May 18, 2015 Shroud Cay

Last night we confirmed there is a mild leak on one of the high pressure fittings.  Not catastrophic, but we had to figure out something to keep the water from spraying around.

Hey, it worked!

And so with a 2 gallon baggie, a bucket and a hair clip we created a stop gap leak collection system.  Looks Rube Goldbergish but it works.  The bucket, after an hour and ten minutes of making water was less than a quarter full.  So no water making worries for us at least for the time being.

Also last night we were joined by 4 semi mega yachts anchoring close bye.  100-200 feet long and all lit up like a city.   They were all loaded with jet skis, big ski-type boats and other toys.  The weather though, precluded any playtime I guess.  But I could hear them partying up a storm last night. 

We didn't do much this morning.  The swells and winds were not clam so we were bouncing around and I wasn't too thrilled about tinkering around with the big dinghy.  But it wasn't long until I couldn't take just sitting around the boat any more so I dove off the back into the nice warm water.  Then figured it would be a good idea to take the dink into some of the beaches.

Wading in he tidal pool

Beached on the sand bar at high tide.

So Mary got ready and off we went to this little tidal beach near us.  When the tide is out it’s a beautiful beach with soft wand and a tidal pool of clear warm water.  When the tide is up, like it was its just a sand spit you can wade across.

So we went there first and drove the dinghy over the coral reef to the sand and walked around some there.  Another dinghy with 3 guys came up later and, being cautious guys, stopped in the tidal pool and all three walked the dink across the coral reef.

We left soon after and headed to the little beach where the pay box is located.  Mary went snorkeling along the coral shoreline while I stayed with the dinghy because tilting the engine up caused quite a stream of fuel out of the front.  It takes a while for it too cool down to where the leak is only a tiny trickle.

The water was its usual mid 80 degrees and so clear its possible to see down 20 feet.  And the sand is white and soft.  It’s a hard place not to like.

After an hour or so we headed back to the boat and got the deck chairs out on the bow and had a few beers.  Kalik of course.

Then I took the motor off the small dinghy and got it stowed.  We’ll get the little dinghy put away when we leave tomorrow for Big Majors and a nice large anchorage there.  And Pig Beach.   We had intended on trying Warderwick Wells but we had some much trouble getting a line through the mooring pendant here I thought it would be more prudent to just anchor in a large anchorage.

Warderwick Wells has a large number of moorings, with the best in this narrow tidal channel which has strong current flow.  If the pendants are the same short length we've experienced here, we’d never be able to snag one.  So maybe we’ll run the dinghy over there and check it out.  That is if I can get it started with a pull rope.

Meanwhile this evening we had a deluge roll through here.  Really a succession of thunderstorm.  The forecasts I read had no mention of rain.  Only one I saw mentioned a possibility.  Weather forecasting.  It's rather like shooting craps.