We’re making our way south to George Town. After leaving Allen’s Cay, we anchored near Highbourne Cay. There we had a great snorkelling afternoon where we saw some nice coral and lots of fish. We also saw a wrecked sailboat – you could clearly make out the keel, mast, batteries and a sink.
The next morning we pulled up our anchor and headed to Shroud Cay. Unfortunately, the autopilot wouldn’t work and then the engine’s alternator stopped working. We decided to sail past Shroud and go to Waderick Wells Cay instead, thinking we’d have cell service or possibly wifi at Waderick. Well we were somewhat disappointed- we could get a very limited cell signal and were only able to send an email to the autopilot repair guy in Seattle. On our second day at Waderick, Mark figured out what was wrong with the alternator. We had the fan belt break in the engine while crossing to New Providence. Lots of rubber got into the alternator and shut it down. We took the pump for our dinghy and blew out all of the rubber crap and that worked – alternator is working perfectly.
We decided to head to Staniel Cay where we knew we could get cell reception and wifi. We had a nice upwind sail and Mark got the sails balanced so hand steering wasn’t bad. We anchored by the Big Major Spot (where the swimming pigs are) and tried to figure out what was wrong with auto. Well it turns out that the switch and the solenoid for the autopilot were both not working. We had another switch but not a replacement solenoid. Mark has done some bypass surgery and now auto is working again! Yippy – we don’t have to buy a new autopilot!!! Yesterday we also started the water maker and it is working well. So we had a few days of happy repair stories!
We’re hanging out on Staniel Cay today – having some lunch and doing a bit of grocery shopping. We had a day of rain yesterday but today is sunny and hot (sorry). Our next stop is Black Point Harbour!
Crimson Kathryn and her crew 