Shake-down in the Bahamas
Lynn & Mike ..around the world
Mike Drinkrow & Lynn v/d Hoven
Thu 7 Apr 2011 23:16
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Shake-down in the Bahamas:
So when we said we were going for a shake-down
cruise to the Bahamas, we did not mean it literally - but last night we did
some. Our anchorage turned into a bit of a nightmare with waves and current
colliding, and making things somewhat bumpy (rather than really shaky!).
We had deployed the "flopper-stopper" - which is a 4m boom that extends off the
side of the boat, and attached to it, is a folding stainless steel plate that
absorbs some of the boat roll. This helped, but is was still pretty unpleasant,
and I felt sea-sick for the first time on anchor!
The day started off well, with Mike diving out 6
big conch and later catching a good size bream type fish. But things started
going bad when he sliced open the top of his finger with one of his famous
(infamous?) Dexter Russell knives. There is a very good reason that popular TV
show about the serial killer, is called Dexter! And then the boat started
rocking and it the day ended badly!
Back to the 'shake-down' - all systems are running
well, except for an alarm that keeps going off in the plotter/radar/ AIS system,
which we need to sort out. Some intermittent problem with an antenna we
suspect. This boat has so many antennas it is hardly surprising that there
may be a conflict or a loose connection. One of our last tests is the
Watermaker, which still has to be done.
Today we moved further north and west, back to
Little Stirrup Cay - where we found a flat anchorage, next to a 26m motor yacht
on its way from St Maarten to Palm Beach. We met the crew and had a beer with
them - Mike also shared some fishing knowledge and showed them how tie on their
lures properly. We also took a 10km dinghy ride across the beautiful blue
flat water to Great Harbour. Nothing 'great' there, but the ice-cream &
beers were cold and the local shopkeeper very chatty.
We will stay here for another day and then head to
Bimini...or something like that!
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