Man O War Christmas

Today is Christmas Eve day and we have just motored over to Man O War to spend the evening and Christmas day. We have the anchorage all to ourselves and it is a nice quiet spot. The temperature is cool but it has been a mostly sunny day.
Our luck seems to be a little shaky these days as we began the day with Mr. Yan not wanting to start. It would seem that our Surette starting battery is on its last sea legs and we are going to have to purchase a new one. Our batteries are only four years old; however they have had a busy and hard life. One thing you can not do without is the confidence that your motor will start when you turn the key. We always leave Celebrian's key in the ignition because you never know when you might have an emergency and have to move in a hurry.

Rob moved the contacts to one of our running battery banks and we started the engine. Our next challenge was to run the water maker to see if there are any leaks and of course we have leaks...gratefully fresh water ones. We have to run the water maker for an hour initially to make sure all of the pickling solution is out of it. Obviously this can not be done until the poison is out of the equipment and filters. We have emptied the berth once again and Rob is trying to fix the leaks. This morning he was upside down over the engine and this afternoon he is upside down in the pullman berth. This work he is doing while still fighting his miserable cold. He is using his cortisone inhaler to try to settle his cough. We are feeling a bit frustrated by all of the things that have been going wrong; however better that we have these things happen now when we are closer to a town where we can buy what we need. Marsh Harbour may not be our favourite place to anchor; however it is a good spot to provision and get boat parts. Speaking of provisioning we scouted out the new Maxwell's and it is like going into a big city supermarket anywhere. The old store burned down a couple of years ago and they have replaced it with a wonderful new store so we will have no problems getting anything we want and more. We will also go to Save A Lot which is the local Costco type bulk store for our staple supplies but what a bonus having such a great store here. The days of saying that you can't get fresh produce in The Bahamas are over. That being said...where we are heading it will be true so we might as well live it up while we are here. Tonight we are cooking a 4 pound turkey breast on the BBQ complete with stuffing and other goodies. Tomorrow we may row into town and join the community in a festive breakfast. Of course we have to see what Santa brings us first.

The first year we brought the boat to The Bahamas we had a very unique Christmas day by crossing the Gulf stream from Florida to the Bahama banks. Our second year we had a very memorable Christmas with Lynn and Peter on First Edition. Last year we were at home and spent a lovely day with Brian and Gayle. This year we will celebrate at Man O War and make new memories.

Santa managed to find us on Celebrian and both of us felt a little spoiled after opening our gifts. Rob didn't feel up to going to the breakfast so we had a quiet morning on board. He says that he is feeling better; however once his cough disappears we will both be getting more rest. By the afternoon he felt a little better so we went for a kayak into Man O War harbour to see if there were any available moorings. Luckily there were still moorings available so we decided that the safest place to go for this next front was into the harbour and to take a mooring. Today is Boxing day and we are grateful to be on the mooring as we have had 35 mph winds with higher gusts in thunderstorms for most of the day. Despite being on the mooring we are getting a good rock and roll motion too. Rob is in his usual position....this time upside down replacing Celebrian's anchor locker hose. This hose is one of the last original hoses on the boat and since a broken hose can mean leaks it is important to replace them before you have a problem. The heat in The Bahamas over the summer is hard on everything so we have to be particularly diligent looking after things...particularly the things that you can't always see but can sink you. I have been spending the time going through our food storage and continuing to organize our major provisioning list for next week. Since we are planning on staying in The Bahamas this year we have a good feel for what we will need over the next four months. For the most part we load up with staples that are either hard to find in the out islands or cost three times as much as here in The Abacos. For instance we just bought seven grapefruit for $5.99 at Save A Lot but those same grapefruit will be $2.00 or more a piece in The Exumas. In the smaller settlements we try to buy fresh fruit and veggies when we can but if all else fails we have our canned fruit and bean salads etc. to get us through.