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| What is that smell????????????? |
As you all know we are in the Jumentos.
The Jumentos are made up of many small Cays (Keys). Some Cays are very small; so small that you
would not go to them because there is no protection from the wind or waves. Then there are those Cays that
are bigger; four or five miles long. We come to the Jumentos because not a lot of people come here.
There is not an active grocery store, not a dependable place to get gas, and no place at all to get water.
I am setting you up for the remoteness of this area. The boats that do come to the Jumentos are
typically more accomplished and usually do not feel a real need to be right next to another boat at any time.
Here we go for a lesson in boat anchoring etiquette.
There is no reason for another boat to anchor right next to you in any anchorage that is marked on the Explorer Charts,
let alone to anchor right on top you when you have found your own little anchoring spot that is not on the Explorer Charts.
We anchored Fine Lion at Raccoon Cay, one of the largest islands in this area. Steve and I went
out fishing one day. Low and behold when we got back to the boat a catamaran had anchored maybe three boat
lengths away from us. Keep in mind three boat lengths is only 126 feet away. Steve and
I purposely anchored in the little (stressing little) cove not marked on the charts and this catamaran anchors right next
to us. A number of thoughts went through our heads, but I will try to only highlight the kind thoughts
(not that easy for me to do). Their engine died right next to our boat so they had to anchor here, they
are afraid of the dark so they need to be close to another boat, they are a foreign boat so they cannot read the part in the
Explorer Charts that specifically says to be respectful of other boats and do not anchor right next to them, or maybe they
are just very, very inconsiderate. In the more populated areas of the Bahamas you expect to be close to
other boats but there are so many places to anchor in the Jumentos it is just not acceptable to anchor as close as they anchored
to us. Plus they are a catamaran which probably draws 2.5 to 3 feet of water. They can
go so many places we cannot go, so really, why anchor on top of us?? You will all be proud to know we did
not say anything to them, we just got right on our boat and re-anchored in another spot amazingly not next to any other boats.
Point and fact: no matter where you go there will always be at least one wing-nut close by.
If you stay in one area for multiple days there is usually a beach party
or trash burn every other day. Not that we need to burn trash every other day but it is nice to get it
off the boat. There will also always be the one person that in their previous life was not in control
of anything so for some silly reason they feel the need to try to control the cruisers in this area. It
could be that they will tell you what will and will not burn in the fire. Or they may try to tell you about
talking on the VHF radio. Now really some of us have been out of the real working world for a while but
truly this does not make us become incapable of knowing that cans, bottles and foil do not burn. Pretty
sure my three year old niece could figure that one out. Sometimes we just leave a can or bottle in the
trash to burn just to see if we can make things more exciting. Or the real good one is to leave a plastic
bottle in the trash to burn with the lid on. Usually when it burns it will make this very loud “Pop”
and the lid flies off. Of course then the “Fire Sargent” will jump right on that.
They love trying to control us cruiser’s because obviously we have lost our brains in this warm weather.
Wing-nuts everywhere.
We were fortunate last week to get
some gasoline from one of the local guys in Duncan Town. It was not easy, I had to leave Steve behind and
walk through the town going from house to house asking if anyone knew where I could get gasoline. Not quite
as bad as the shopping cart incident in Lake Worth a few years ago though real close. Finally, one very
nice man gave in to me and we were able to fill our 5 gallon gas tank. We need the gasoline for the dingy
motor and the Honda generator. Gasoline is a must in the Jumetos. As I said above
you cannot depend on the locals having any gasoline. The amount of gasoline we can get will determine how
long we can stay in this area. Even though I may have seemed like I was complaining above we really love
it here and will stay as long as we can. Could get boring here without “The Fire Sargent” and
“The anchoring wing-nut”. Would not want to get bored.
The weather has been nice. We have been fishing and beach walking. I
have found way more hamburger beans then I know what to do with. Steve has mastered
making Lobster Bisque out of the heads of the lobsters. It so bums me out that I am forced to try all this
stuff he wants to make.
We were stymied for days trying to figure
out a smell on the boat. Normally, boats have a little smell no matter how hard you try to get rid of it.
I mean go figure…we’re in a warm humid environment in an open boat. We
woke up one morning thinking “wow” what is that smell? We tore this boat apart, cleaned the
walls, the bilge, the bilges in the heads, under the galley sink. We cleaned everywhere we could think
of the try to find the source of the smell, no luck. We did all that cleaning and put bilge soap in the
bilge and so far so good. To think many of you wonder what we do all day. It’s
not all snorkeling and beach parties.
We have two propane tanks
for all our cooking on the stove and oven. So when one runs out, you’ve got another.
Then of course, you have to find a source to get the other one filled. Down here, you have to send
it back to Nassua on the mailboat. The mailboat comes three times/month. So our empty
tank is on the M/V Captain C and will be back in two weeks filled…if all goes well. You just
go up to the side of the mailboat and hand it up to a crewman and $10. You have to put the name of your
boat and the island where you are located. That’s a lot of trust since there is nothing like receipts
or claim checks involved. It seems to work fine.
The
Jumentos are a special place to us. They are uninhabited and beautiful…we like it that way.
We have included some pictures of the process of cleaning a conch (pronounced “konk”). That
is a messy job, but well worth it.
There'll be more later...
Kim and Steve
