Last Waltz Adventures

31 Jan 2014

Black Point, Great Guana Cay, Bahama.

We are sitting in a anchorage with approx 50 other boats, it is a very busy (for us) anchorage, with most of the boats awaiting the Superbowl on Sunday. Scorpion’s the local bar is hosting a huge Superbowl event. We will probably take a pass on this event…

So since my last post I’ll back track. After New Year’s almost half the boats left Bimini at the same time, we motor-sailed all night across the Bahama bank and dropped anchor in Bullock’s Harbour. As we napped in the morning we did not notice that Time and Tide had slid past us and were secured in Great Harbour Cay Marina!

Seems that problems had once again crept into their engines, causing overheating. Gary & Christelle were not about to proceed until the situation was resolved.

We had also developed a reoccurring problem with our starboard engine/transmission thanks to the fishnet back in Florida! A change of the transmission oil seemed to have everything back in order, so on we proceeded, moving down the Berry Islands to Little Harbour where we anchored beside “Duet” a boat we had befriended in Vero Beach. Bill and Barb convinced us to slow down and spend some time in this beautiful anchorage. To quote them “what’s your hurry, this is one of the best anchorages in ALL the Bahamas”, so we stayed almost a week, beachcombing, hiking, fishing….

Finally after a front moved through we departed for Nassau, having a decent wind and following seas it was a pleasant trip…until starboard transmission decides to lock up once again, stalling the engine! After a couple of hours it cooled enough to restart the engine and keep it running until we docked in Nassau.

After making contact with a marina next door, I arranged a haul-out for Monday morning at 9 AM. Long story short, removed the prop, purchased seals and we were back in the water and underway, repaired in 2 hours!

It seems that a piece of the fishnet had worn the outer seal to the propeller shaft and was allowing water to seep into the oil reducing the cooling properties, causing the transmission to overheat & lock up. For 2 weeks now the engine and transmission have performed as expected (or else we would be back in the US!)

So after Nassau we have picked our way south at a leisurely pace, sailing most of the way! We have anchored at Allen’s Cay, Shroud Cay, The Exuma Land and Sea Perk at Warderick Wells, Staniel Cay and now Black Point.

With too many stories for each one I’ll share some pictures and let them speak for themselves…