Dead in the water...

Well, not us exactly, but Latitudes.  Dinghy hauled, boat readied, boat started, and then a strange whine from somewhere and the acrid smell of  electrical burning.  THAT will get your attention!  We immediately shut the engine down.  Luke checked and probed for a while.

And then a most wonderful thing happened!  Cruisers on a nearby boat had heard our distressed discussion with friends on the VHF radio (all cruisers listen to all conversations - it's expected and accepted).  They just happened to be retired auto mechanics (had an auto business) and offered to come over and help out. They were the Click and Clack of the boating world, if you ask me!  They spent almost 6 hours of their day in paradise to help Luke locate the problem - a fried starter for the engine.  They could take a starter out, disassemble, clean, reassemble, reinstall, faster than Luke could have found the right page in the manual. These guys were absolutely great and you can't imagine how much we appreciated their efforts.  The starter couldn't be repaired so we now have a new replacement on order.  Not an easy task from the Bahamas.  Great buddy Peter, back in the USA, came into play now.  He and wife Phyllis researched our necessary piece, did all of the legwork, and sent us the info.  They made it so easy to place the order from here and arrange shipping!  Thanks!  Now the starter is coming into Staniel Cay in a few days (or so is the plan).

But, that left the problem of getting from Warderick Wells Cay to Staniel.  Well, we ARE a sailboat, but the channel out of Warderick Wells is narrow and tricky.  The nice Park Warden offered to give us a tow into deeper waters outside of the park entrance.

He waited until we got the sails up before leaving.  A nice sail down to Staniel, with a little maneuvering back and forth to get to the proper place, an amazing dropping the anchor while still under sail with the main, and we are securely here in Staniel.  Staniel has internet (200 Mb for $10), phone coverage, a few groceries, a bread lady, fun bar, and is a place we like to wander.  We will be here a while as we wait for our part to arrive.

Little Smokey is forever finding new places to sleep.  Occasionally, I panic as I can't find her, but here she is, quite content.  By the way, those are my hats, not Luke's, that she's so comfortably bedded down on...

Oh, this is also the home of the famous swimming pigs - big creatures who swim to the dinghies or boats to beg for food.  They are scary.  Anyway, we should have tourist and pig pictures tomorrow.