Another Day in Paradise

We are enjoying another beautiful day at the Bitter End.  The pub is standing room only and it is not open yet, but it has power outlets at every table, and people are all connecting with the world and charging their devices.  

Pizza Pub, the Bitter End Yacht Club and resort

Leonard the mechanic has advised that he is flummoxed by our electrics and can not help us.  So we have a functioning alternator (it will run our engine!) but the charging of batteries function is defunct and so is the link to our tachometer.  We'll be taking off for Nanny Cay soon.  We can provision, and hopefully find a sailmaker, a rigger, and a mechanic. The cap'ns research has found a Master Volt dealer in Roadtown, and this is the company that manufactures our battery isolator, which we think is the source of our current proble.  We woke up yesterday to discover refrigerator also died.  Good  thing we have a spare! 

We attended the Salty Dawg wrap up party the other night.  It was great to hear about everyone else's journey:  people were quite eager to share their trials and tribulations.  We met people (Rob and Sarah, SV Serafina) who said there were no passages they enjoyed less in their recent 25,000 miles of cruising than the ones we just did.  They did not hit the 45/50 knot winds and thunderstorms that some people did, but found the relentless 25 to 30-35 knot winds quite tiresome.  And the winds were never in the hoped for direction.  The Salty Dawg organizers/originators/stalwarts, Linda (and Bill) Knowles told us this was their worst passage in 10 years of doing the trip.

There were 5 coast guard rescues for salty dawg boats.  We have a lot to be grateful for.  Our boat and especially our crew were grace under pressure and significant adversity.  We are most appreciative for the time and energy this trip cost them.  Our fantasies of 15 knot winds, azure seas and blue skies did not  play out.  In fact, the pessimistic first mate was not really prepared for fair winds and seas, as life isn't fair! Thank you to our crew!

Our boat also was strong and performed well in both heavy and light air and seas.  Of the 5 rescues, one boat delaminated and is presumed sunk, one had a fuel leak and is presumed to be adrift and awaiting recovery.  One boat dismasted and was towed into Norfolk by the coast guard and one boat dismasted and made in by on her own steam.  There was a crew member with a broken arm who was rescued from a fifth boat.  The caribbean 1500 rally left on the 2nd (?25 boats) and there were reports that they were really having a rough ride and 2 of their boats diverted to Bermuda also.  

With respect to the SPOT tracking, there was a button on the device (a footprint) we were supposed to have pushed and didn't.  We still do not show up on the SaltyDawg website, but we do now show up on the spot tracking website.  Apologies again.