Season TWO on Seabreeze: Waiting out the storm...

November 13th, we are continuing to stay on the docks at Gilles place, because there is a big storm brewing out at sea with high winds, big seas and rain and his property is well protected inside of a channel. We don’t want to be sailing anywhere or even anchored somewhere. It would not be a good experience and even dangerous.

Not only for a safe haven, we like it here because along with dock space…we have power and water and the use of Gilles yard, pool and a place to dispose of our garbage. The property is surrounded by a security gate which is comforting and it is within walking distance from Sawyer’s (a very nice grocery store). Also Gilles is happy to take us anywhere we need to go. He couldn’t be more accomodating. The price is nice as well. $75.00 a night regardless of boat length. It may sound like a lot but compared to the nearby marina’s, this is a steal and it wouldn’t have any of the amenities…maybe power and water, but that would be extra. On November 14th, our first full day on the dock it started off raining but only briefly. I was able to get a load of laundry done and hung out to dry. Rick and Kory worked on our wind/depth/speed instrument that was not working at all! This was not good. You definitely need this information while sailing. Especially the depth while scooting around the coral reefs in the Bahamian waters. In the afternoon, Kerry and I took the electric bikes to the grocery store. What a fun way to get around!

Next day it rained continually and the wind picked up even more. We occasionally had gusts up to 53 mph! Rick and Kory were still working on figuring out what was wrong with the wind/depth/speed instrument. Finally they came to the conclusion that the ITC-5 converter was bad and we would need a new one. Unfortunately there are none on the island or nearby islands. This was a part that needed to be ordered from the States. But to do that would add $200 to the bill. Fortunately Kory and Kerry have friends arriving from Florida on Thursday in their Catamaran who can bring it over for us.

During our stay, we took the SUP boards out on the days the water was calm, which Harley loved!!. He sat still and just took in the sights. One night we went out to dinner with Kerry and Kory to the Flying Fish which was a short dinghy ride away. The food was great and it was nice to have a night off cooking. The day before Thanksgiving, Gilles drove us to a few different stores and to repay him we treated him to lunch at my favorite spot on the island, The Stoned Crab. The views, food and the atmosphere…all perfect!

Thanksgiving was a real treat! Kerry and Kory invited us over for an early dinner. Kerry had outdone herself with the cooking and the elegant table setting! She even went out of her way to make special dishes that I could eat.

Day after Thanksgiving we sailed over to West End and anchored, where we would wait for Kory and Kerry’s friends to arrive later that day, who would be bringing us our boat part we desperately needed. Also this was where we had to get our cruising permit renewed (the customs office is located inside the Marina). We went to the customs office by dinghy immediately after anchoring which turned out to be a fiasco…and an expensive one at that! When we got to the customs office and attempted to renew our permit the customs officer was no help at all and would not give us our permit. He told us we had to go to the main customs office in Freeport which is almost an hour away (had we known this we would have taken care of it while we were docked closer to Freeport). He said that we could go to the Marina/Resort office and they would get a driver to take us there. AND…they close at 5p.m. So we had to hurry to get there and handle it that day because the next day was Saturday and they would not be open. We couldn’t wait until Monday either because we were planning to leave on Sunday due to a great weather window to Great Sale Cay. So after talking to the front desk at the Marina/ Resort, we climbed into a white van. Rick, Harley and I. Our driver, ‘Scrapper’, who was named that because of all of the fights he gets into, was actually very friendly and couldn’t have been any nicer. When we finally got to the customs office in town, Scrapper escorted us inside the building and showed us where to go. He even waited for us. The girl at the customs reception desk looked put out by our request to speak to someone who could help us with our permit. She was busy on her phone. Twenty minutes later a man from the back office came out and directed me to follow him back. I followed him and once I was in the back, I noticed that all of the other custom agents were peaking out from their cubicles watching a football game that was playing on a big screen tv. Not what I was expecting to see. I thought maybe everyone would be working on a computer or something. The man that I followed into the back room instructed me to sit down at his desk and to start typing on his computer the information he would be giving me. Did I mention that I was dealing with a migraine from the time we left the marina, struggling with a major headache and wanting to throw up? So, trying to sit and type on a computer was the last thing I wanted to be doing. After my work had been completed, I was finally given our cruising permit which had been expired from last season, so we had to pay a $200 penalty. The total came to $500 to have permission to cruise in the Bahamas this winter. After I had what we came for, we headed back right away making a quick stop at a store to get some water for me..hoping it would help my headache. Oh and there was one more stop at a gas station! After an attendant filled the tanks, Scrapper looked at us to pay. We were a bit shocked but figured that was worth it for all of his driving and help. When we got back to the Marina/Resort, Rick was digging through his pockets to offer a $20 tip. When handing Scrapper the money, he put up his hand and said, ‘no, that’s not how this works. You owe me $80 for each way!’ We were flabbergasted! Needless to say it was an expensive afternoon. And we did not give him a tip! We learned our lesson to ask what the price of something is from the beginning. All this time we thought the drive was free.

November 26th our last day at West End, Kerry and I took the dogs for a romp on the beach. The dogs had a blast running up and down the beach. Harley got a little carried away and took off running as fast as he could after a bird that was in the water. He had no concern of being in the water or how he would have to swim back. But he tromped back with a few dog paddle strokes here and there and as soon as he got to shore he took off running after another bird and obviously had no plans of returning. So once I retrieved Harley after many attempts to call him back, I had no choice but to put him back on the leash.