Day 114: Rainy Days and Mondays

Between the Majors, Exumas, Bahamas (anchored)

May 9, 2022

Frustration was the word of the day.

We had a deluge this morning. I know that we rarely get an entire day of rain but the clouds seemed to last forever. Buttoning up the boat also makes it really, really warm and humid. Ugh.

Another frustration is that my phone is having issues charging. While this would be a pain anywhere, there are no T-Mobile or Best Buys here. It’s probably the transmission fluid but who knows. I can’t even order a new phone online. I just have to plug it in to my laptop as I can – it overheats when I use other power sources.

Probably the biggest and most challenging frustration is that the new alternator does not work. We really hoped that we would be able to install it and then work our way north and west to Eleuthera this week. This is the third alternator that John has installed – and we waited for about a week for this one to arrive – so to have it not charge the batteries is exasperating.

John has to work on his knees and extend into the engine room. It’s not a fast or easy process, so when it doesn’t work it’s even worse – all of that time and effort invested for a bad outcome.

Adding to that frustration: when John was trying to check the leads, the battery in the voltmeter died. To get to the store to get new batteries required us bailing the dinghy out (that earlier deluge left its mark) and a choppy ride to the general store. At least the rain had moved out and the view is outstanding.

Whenever we leave Lailia in the dinghy we have to think about what we need to take with us. We are getting more streamlined with this: we always take our handheld VHF radio in case we need assistance while we we are on the water; as well as our phones in a drybag. If we are planning to get supplies we carry reusable shopping bags (stores in the Bahamas don’t have single-use bags) as well as a cooler bag since we usually have to travel a mile or so in the sunlight. If we are going some place, like Cruisers Beach, in the evening we also carry a large handheld spotlight, mostly to draw attention to us in case there are other moving boats.

Our cooler bag was a prize from Charleston County Public Library. I love that I borrow e-books from them and haul my groceries in ChasCoLibrary bag, even in the Bahamas.

As we prepared to cruise the Bahamas we tried to read everything we could and talk to other folks who had lived aboard. Somewhere we heard that the worst thing to have onboard is a calendar because it’s nearly impossible to plan destinations due to weather windows and boat maintenance. I also kept hearing “embrace the suck” which is a Zen level that I have not quite reached. It’s really difficult to appreciate how often things just don’t work out to our plans.

There are definitely worse places to be. I get that! This is a lifestyle that we chose, for sure. Some days, though, it’s challenging. Maybe this is why the liveaboard community is so supportive. Until you actually have been stuck waiting for a weather window, it’s hard to grasp the frustration. Those shitty days in paradise are real.

Staniel Cay does have a few mechanics but none that can troubleshoot the alternator. Our best bet is to return to Nassau where there are several options. We can use our generator to give us enough battery power to run the windlass and our navigation systems. We’ll leave at high tide tomorrow (we learned our lesson on that sandbar) and head to the Land and Sea Park. We want to explore the hiking trails at Warderick Wells. We may also return to Shroud Cay to snorkel the mangrove trail with all of the sea turtles. We’ll head to east Nassau after that.

This is a change in plans for us as we had hoped to go west to Eleuthera. Boat friends are posting amazing photos of the funky town of Spanish Wells and we really wanted to join them (that’s just another instance of a calendar being a terrible thing).