Rendezvous with friends

Monday 27 Jan, BHS day 28, Cambridge Cay: Dinghy trip to explore beaches on Bell Island and meet friends on Pearl of Penzance.

It’s a perfect still morning with bright sunshine. This is more like the Bahamas weather we signed up for! The mirror surfaced water is so clear that the sea bed looks just inches away. We can see every last detail below us.
Last night our little stern anchor held in perfectly, holding against the current and stopping that damned buoy knocking on the hull. Only trouble is, the line is now diagonally across our stern so we can’t lower the dinghy. Seems there is always a complication when you try to get fancy with mooring!

During the morning, while Oana works on extracting photos for the blog from both GoPro and Drone (very time consuming task) I decide to tackle our leaky engine room roof… or leaky cockpit floor depending on how you look at it. Over the last year I’d noticed some fluid ingress into the insulation in the top of the engine room. I thought it must be from a small chemical spill that I had in the cockpit locker. But during the maintenance in USA I spotted a drip right in a little nook in the top corner of the engine room ceiling. On inspection of the cockpit floor I see where the problem lies.
The cockpit floor is designed to be removable, so you can change the engine or generator if necessary. But as you don’t do that every day, it’s sealed all the way around the edge with what looks like a generous helping of white Sikaflex. In one corner, that sealant has obviously failed with its bond to the glass fiber, allowing water to deep in. It’s OK at the moment because with the cockpit tent, we don’t get water in the cockpit. But during the summer, the cockpit had been open to the rain.
What starts as a “this will be a quick job” ends up taking several hours and emptying a whole large tube of Sikaflex! I had to dig out most of the old stuff, all the way around, and replace with new. Yet another leaky part of the boat sealed for the next few years. Which part of Cloudy will spring the next leak I wonder?

By now I’m dripping with sweat and desperate for a dip in the sea. So Oana and I both jump in and we try again the GoPro bubble. It’s a bit tricky because we have to swim quite hard just to stay in one place, due to the tidal flow. But the water is delicious. The temperature is refreshing and so so crystal clear today. And we are quite impressed with the images we capture, they are certainly something different. And also I’m happy to see the epoxy on the tip of the rudder has adhered and cured rock hard. That should stop any water ingress into the glass fiber till we next haul out. It will be interesting to see how quickly things grow on that area, now that it’s naked of antifowl paint.

Meanwhile, during the morning, a steady flow of boats have arrived and picked up the other moorings around us. Gone is our total peace and tranquility. Two boats appear to be together and they insist on shouting across to each other. Then someone starts their engine to charge batteries and then there are crying kids 🙁 At one point all the crews on every boat head off in their dinghies to snorkel and explore, and peace momentarily descends again. Haha …. aren’t we the grumpy old farts in the anchorage?!

The water colours are so mesmerizing and we decide to go explore a new beach on Bell Island (yet another “private” labeled island) accompanied by the drone. When we have had our walk we put the drone into “follow me” mode and head back to Cloudy in the dinghy, with drone obediently following just 20m behind.
As we come out of the sandy bay we spot Pearl of Penzance approaching. Pete and Tracy Goss’s yacht. We had arranged to meet here in Cambridge Cay, and they arrived a bit earlier than we expected. We dinghy up to them almost forgetting the drone is behind us. It must have felt like paparazzi approaching! And we apologized for the “Harry and Meghan” type of welcoming committee.

We manage to catch the drone in the dinghy (yes, it’s that calm) and go over to see them just as they drop their anchor. 5 minutes later we are on board with beers in hand sharing stories. And Pete and his friend Stewart certainly know how to tell them. One beer turns into several, plus we are joined by Canadians Ian and Michelle whom we also met in Herrington. And with all our enthusiastic banter, before we know it the sun has set.
Pearl of Penzance is a Garcia 45 swing keel aluminium cutter sloop. And their aft cockpit is very big (compared to ours) and comfortable. Great for a gathering like this. Before it gets dark, we leave at the same time as Ian and Michelle, back to our boats for dinner. Tomorrow we will download from Pete all the best places we are yet to see in the Exumas. Looks like we might be here a while longer yet 🙂

Back on board the stern anchor is still holding well, but tonight the wind will come up from the west. So we should be held off the buoy OK on both ebb and flood tides, without the anchor. So I go with the dinghy and remove it while Oana makes dinner. As soon as I release it, Cloudy instantly turns to the wind like she has a stern thruster. I’m amazed the little anchor held such force. A bit more and the line might have even parted.
Our evening is relaxing, looking at where we might go tomorrow and continuing with our video editing, which we are really into these last few days.