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Friends who were sailing nearby when we left George Town a few weeks ago before the squall hit snapped these photos of Priority sailing north in the sound. Real sailing photos are tough to catch but they did. It was an exciting day of sailing. |
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Here we are having returned to George Town to anchor in Red Shanks and wait for our boat part. We made some more new friends who were anchored nearby. Four year old Moss was trying out our marriage saver headphones as she created a beautiful picture for us while we big people chatted. Moss has a big brother seven years older so their family reminded us of our own many years ago. They hail from Freeport, Maine and are sailing for a year before returning home. |
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After sounding the deepest path, at high tide we sailed to Master Harbour Marina (also known as George Town Marina & Repair) on Thursday noon. Nookie was waiting with the travel lift. After several attempts to get the right length straps to raise us high enough, we were lifted high and dry. Since we expected the repairs to take 4-5 hours and Nookie did not expect to need the travel lift, Priority was left in the lift for us to work on. |
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Having replaced the bearing about ten years ago and having made the custom pullers and tools he needed, Capt. Jay had all repaired and looking good as new by 6pm. However, Nookie had already left for the day so we had an evening walk around the boat yard and a quiet night hanging in the lift. |
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No cash..No splash! That’s how it works at most boat yards for work done on boats. We paid and Nookie moved Priority back down in the water. As Nookie says, “This travel lift is the only one east of Nassau” and it was a great help to us. |
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| Jay rose early on Friday and had time to ponder what may have been forgotten as he sat on the dock watching the tide rise. We greased seacocks and gave the bottom a thorough look over. We were lowered back in the water about noon with a new cutlass bearing in place. We will anchor in Red Shanks to check the engine alignment and bleed air from the cutlass bearing. Then we'll reprovision with water, fuel and fresh foods before leaving George Town on Sunday. With milder winds leaving the harbor this time, we'll sail over to visit Cat Island before coming back to head north up the Exuma chain of islands. |
