May 1, 2009
We awoke at 6:30am to the sound of anchors being hoisted and sails raised.
The winds were down and many boats were leaving the harbour. Most going
home, some more adventurous souls heading south. The radio waves were
crackling with fond farewells. Some we'd never see again. We played with
the notion of going out into the Exuma Sound to fish, but after watching the
boats exit the Conch Cay Cut we decided it was still too rough for us.
Instead, we lifted our anchor and headed into the settlement to Exuma
Docking Services for diesel fuel and dinghy gas. Hailing them on VHS "Sugar
One", they did not answer, as usual. It was rough there, and we started
into the dock before the dock man came to assist. We hated to buy the fuel
here. It is about $.70 per gallon more than in Nassau. And probably about
$1.50 per gallon more than Miami. But we are here, and have fishing to do.
We have also encountered fuel shortages here this season. So we settled on
250 gallons. Although we are not traveling much, we run the generator 5
hours per day to charge the batteries, and cook. So far we have spent
almost one third of our entire fuel costs of the trip on generator fuel. We
estimate we'll use 100 gallons for the generator over the next month.
Of course, the gas pump did not work, necessitating a long dock walk to lug
the 5-gallon jugs back and forth. Well, we are in the Bahamas, Mon. So we
opted to buy gas later.
Instead of returning to our anchorage at the Monument, we went south another
couple miles to the Sand Dollar Anchorage. It was very calm and quiet
there. And would give us a change of view. And new trails to explore.
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