Sunday Monday

Sunday cont'd and Monday, May 18, 2015

BY the middle of the day there were lots more boats in here than we had wanted, but…not our private anchorage. Except that most of them were research boats.

We went over to the island called Leaf Cay and got a lesson in trapping the iguanas. There were about 20 university students and teachers [all so young it was hard to tell the difference]. I met one, Laura who looked about 17 but teaches microbiology in Ohio U. We stayed out of the way while the students got to do the practical work and watched and took pictures as they chased the iguanas around the beach.

A few other boats came in and we talked to the boaters. One couple was from Southern Trader, whom we’d met in Georgetown. They said they head us on the radio so they came over in their dinghy from Highborn [the island behind these ones] to watch and learn as well. They are from England but they keep their boat in Boca Raton Florida. David mentioned that he had a fuel line leak, so Rick gave him a roll of rescue tape to fix it. They stopped at the boat before they went back to their boat and we talked for quite awhile.

We worked on our boat in the afternoon, wanting to stay out of the way of the working group. So we rigged u the block and tackle to lift the drive. It works much better outside the motor compartment.

Late in the day as we started to take the windlass apart, another boat came in and anchored beside us. It is flying a Canadian flag and really is Canadian, from Nanaimo BC….more about them later.

So Rick took the windlass apart… the magnets were fine…not good. That meant that the brushes were the problem.  It started to rain [again] and he brought the whole thing into the cockpit to work on in the morning.

Overnight we had a great thunderstorm and filled buckets of fresh water for clothes and showers!  I was worried that we would drag the anchor… after the incident in Georgetown I’ a little nervous during high winds. And we are in a narrow bay so we have rocks behind us, but at low tide we actually sit on bottom! The bay is shallow and flat sand so we just rest on the bottom. It made putting on the block and tackle really easy! We could stand under the boat in 3 feet of water!

Monday,

It was still raining n the morning on and off, mostly drizzle but the odd thunder rolled through and the air was hot! Rick finished putting the windlass together after much growling and cursing, because he had to re-solder the brushes and he couldn’t get his hands inside it, so I had to help him re-assemble. We tested BEFORE we put it back on the deck and it worked so we have a windlass again for a while. We are getting a new one when we get back to the States. We did a couple more jobs and when it looked like it had finished raining, we head over to the research boat to see how John Iverson, the head scientist wanted rick to format the videos and pictures we took for them. When we got to Beacon Won or Coral Reef, [both names e on the boat] the captain talked to us and invited us aboard to tour the ship. It IS a ship 67 feet, sleeps 30 plus crew and is a modern tall ship. He and his wife built is and launched three years ago. This is one of a fleet that he has been running for 30 years, providing transportation to the research crews and taking tours and he and his wife do sail training for troubled kids. He’s quite interesting. He also said that he is a cousin to the owner of Nipper’s ?!?  Bruce and Sheila have a Facebook page that tells everything they are doing.

We had coffee and a great tour, and we were invited back on Wednesday for deep fried turkey diner!

ON our way over to the ship, the boat beside us called us over and asked if we had any way to call Canada so we said, yes, and they asked if they could borrow our phone.  She needed to call her son and change his flight plans. SO we said yes, as soon as we got back from the other boat. {We wanted to see if we needed to help them].

On our way back she said never mind, she got through on the internet and we sat talking for a bit. Her husband /partner came out and as we talked…he was a sea cadet in Quadra about 8 years before Liz got there and so was his younger brother, Ken. His father was the western commander when he retired from the military. He thinks Liz will remember the band officers McKillops who were there.

We talked with them until about 6:30 and they came home for a swim and dinner. Yesterday was a wasted day for the researchers so if Tuesday is good we will all be busy!