We've arrived at the staging area - Lake Worth - for travel to the Bahamas. An easy day of travel yesterday from Stuart/Port Salerno. Saying goodby to our friends and family was less easy but fine enough with the expectation and faith that we'll likely see them on our return trip or in another year. And knowing all can change in an instant. Still, the "looking forward to" seeing them in another month or more...cousins if we come back through southern FL, boating friends as we all head north. BB will leave FL in early March so it will be closer to home in the northeast when we see them again, ....likely.
We did last minute provisioning which we'll likely do again today.... that last minute stuff. Really, who knows what we'll need? Well, we don't know, exactly, what we'll need. We've never done this before. Getting great advice (bring beer. It is soooo expensive in the Bahamas!) from friends and reading sources. Did the laundry. Got a couple extra boat parts. Checked, again, on how to get Amelia documented so that she can come with us, uh, so that we can go to the Bahamas since we won't leave her behind. "Good to go," the Bahamian Agriculture Department told me.
I'd forgot since our last trip here how LARGE the houses, most of them are. From the clump of palm trees on the left, this is one house.
A more contemporary style of LARGE
Then we went too far down the anchorage and had to back track. We tried several times to anchor and found that we couldn't dig in. But 100' of chain was holding us. We realized we were in water that would become too shallow at low tide, given the phase of the moon. We moved to another, deeper, place (closer to our boat buddy's anchoring spot so that was/is fine). Still no digging in but light wind and lots of chain so, okay.
Propane sensor goes off. Research. No smell of propane. No leaking valves. Enough propane in tank. Turned the propane computer off, on, off, on, off. Huh??? Off and it's salad for dinner. Lovely. Then, while eating I smell some hint of plastic. Put everything away and open the engine compartment. The bilge is flooded. Double YIKES!!! The propane sensor is flooded. No wonder it is complaining.
Our warning systems work!
I almost sank the boat. Well, not really. When we checked the bilge last, flipping the switch from automatic to manual, I'd left the switch in "off" rather than flipping it back to automatic. I've done this switching thousands of times, correctly. I need a check list. Actually, I need to pay more attention IN THE MOMENT. I need regular meditation rather than just being grateful for the beauty, good health, privilege, enough money, warm weather, husband, family...all for which I am grateful. However, gratitude does not equal the discipline of meditating. Sigh. Discipline! So hard.
Speaking of "hard," I'm so annoyed that some physical tasks are just harder than they used to be. Patience just leaves me when things that shouldn't be so, are hard. Undoing a knot. Lifting the anchor. Pulling the dinghy in. Hard. Physically taxing.
And speaking of taxes...the list of tasks continues to expand.
This photo has nothing to do with expanding tasks.
Are these mother/daughter boats? Is the small one the dinghy to the large one? Are less wealthy friends visiting the larger boat? Ah, the things money can buy.
So if the weather holds we might leave tomorrow tonight for the Bahamas.
Joy and blessings abound.
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