We started the morning listening to “The Net,”a cruiser led vhf interactive broadcast for all of the boats here. We announced ourselves as new arrivals to the harbour. We learned about a recommendation for haircuts, where to get propane, where to play volleyball and bocce and how to properly access the dinghy dock.
People in the harbour were starting to move around to get better protection from the west winds that are expected tomorrow.
After that, we headed to town to provision and get water and propane. We decided to try for propane at Forbes, a local business. We could see it on google maps but there was no sign. The sign on the building was for the prior business that owned it. The windows were dark but the door opened and Naamen Forbes was in there. We traded our tank for a small slip of paper that was the only key to getting it back. It would be filled and ready by 2 but he was leaving shortly after 2.
We left our tank and did our other errands. The grocery was not fully stocked but it is kind of fun to plan meals based on the good produce they have. They had plenty of artichokes, cabbage and some cauliflower. We did manage to find some more apples and oranges.
We decided to take our food and water back to the boat. We also got a case of local beer. We would have to go back later for our tank. We got everything loaded and stored, filled our water tanks and made a beer bin out of the box to keep the bottles from clanking.
We had bahamian bread , cheese and Vero Beach grapefruit for lunch and soon it was time to return for our tank. We left our hatches and ports open and on the way over noticed a dark cloud in the distance. It would be a quick trip. We didn’t want to miss our tank window to go back and close the boat.
We found our yellow slip and our tank was waiting for us. We then started thinking about ice cream. The stand was open and we each had a small cup. There are great improvements to the stand, including a dinghy dock.
By that time, the cloud was moving more near and we set out for the boat. The cloud edge had an interesting green color that I wanted to photograph. I reached for my phone, no phone. The choice was, go back for the phone? Or close down the boat. I was unable to reach the ice cream stand on David’s phone. We turned around. It started to rain and the sheet of rain soaked us and headed across the harbour toward our boat.
We arrived back at the ice cream stand as the rain was stopping on the town side. A beautiful rainbow appeared across the harbour. Drenched in our dinghy, we had the greatest view! My phone was safe and retrieved and we returned to the boat for damage control.
We still had some sunlight and a breeze so we brought up seat cushions, and bedding to dry. We mopped the floors and then brought towels up to dry. The only casualty so far is my beloved keyboard. It seems to favor semicolons now and the much needed delete button does not work. I still have hope for improvement with more drying, but for now, I am using the opportunity to try and learn to type with two thumbs on my phone.
In the evening, we met Jeff and Deb on the beach. I rode my paddle board in and fell off once.
