Rain Rain Rain

Stupid rain, stupid noseeums, stupid lack of wind. Welcome to West End on Grand Bahama Island. Seems we both have a serious case of the Season Two Blues. Not sure if that is a real thing or not – if it isn’t then you heard it hear first. What do I mean? Everything we did the first season felt fun and fresh and new and exciting and a journey that was moving ever forward. So far, everything we do this season feels like an effort and a struggle just to get through the day. It feels as though the universe is telling us to go home or get a condo but definitely get the heck off the water and back on land. First, all the “fun” in Fort Pierce”, then the grounding, then battle with the batteries, the holding tank, the noseems in Jupiter that, I swear, made it their mission to drain me of every last drop of blood – but wait! There is more! – then, after leaving leaving Jupiter and spending a sleepless night at anchor near the Lake Worth inlet and a 4:30 am wake-up call, we leave Florida with a heading set for West End Grand Bahama, approx 10 hours away, only to find that our electronics decided that they did not approve of our plans. It did not matter what direction we were traveling or what we tried to enter for waypoints the chartplotter screen showed the little boat and the gps coordinates as travelling north up the Florida coast. It was showing our boat going back to Canada. Even our bloody boat was trying to get back home to Ontario! So off we head into some serious waves but no wind, without instruments, without autopilot and with me stoned on Stugeron. Woohoo! Thank goodness that we had our maps, a functioning compass and a lot of back-up equipment. Somewhere about midway to the Bahamas the boat started to resign to the fact that it WAS going to the Bahamas. First the autopilot kicked back in, then the gps started to slowly correct itself and eventually the chart plotter started to show us where we were REALLY heading. By the time we were about 2 nm out from West End all was working well again. Here I have to give a huge thumbs up to the Old Bahama Bay Marina and Resort and the Bahamian Customs and Immigration – the offices closed at 5 pm and we rolled into the marina at 5 pm. The dock master stayed to ensure that we had a slip for the night and the customs and immigration office stayed late to ensure that the boat and we were cleared in. The marina office was closed but they were fine with us checking in and out the next morning, after breakfast (you have got to have the omelettes here – they are huge and fresh and so very good). The resort office was also very kind and helpful when it came to offering assistance and a free telephone to get our ALIV phone card activated so that we could have data and phone service. (ALIV provides amazing customer service btw) Another day of doing work on the boat before we try to leave late tonight for The Berries. Try, because the weather has turned very rainy and there is an ugly yellow x showing up on the NOAA Hurricane website. Stupid hurricanes. Yes, I am aware of my tantrum. Fifteen days until we fly home for the holidays.