Resources — Cupcake Afloat

The days have been blending into one another lately. It’s partially because the weather has finally settled down a bit so we can spend the bulk of our days not fretting about wind, but instead scooting about in the dinghy seeking out snorkel spots, and just relaxing and reading.

A few days ago we sailed up to Pipe Creek for the evening to explore a bit. Our anchorage, between two little cays, was protected from the wind but was in the teeth of a fierce current. When Moss and I jumped in the water to check on the anchor, the current was too strong for her to leave the protection of the mother ship without making me nervous. So we swam together to the bow and while Moss held fast to the snubber, I went forward and confirmed that in 16’ of water, once again Pablo was buried deep and solid in sand.

While the kids stayed aboard so they could bicker in peace, Ellen and I roamed the Pipe Creek area by dinghy and realized that the water was spectacularly clear but was also super shallow. When we got back to the sailboat Moss and Simon joined us for a ride to a big smooth sandbar for a few hours of sand castles and swimming. The tide was rising so by the time we left our little island had lost significant acreage. By nightfall, the sandbar was completely submerged.

That’s me checking to see if we will hit the sand bar if the wind and tide shift.

That evening Moss got an email from her buddy Liz on Orion and we realized they were just down the the islands at Big Majors. Reached them by VHF to see about coordinating. Because we hadn’t seen Orion since St. Augustine, we convinced them to stay around Big Majors an extra day before heading to Georgetown.

In the morning we sailed south and met up with them at Big Majors for some spearfishing (didn’t see anything spearable although Ellen and I were stalked by a big grumpy-looking barracuda).

Played together on the pig-free beach at Big Majors, cracked open a coconut Simon and I harvested at Black Point last week, and the younger kids made a catamaran out of two plastic kayaks that live on the beach.

Ellen “caught” a conch and made conch with rice, peppers, and garlic to take to Orion for dinner that night. We had a fine time catching up and will do what we can to meet up with them in Georgetown. Because the family lives aboard full-time and Phil works from the boat via the Internet, they need to be in a spot with reliable connectivity.

Moss finally got to snorkel at Thunderball Grotto yesterday and really loved the experience. The entrance, at low tide, does not need a dive underwater. But there are two tunnels out of the grotto that require little underwater dives. Moss mastered the exit and is justifiably proud of her accomplishment.

We moved Cupcake around to the back side of the anchorage to a spot called Little Majors. Had the place to ourselves, in part because the chart erroneously describes the anchorage a having “poor holding.” One reason we moved from Big Majors (aka Piggy Beach) was the pigs. Tour boats run back and forth across the bay all day ferrying tourists to the pig beach. So the wakes are constantly rocking the boat. Furthermore, all those pigs on the beach also crap on the beach. At high tide, logs of pig poop come floating by the boat. It’s pretty disgusting. We actually do not see the appeal of pigs on a beach. Pigs are disgusting. Delicious, but disgusting. And the people aren’t eating the pigs, they are swimming in their filth with them and feeding them.

Anyhow, we anchored just fine despite the warning on the chart. Pablo was buried up to his rollbar in good sand. Today with the wind changing direction, there are another six boats sharing the anchorage with us. We are trendsetters.

Now that we’ve been on the boat almost half a year, various bits and pieces of equipment are starting to fail. (Side note: that’s a pretty remarkable run of relatively trouble-free sailing.) Yesterday when I made water, we realized the bilge was filling with seawater. Traced the leak to a failed o-ring on the watermaker pre-filter housing. I have no replacements. (Side note: it would make sense for the $15 water filters to come with replacement o-rings. After all, $7 oil filters come with replacement o-rings, $8 fuel filters come with replacement o-rings, $12 water pump impellers come with replacement o-rings.)

Ellen and I took the dinghy to Staniel Cay to see if we could get ourselves a replacement o-ring from someone ashore. Nobody had anything that fit, but the guys at Staniel Cay Yacht Club and at Watermakers (an outfit that makes purified water for the cay) gave us a too-big o-ring to try. They suggested cutting the ring to size then supergluing the cut ends together.

Their advice felt, at the time, like a “let’s just get this poor guy out of here any way we can” suggestion. But when I tried the cutting and gluing today it worked like a charm. So the cruising tip of the day is that you can cut an o-ring to size and then glue it together. Who knew? (Well, Chubby at Staniel Cay Yacht Club, for one.)

Speaking of resources, with all the snorkeling and trips to shore and visiting neighbors lately we have been burning lots of gasoline. In fact, we need to refill our jerry cans on Monday and can’t remember the last time we bought gas. Some of the gasoline we are just now using may be from August. So it is stale and makes the outboard unhappy.

Also, Cupcake is just barely able to keep up with the power and water demands the four of us put on the system. Three people on board seems right for what the boat can generate. Four puts a strain on the system. Five people were a significant challenge, so when our next batch of guests comes we will make sure we have full tanks of water to start and access to shore water along the way. I don’t know what we are going to do about beer. What we have plenty of at this stage in the trip is time. It is a luxury we are thoroughly enjoying.