A pretty successful day overall. Engine part arrived on the plane. Customs released it to Mike without gouging his wallet too badly… just the 12% VAT tax. Thanks again for the package transfer Aaron!! Mike was back on the boat by 12:30 so then had all afternoon to extract the old pump and install the refurbished one. At 3:08pm Mike had the engine running again! Leak stopped??? We don’t know yet. Time will tell. By 4pm we were off the boat headed to a party on shore…but that’s another story!
This morning, Tina and kids dropped Mike of on land to hitch hike to the North Eleuthera airport. We were playing in an area nearby and could see Mike one minute….then 5 min later he was gone. Success! So we wandered around town, found a local playground to play in, did a little shopping and headed back to boat. Henry was great, and in Mike’s absence he took over full control of the dinghy – holding it for the ladies to get in, pulling in the stern anchor and navigating us back and forth. He tied the dinghy off and made sure it was safe. He really stepped up to the plate!
Mike’s story is that a fella named Mark picked him up and, as it turns out, Mark had an errand right near the airport. So he took Mike to the airport first and waited while Mike did his work with customs, then they went and did Mark’s errand together…and then Mark drove Mike all the way back to Alice town in Hatchet Bay and brought him right down to the dinghy dock too! Mark owns a trucking business back in Williamsport Pennsylvania and he and his wife vacation in the Bahamas at their house near Hatchet Bay. He also invited our family up to his house for cocktail hour. They were having neighbours over and we were welcome to join. He even came down at 4:30 to drive us to/from his house. Such incredibly warm hospitality. While Mark and his wife are not boating people, they appreciated some of the hardships having lived a life of diesel engines and sleeping in truck cabs, and knowing that Mike had been in the engine bay all afternoon they also offered Mike hot water showers!!!!!! A luxury. They had a very cute house with an amazing porch with views of ocean and sunset.
It was a lovely evening, new people to meet, they were all land owners on Eleuthera, and one native of Eleuthera. Interesting stories – one couple runs the Dolphin marina in Maine, another couple lived on a sailboat for years and kept their boat in Indiantown, FL too….AND they are from Kingston, ON (where Tina went to Queen’s University).
No idea what our plans are for tomorrow…. engine review, check the weather, put a plan together…..
Fun Afloat 