Broken Down in Green Turtle Cay

Well, I guess the biggest news is that we finally had a mechanical engine problem while in the Bahamas. After 2 fun days in Great Guana Cay (I have included a few pics), we left to sail through "the whale" an ocean passage of 15 miles, and no sooner did we leave the harbour and the engine overheated, so we dropped our anchor to check the reason and found no anti-freeze in the coolant system. As you may remember we have had this problem before in FL and all the o-rings were replaced in the system. After refilling the coolant, finding some additional coolant which a boater in the harbour gave us in case we needed more, left to sail to Green Turtle Cay. Luckily, the wind was great for a sail and having to run the engine for only 15 minutes to get us into the marina, helped us get to this new cay where there are more marine services available. Our friends are also here and a fellow boater came over this morning to help us diagnose the problem. We pretty much had identified the source of trouble, but Michael was able to validate our findings. We will need some welding done this next week to repair a cracked bracket. Easter weekend is a four day holiday here, so Tuesday is probably the first day that we can get help from the local mechanic. We have asked the locals for a recommendation and everyone has said George. Enough discussion of mechanical problems!

In the meantime, the weather is not conducive for crossing back to the States with high wind, waves, and squalls for the next several days. Last night we went to a local bar with Bahamian band and dancing and today we rented a golf cart to tour the settlement. Easter we will go to a local Anglican Church and then 11 fellow boaters are having dinner at our marina. This marina charges us about $70 a day to stay here, but if you eat and drink that much a day in the restaurant, than dockage is free. The food is very good, so it is very easy to eat and drink our way through the day. We are actually doing fine and are confident that our repairs will happen and we will be ready to return soon.

Joy