No part

We left early this morning to dinghy the 10 minutes to town for various errands.  Among our plans were another bladder of water to help fill our tanks and to see if the mail boat brought in fresh vegetables.  The water was completely calm and flat - you could see the starfish on the bottom.  I did check the prices of wine and booze while Luke checked on the status of the flight that would hopefully bring in our starter.  Neither had luck.  Well, I could have, but paying $45 for a $10 bottle of wine just isn't something I'm willing to do!  Luke could learn nothing about the flight details.

So, off we trotted to the government dock to see if the mail boat had arrived.  It was supposed to arrive on Wednesday but was running a tad late.  These cargo boats carry everything and anything.  If you order it from another island or the US, it arrives on the boat.  If it's food, it arrives on the boat.  It's amazing to watch the unloading, folks standing around with their golf carts, waiting to take home their newly purchased goods. The crane lifts one pallet at a time off the boat, sets it on the dock, people empty the pallet, and it's handed back on board.



We watched in vain for anything that resembled fresh produce.  Still determined, we left the dock and set out for the more distant of the 3 grocery stores on the island.  On the way we passed one of the many cotton plants on the islands, still growing from those seeds planted many years ago by Loyalists.  After the revolution, they were given land in the Bahamas to live and grow crops (didn't work). Luke is reading "Winds from the Carolinas" by Robert Wilder, recommended as good historical fiction about the Loyalist influx after the American Revolution.

A bit further and we crossed the bridge over the canal, the end of the little waterway where the government dock is located.

No, the grocery store hadn't gotten their fresh produce yet, but they did have some apples and lemons, which we bought.  The owner said that last week there were 40 cruisers lined up at her door when they reopened after putting out produce!

Our intention was to fill the water bladder again, but as we returned to the dock we could see the darkening sky as a cold front approached - quickly.  We decided to make a run back to Latitudes, and a good thing we did!  The clouds flew across the banks.  Our run got us back just in time to close up the cockpit before the wind suddenly changed from 0 knots to about 18 knots and light rain began.  It has spit rain and howled wind ever since then.  Luke called and found out that our part didn't arrive yet anyway.  So, hopefully we can pick it up after the 10 a.m. flight tomorrow, fill up the water bladder, and find lettuce and oranges.  The winds are supposed to die almost completely after midnight.  On the positive side, I did get a lot of knitting done! Also, Luke dodged a major bullet -- he managed to unclog a clogged macerator (part of our toilet flush system) with a few well placed taps with a hammer rather than "digging in"!