Bad Weather in the Abacos
Since the New Year began we have been trapped in Hopetown Harbour on Elbow Cay due to bad weather. We had planned to go on an extended cruise to some remote islands around the Abacos. Bad weather has caused us to delay this plan.
How bad has the weather here been? During the week of the big freeze in the continental US, our nighttime low got down to a chilly 58 degrees (Fahrenheit). The high temperature one day last week was 64 degrees. These temperatures are about 10 degrees lower than average this time of year. I am sure everyone in the US is sympathetic to our plight.
Dena & Jody at the Xmas Holiday Day Golf Cart Parade in Hopetown
However the colder than usual temperatures is not the reason we had to delay our trip. The delay is caused by the high winds that are brought into the Bahamas from the weather fronts that come down from the US. Many days in the past 2 weeks we have had consistent winds as high as 25 to 30 knots. With a couple of exceptions, the winds have not really dropped below 15 knots for the last three weeks. When we leave the harbour to go on a cruise, we got for at least 2 to 3 days. So we need the weather to cooperate for a few days at a time.
So, what do we do while stuck in the harbour? One important thing we do is we try to take care of some boat projects. There are always a few small (usually) boat things to fix. Below is a list of a few boat related tasks we recently completed.
- Dena has been working on a project to change out our cabin curtains.
- I located and fixed (with some help from other cruisers) a very small leak in our water system (i.e., the water we use for showering and washing dishes). The hardest part of this job was finding the appropriate parts around the marina to make the repair.
- I had been putting off fixing a fuel leak in our diesel engine fuel filter since last summer when I last changed the filter. The leak was small enough that we could still use the diesel engine (which is not a recommended practice). But changing the filter on our engine is very difficult due to lack of access. Luckily I mentioned this problem to Brad, a long time cruiser, who lives on S/V Mothra here in Hopetown Marina. Brad knows everything there is to know about boats. Without even looking at the leak or the engine, Brad told me all I had to do to fix the leak was to “tighten” the filter. So I put a set of “Channel Locks” to our diesel engine fuel filter gave it a small tug and the fuel leak was fixed. It took me 5 minutes to complete this task (4 minutes to find the channel locks).
Biking down to Tahiti Beach on the South End of Elbow Cay is something we do when it is too windy to leave the harbour
- For some reason I checked our air conditioning system and noticed it was cutting off indicating the system was not getting raw water for cooling. I checked the raw water pump to see that it was working and the filter to be sure it was clean. Both were fine. This was another head scratcher. So I mentioned the problem to Brad. Brad told me, “That’s simple, you have an air pocket in the system; you just need to bleed out the air from the raw water hose to the pump.” I was skeptical about this being the problem. The raw water inlet is very close to the centerline of the boat which is about 2 feet below the boat’s waterline, how could air have gotten into the A/C water hose? Brad told me this happens all the time after you go sailing and the boat “heels.” So I took off the raw water hose from the water pump and quickly re-attached it (I saw no air bubbles). When I turned on the A/C system, it, of course, worked. Without even looking at the problem, Brad was right again.
- I had broken one of my flip flops and was going to throw them away. Before I did I mentioned it to Dave on M/V New Horizon, another long time cruiser. Dave said “no problem” bring over the flip flop and I will fix it. The next day Dave brings me back the repaired flip flop and it is as good as new. Don’t ask me how he did it.
In the Bahamas when someone helps you fix something on your boat, they do not accept cash for the work. They just ask you to buy them a beer the next time you see them at one of the local Hopetown bars. I now owe so many people so many beers that I have lost count. So when we are at a restaurant with boat friends now, I just pick up the bar tab.
Dena Preparing for the New Year’s Eve party at the pool bar
Retirement Planning Helpful Hint
Since it is the beginning of a new year, I am going to remind everyone to perform a simple task that I do every January.
Review and, if necessary, “Re-balance” your investment portfolio back to your chosen target asset allocations.
Re-balancing is particularly important this January as we have had a big run up in stock prices in 2013. If you are not familiar with the concept of re-balancing or just want to review the topic, you can read my past post on the subject by clicking here.
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