It's been a while since I did a post but that's because so much has happened. For one thing it is hard to believe the holidays have come and gone with us going into our third week here at the Harbour Cay Club. We've enjoyed many wonderful days and evenings with friends here and around the islands. I've gotten many of our boat chores finished as we look to finally connect all the loose ends in our sailing machine so that we can comfortably and confidently leave the confines of the USA next year and venture off into the Caribbean and beyond. But I have to say the last few weeks have been a lot of fun!
We've continued our tasks of fixing broken things and improving others. I've had the support rails for our solar array straightened and reassembled. Now all I need is to attach the replacement solar panels and hopefully I can this week and finish the repairs to our solar array for the damage done in Crandon Park Marina. I've also worked through the issue with our HVAC system that we discovered when several of our lockers filled with water. Hopefully it solves the problem. I removed the venturi system from the discharge line by replacing the discharge hose and then running a drain hose from the condensate tank directly to the bilge. Short of the condenser tube being split, that should remove any risk of a recurrence of the water infiltration. I've also worked on some dinghy issues and though not solved are well on the way. I've also resolved other issues along the way.
But beyond the repairs and upkeep items we have been dealing with unusual weather. The entire east coast of the US had been experiencing above normal winter temperatures and so it has been here. We have enjoyed many days in the 80's and evenings in the 70's or upper 60's. We've had a few cooler days. Over the past 2 weeks we suffered our first major frontal passages. Winds blew in the upper 20's to 40 kts for most of 3 days out of the northerly quadrant causing significant waves in our slip and cooler temperatures. Tonight as I'm sitting here writing this we are anticipating another frontal passage with lots of wind and cooler temperatures and probably will be for a few days.
This weather pattern is partly why we elected to come back to this marina for this winter. When it blows here and gets cool similar things happen in the Bahamas. However, if you are anchored out there may be little hiding from the effects and they can be downright uncomfortable. Even worse, the winds and cool temps make it uncomfortable to even leave your boat to go ashore or for swimming. So given the history of last year we thought it prudent to weather out the winter here where we are tied to a slip with less risk and can comfortably get to shopping and entertainment as needed while we do boat chores. So far this is proving a wise choice.
We would have much preferred to be in the Bahamas but these frontal passages can be extreme in the Bahamas. In fact this recent front that just passed caused a Derecho throughout the islands. A Derecho is a straightline wind event characterized by a sudden gust of winds to a very high level and sustained for a significant period of time unlike a typical storm gust which comes and goes very quickly. The Derecho that hit the Bahamas last week hit over 100 mph for what some reported as long as several hours. The storm destroyed many boats on several of the islands and caused damage to lots more. I suspect when we get there we will meet many veterans off this assault. As bad as it was for those there it is important to think of second and third level consequences many of which may not be clear for months.
Well, all that aside we've had lots of fun. The boating family here at Harbour Cay Club had great celebrations of the holidays and other events as well. Daily happy hours under the Tiki Hut helped kind of round out the day. We also shared a few evenings with friends here and elsewhere. I'm pretty sure our social life has expanded exponentially from what it was when we were working. So many things to do and so little time. So like Bogey and Bacall, we have it all and then some.
