Inauguration day 2017

The day after a mass departure.  Bahama voyages T-1. 

We spent yesterday ‘out playing.’  Lynne has wanted for weeks to go see Sister Creek.  So we took the dingy and went on a ‘walk about.’  We motored out of the harbor all the way to 7mile bridge to investigate how many boats were anchored there.  I wanted to see how many transient vessels were about.  The harbor has been busy all week with the transit to the Bahamas.  Everyone is ferrying food and fuel, talking on the cruiser net about the weather and departure.  Anyway – we aren’t ready to go yet – so we took a day off.

Sister Creek is a shallow tributary that runs between the Atlantic and Boot Key harbor.  Its shallow and 75’-200’ wide, about a half mile long.  The city has set up a park at Sombrero beach on the Atlantic. Lots of sand for sitting in the shade of palm trees to enjoy a picnic.  We sat in a cool breeze and enjoyed a picnic before our return.

After this adventure we headed back to Prodigal to begin Operation Flag.  Lynne and I dug out the sewing machine* and Lynne sewed some borders onto flags, so we can attach grommets and fly them from the halyards when visiting other countries as we travel through the Caribbean.  {Courtesy Flags are flown on the starboard side of a vessel, from your rigging, AFTER checking into Customs and Immigration.  When you arrive in a foreign country, you fly a yellow quarantine flag, until you check in, then you swap to fly the flag of the country you are visiting.  You also fly the flag of your home country from the back of your boat all the time.}  Operation Flag was born when Craig Yakel advised me to purchase all the Caribbean flags prior to departure.  “if you buy them one at a time in the Customs office you end up paying a lot of money.”  So I did a little research and found a cute couple who bought a ‘string of Caribbean flags’ and cut them apart and put in grommets to fly them.  (at $20-30 per in the customs office, our $30 set was hundreds of dollars cheaper)  We didn’t invent this, but we are sure copying it.

After numerous questions I am posting my to-do list:

• ·         Replace the mast top wind guage
• ·         Repare the oil dip stick on the main engine
• ·         Check the transmission for any leaky seals
• ·         Paint numbers onto the dingy.  *distress it to make it look less ‘steal worthy.’
• ·         Replace the deck wash pump
• ·         Replace the back up 3” engine room vent fan
• ·         Install new gasket on both the fridge and freezer
• ·         Add a new LED light in the engine room
• ·         Replace the aft deck ‘waste’ fitting
• ·         Gather additional needed (maybe needed) spare replacement equipment
• ·         Mount the new TV antenna onto the arch
• ·         Mount the new Ham radio antenna on the arch
• Provision food
• Provision drink
• Chart the course for our sail into the computer
• sell my car
• gather multiple copies of 'boat papers'
• get a 'weather window' for transit
• acquire any needed medical insurance
• gather and handle tax preparation
• acquire any needed SSB radio license

I’m not going to get all this done before departure to the Bahamas.  BUT I am going to do all the safety issues before leaving.  Plus I’m going to acquire all the equipment and parts prior to departure.  I’ll never be in an easier spot to get things shipped in than here.  Everywhere further along will add a degree of difficulty and lots of shipping time and expense.

I just read through my to-do list and feel like i need a nap before i start!  I hope you have a hammock on your boat!           

- Pirate Skip

*special thanks to Lynn England for the generous donation of the sowing machine!  see, it's getting use...