When we got up the next morning the wind was blowing pretty good, but the anchorage was calm. There was quite a current flowing, though. I needed to dive under the boat to check the port prop, but decided it would be best to wait until slack tide.
We could see the docks for the Berry Islands Club, and a couple of mooring balls there. Apparently, the club is now closed. So no fuel, no power, and the restaurant is shut down, too. The wind was still kicking pretty good and was forecast to do so at least until later tomorrow. So it looked like we would be here until then, at least.
After breakfast (thanks, Paula!) the current had lessened considerably. This look like as good a time as any to get under the boat to check things out. I got my mask, snorkel, and fins on and hopped in the gin clear water. Yikes! It was a bit cool at 75 degrees. As soon as I ducked under the boat I could see the problem. We had passed over several large mats of Sargasso grass and one had wrapped around the port shaft and prop. A few minutes later I had all of it pulled off and hope that would solve the problem.
For the rest of the morning we had a leisurely day at anchor. It was nice to just relax and not worry about getting to our next destination.
In the early afternoon we noticed that a small sailboat had tied up to the Berry Islands Club dock and strolled up the dock. Not long after, a yellow hulled sport fishing boat, Hip-Nautic, tied up just in front of the sailboat. A short while later a woman came on the VHF calling for the police. She said someone had just broken into "Island House" which was apparently the main building for the closed Berry Islands Club. The owner of the club responded that he was heading over there and would meet the police there. Once he arrived the suspects apparently entered the building again, at which time he threatened them with "Mr Mossberg" (shotgun) and they departed, post haste. We saw them running down the dock and hopping into the boat. They pulled away and headed out to sea.
In the meantime the small sailboat left the dock and anchored near us. He called across to me and asked if I was aware of what was going on. I said yes, but it would be easier to chat on the radio. He called back that he did not want to do that as everyone would hear. He proceeded to tell me the story of them trying to walk up to town and encountering the suspects. They told him they needed to purchase some diesel as their fuel tank was almost empty. The sail boaters decided these guys (native Bahamians) were decidedly flaky and cast off from the dock to get away from them.
There was lots of radio chatter all afternoon as the local land owners tried to track down the bad guys. The police did not arrive for almost two hours. Someone ashore called to any anchored boats to let them know which direction the yellow boat was going. I responded that I had eyes on them and would track them as long as they were in sight. They eventually disappeared behind another island and everything settled down.
Jeff and Belinda from Lone Palm stopped by late in the afternoon. They came aboard and we talked about weather forecasts and plans to depart tomorrow. They had no cell phone service so we used my phone to get weather forecasts. It looked the wind would start to subside around 7am tomorrow. So the plans were to get underway in the morning. They headed back to their boat to get the dinghy loaded before it got too dark.
Sorry, no pictures today.
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