a little Tilloo here and Tilloo there

Last week we departed Marsh Harbor with Ray and Susan aboard COPEING and Bruce and Bonnie aboard TRUE COLORS, traveling to Tilloo Cay on the east side of the Sea of Abaco. None of these places are far and this was just a short hop.

We dropped the hook in 12 ft of water and I deployed 140 ft of chain and then an additional 10-12 ft for the snubber component. A goodly amount, but in the event of a blow I want to have enough weight down to give us good holding and there was plenty of room.

We traveled to various areas by dinghy and I was not doing the usual checking of email, blogging or surfing the net in the picture above.  Rather,  I was using the Ipad for navigation and was plotting my waypoints. It was a new application on the Ipad for me,  made by Navionics, which our friend Bruce showed us, and I am still learning the hows and whats,  but I am quite pleased so far.

We had lunch at Cracker P's on Lubbers Quarter Cay....a typical look and open feel. Someone in the background was playing a game of darts and doing quite well.

Bruce Williams and I were having deep thoughts over various libations and working through the great mysteries of life or maybe  subjects more mundane, like how to fix something on a boat.

You gotta admit  there are great views from the bar!






 

Ray Cope decided that he would don is wet suit and begin washing the hull at the water line. Look at that shiny white stripe!  It was a sunny and pleasant afternoon after a tasty lunch.
Yesterday we decided it was our time to clean the hull around the water line...after watching Ray do his, seems simple right?

I borrowed his wet suit (a Bahamas tuxedo) because I am such a wuss about getting into cold water. The water temps were in the high 60's....my preferred temp does not start until 82....think bathtub temps....

The goal is to get the growth off along the water line to a foot or so below depending on where you are along the hull. The problem is the current and wind worked to make this as hard as it could for the locations we were in, so Jeannie set up ropes along the side that I could hold onto with one hand and scrub with the other and it took me awhile to master the art form but, to be honest it had me laughing at points as putting any pressure to scrub sent you in the opposite direction. We have suction cup handles that we tried that worked much better. I would not suggest this as a bucket list issue but a sub sub part of one.

Took a couple of hours but got the job done......the wet suit is thick and when the water soaked in I was like the little kid in a big snow suit, making it hard to bend my arms and legs. Took 10 minutes to get out of the dang thing and had me laughing as Jeannie tugged...



A great water aerobics work out...I was pooped and, after a shower, ready for a quiet dinner!

Boat bottom cleaning: Oh,  the joys of Island life, Mon!