Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Day 207

Last night I slept well and it was soo calm. This morning it’s a beautiful day and I was forced out of bed when I could no longer stand the sun in my face (already it was too hot to pull the covers over my head). I got up and then Papa started the engine so I laid in bed reading.

After a while I could smell a funny smell that I didn’t recognize. I opened my hatch to let some air in and poked my head out of my berth just in time to see Grama comment about the smell, open the engine locker and to have a bunch of black smoke bellowing out....instantly you feel deflated...great >_>.

We turned off the engine and let it cool down. When it was cool enough to inspect it we found the belt for the alternator had heated so much it literally melted to the pulleys. Grama scrubbed and got all of the burnt rubber off of the pulleys once the engine was completely cooled off.

Thankfully after all of Grama’s scrubbing Papa could put on a new belt and start up the engine again. We ran the engine for quite a while before we decided it was time to check out the town.

Black Point isn’t very large and when we asked about renting a golf cart we were told that it would take us an hour and a half to cover the whole island. We first decided to go SW and found the grocery store (back home it might be called a little variety store) we carried on and checked out the laundry mat/marine store/hair dressers (you sit on a lawn chair on the back porch of the laundry mat/marine store to get your hair cut) and a little farther up the line we came to Loraine’s cafe.

Loraine has been a friend of Don Willson for many years (Don is on Next Exit and use to be partners with Papa at the office). We went in to introduce ourselves and we found out that her mother had just finished baking some bread. If you ask anyone who has tried Loraine’s mother’s bread who makes the best bread in the Bahamas they will tell you her Coconut bread takes first and all of her other breads tie for second. So we had to go buy a loaf of coconut bread and we decided to buy a French loaf as well.

After getting the bread we were talking to Loraine again about some cottages we saw next door and she said they weren’t well up kept but she had a cottage she rents out so since we were Don’s friends she would rent it to Aunt Connie and Uncle Daryl for $100/night. The cottage was a one bedroom cottage with central air, full kitchen and it has a nice sized living room with a queen sized pull out couch (which would be perfect for Spencer and Phill).

It was such a hot day we didn’t bother going much farther in that direction so we headed back the way we came and decided to check out the cottage. It looked just like it did in the brochure she had, minus a bit of paint chipped off the exterior.

From there we noticed a trail leading to the ocean. It was a bit of a hike back but we found a little beach with some rock with little pools filled with sea urchins, little fish and underwater snails. Grama and I collected some shells and sea glass before deciding it was too hot so we were going to go back to the boat.

Back on the boat we then decided to go for a swim. The water was great and eventually it turned into me scrubbing the bottom of the boat lmao.

Not long after Papa got out of the water Uncle Dave called to let us know they had booked their flight from Nassau to Staniel Cay and they were going to be in Staniel at 2:45-3pm on the 7th!!! As Grama told me this morning every perfect day starts off with a problem in the morning...I of course told her she was nuts... but today wasn’t bad at all =].

After listening to the phone call I got back to scrubbing the bottom and at one point I saw some hound fish and some little fish and a barracuda swimming around. Then a little while later when I was scrubbing the bow I noticed a big hermit crab crawling around by the anchor chain. I dove down and picked him up and took him back to show Grama. We thought he was cute and if it wasn’t for Papa’s loud oppositions we probably would have kept him for a pet lmao.

Just as the sun was setting I got out of the water and Papa called Aunt Connie to tell her about the cottage. Unfortunately with the boys’ hockey schedule and a few other issues it doesn’t look like the Clarks are going to make it to Exuma. We are still hoping though that they may make it to Abaco or to Florida.

A little while later while we were doing nothing a local who keeps his powerboat on a mooring ball asked if we could take him to shore once he tied up his boat. That’s how they get from shore to their boat and from their boat to shore, asking cruisers for rides...which seems reasonable because cruisers are forever hitch hiking...it’s safe enough. So I said sure and untied the dingy and went to give him a ride. We were chatting he wanted to know about our boat name and then he was saying that he had a couple of boats, and he pointed them out, and that he did tours and rented boats and snorkelling etc and in the same breath he caught me very off guard and said “god your beautiful”... I was like “...umm thank you...so where do you do the snorkelling tours?”

Back on the boat Grama and I started to make plans and stuff for when Karen and Dave get down here.... needless to say we’re SOOO EXCITED!! Papa kept trying to read and eventually went to bed. Not long after all of a sudden Grama and I both felt like passing out and decided bed sounded like a good idea!


Niki
P.S. I've wanted to load pics to the blog but internet isn't strong enough =[

2 comments:

Ruth said...

Hi Nikki,
We had dinner last night with Myner and Gail in Beaufort S. C. They said to say hi to Nice Bottom.
Love the Fosters

Sammeh said...

LOLOLOL
you fox you ;D
*giggles*
thats exciting that your fam well went down xD
I wish I could of D: