybe 45 minutes) while I work on the day’s blogpost. Around noon or a bit later we have lunch onboard, our primary meal for the day—what we have for lunch varies widely too. We’ve been searching online for new recipes. After lunch, we usually go up to the marina lounge where we can use their free WiFi—we spend a couple hours there each day. We generally take showers every other day, usually in the afternoons. We typically start our Happy Hour at 4 PM with some light snacks (carrot sticks, pieces of cheese, crackers, or popcorn) to accompany our (alcoholic) beverages. When the sun goes down, I usually go to bed (and I read for a while in bed). Maggie sits on the port settee for a couple more hours and reads her current kindle book. 

I can't believe this sleeping position
can be comfortable!

We have been ordering our groceries by email on Monday and they have been delivered on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday by Exuma Markets. We are healthy and safe (and frequently bored) and very concerned about our relatives and friends back home in the U.S.

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In case you missed it in the news, #45 fired the inspector general who (while performing his job correctly) passed on the whistleblower’s complaint (that formed the basis for the President’s impeachment) to the oversight committee in congress—he just fired him yesterday in the middle of this awful pandemic. You can read more about it at this link or watch a short video on the same issue at this link. (He probably thought no one would notice, being late on a Friday and during a pandemic.)

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Since we still don't have a federal "stay at home" order in the U.S. cases and deaths from the Coronavirus will continue to climb more than they would otherwise.  The Bahamas may be in the clear of the Coronavirus LONG before the U.S.  This means that our biggest risk will be experienced when we come back home into U.S. waters.

Stay safe, everyone and thanks for following our blog!