It was another very blustery night last night, this time with more rain mixed in. The day/night wind pattern this past week has been very different from what we’re used to. On the Chesapeake Bay and most places we encountered on the ICW, the wind tended to be lighter in the morning, strongest in the middle of the day, then becoming weaker again as night fell. It’s been the exact opposite here this week. The strongest winds here are at night and in the morning and the lightest are in the afternoon. Thankfully, the forecasts all appear to agree with some confidence that these strong easterly trade winds that have been keeping us here will begin subsiding substantially by tomorrow afternoon. It will still be in the 10 -15Kt range tomorrow evening, but will then drop further by mid-day on Monday and remain low through Wednesday. The next leg of our trip entails crossing the Great Bahama Bank (70 miles). Since we want to do this all in daylight for our first time, we will have to anchor out on the bank (halfway) for one night. As there is no protection from wind or waves in any direction in the middle of the bank, we’ve been patiently waiting for at least one very calm night in the forecast, which looks to be Monday night.

Today Tommy did more diagnosis of the unusually loud noises coming from our water pressure pump and corrected a few things that made it better. That effort included a complete inspection of the innards of the pump and other parts of the plumbing system, all of which appeared in good order (we do have a spare pump just in case). At the same time, Paula cooked some more meals that she can easily just warm up for dinner the next several nights we are at anchor. After those morning activities, we filled our water tank and then washed down the deck of the boat. The whole deck (east facing side especially) has been pummeled all week with sea spray from the high wind and choppy waves in the marina. With the wind starting to subside, this was a good day for a washing. Another reason we waited until today to do this was the cost of water. The marina water is not free here. Some of the marinas in Bimini charge for water by the gallon and others, like ours, charge a flat rate each day you use any water. To avoid that daily flat rate charge, we haven’t used any marina water at all since we got here a week ago, using only the water in our tank and what we make. We decided if we were going to pay for one day’s water fee we would make it count, so today was the day.

Later we read by the pool, which has a very nice vista looking out onto the marina piers and the harbor channel. We also took some pictures of the Big Game Club resort area. Tropical flowers and bushes like the hibiscus pictured below are everywhere. Paula is still trying to identify most of them with her field guides and the internet. You can’t go two steps without running into a palm tree with coconuts.

At the end of the marina is Sharky’s Bar & Grill which features loud island music, grilled fish, and cold drinks. Just beyond, a handful of fishermen are using light tackle to catch small fish. The bait in the water drew several sharks which competed for the smaller fish with the men. We are told that these sharks are bull sharks that hang around that end of the marina, having become accustomed to being fed there by fishermen and passers by.