Chub Cay to West Bay

9:00a.m. - On Tuesday, April 4th we put up our mainsail, pulled up our anchor, and headed towards West Bay aka Clifton Bay in New Providence. The chart plotter was on strike apparently and decided not to work. Again, we relied on our iPad for navigation. The wind and wind-waves were on our nose. At this point we still had the main up and were just running the starboard engine. 9:28a.m. - We decided to go a bit, which turned into a lot, off course so we could use both sails and maybe have a less bumpy ride and to be able turn the engine off. Half an hour later, we took down the jib, got back on course and used both engines. We decided getting in before dark was more important than the ride. 10:38a.m. - I came down from the flybridge and went inside the boat to get something to eat. While inside the boat, the bilge pump alarm was going off stronger and more constant than I had ever heard before. So, I quickly ran up to tell Rick that there was a loud bell going off (I hate to have to tell him these things because it’s never good news and I get the ‘shoot the messenger’ scowl). After I break the news, he runs down to check the bilge on the starboard side. He sees a lot of fuel in it. He then runs back up to the flybridge and shuts off the starboard engine. But just as he’s about to shut off the engine, he also notices that the oil pressure gage looks off. Panic set in. We have no idea what is going on. Next step is to check the engine itself. So Rick has to get safely into the engine compartment (which is on the other side of the safety lines located in the sugar scoop) while the boat is bucking like a bronco. I’m a wreck worrying he will go overboard in the process. So I’m intently watching him and also trying to keep an eye on things ahead. All that Rick can see at the time is that the engine is leaking fuel and it is all over the floor of the engine compartment. He does what he can to soak up the mess. We are just praying the rest of the trip that our other engine does not quit on us! Very tense journey. 3:30p.m. - We made it into the West Bay/Clifton Bay in one piece (I say that because I had visions of the boat exploding and going up in flames). We drop and set the anchor! No sooner did we set the anchor, Rick popped back down into the engine compartment and right away he was able to see the issue that caused the leak. He found that the primary pump on the secondary fuel filter was the culprit.

The rest of the afternoon and evening we were trying to find a fix and also someone who might have a filter housing. We found that person and he is delivering that item to us on Thursday.

Wednesday the 5th of April, out here on the hook just after the full moon set, a large dark cloud loomed overhead and the rain soon came pouring down! It was a heavy rain which was actually nice to have since it cleaned all of the salt off our decks from our recent travels. It was a rainy and windy day which kept us inside the boat. It gave me the opportunity to get caught up on the blog and for Rick to plot our next course after all is handled with the engines.

Today is Thursday and we woke to a nicer day but still a bit of clouds here and there. We took a dinghy ride to the beach at Clifton National Park and walked a bit and also talked to some of the other boaters who decided it was a good time to come to shore also. We also dinghy’d down a nearby channel that some very nice homes were perched along.

Not much going on now other than to wait for our part to arrive! Stay tuned.

We've been flipping through our guide books and have seen no mention of these!