NOVEMBER 28, 2007

Wednesday, November 28, 2007
It’s been some good long time since I gave a damn what day of the week it was, really. Exceptin’ to note whether some store was open or not. Leastways, it don’t never hardly matter what day it is, cuz if the store closed it just figure to set a bit n wait. Whatever it is that you’re seekin’, you’ll get by and by.

Now I’ve been following it a bit more closely, so I can look up tide tables and find out whether or not the water under the boat will turn to sand or not in 6 hours. It’s good stuff to be on top of. That and the weather, but you can’t get the weather here. Ironic, since it’s pretty much the principal thing to preoccupy yourself with on a boat, and is endlessly stressed in every guide, manual, and conversation. So we get here, and there’s no forecast. This place is incredibly isolated. To give an example, we’re on the beaten path, so to speak. There’s no boat within 10 miles on the side we can see, anyway, and haven’t run past but three today who were anchored in a sheltered area, pretty much where we left from. We’re headed north from Little Harbour Cay to Great Harbour Cay. Supposedly there’s groceries, fresh water, and bread to be had. God’s fresh water that our friend at Flo’s Conch Bar shared with us turned out to be not just God’s fresh water, but God’s fresh water that tasted STRONGLY of rubber cement. We used some to bathe after a prolonged snorkel, which yielded 17 large conch in the early stage, but which I abandonded after they were too heavy. Plus, we have no way to cook, which is the other main reason we’re trying to get to Great Harbour. They say there’s a hardware there.

We need one, because the other night the movement of the rudder snagged the line for our propane grill, and I woke up to a funny smell in the cabin and hissing sound of gas. I think I reacted quickly, because the cylinder is still pretty heavy, but I’m not sure. So anyway, the brass fitting is messed up, and I’m hoping to retool it with a tap and die to make it serviceable once again. Besides being dangerous, the other drag of that event was that gas is more of a commodity than I had realized. I checked into it this summer, and heard that propane was easy to come by in the Bahamas. What they don’t tell you is that to refill a propane cylinder it costs $125 and they have to send it to Nassau to fill. They were $15 to fill at Home Depot. Damn. So that is our quest.

Speaking of low tide, we got more than halfway to our destination, and had to anchor due to sandbars in our path, due to the tide. It will be better in the a.m. I finished Feast of Snakes by Harry Crews (intense, sordid, and amoral, and very good) tonight, and am burning through ‘em. We have some enormous snails we got near Flo’s, a couple conch, which is plenty, but are sticking with cold canned food till we regain our cooking abilities. I’m having a glass of wine, and Ruth is making music that only she knows of… for now. Interesting how that pipeline flows, into her head, and in and out through fingers and headphones until it’s done, and then it emerges in fruition. Aye, she’s a clever lass. Me, I’ve been on that ukelele steady, and played one last night that she says was the best she’s heard on the ukelele, or best of something or other. Anyway, I was flattered, and now play it incessantly.

I hope to possibly find a nurse or doctor in Great Harbour, and will ask about my skin. It is against me, in a few ways.

We also need to buy an anchor light bulb, ours crapped out. Luckily we are a million miles from any other vessels or routes and so are without danger in that way. Last night, we ran other lights all night and it ate up our batteries. It is beautiful, and as I said, remote.

We decided against camping on the beautiful white beaches, realizing that in six hours they will be under three feet of water. That there was whatcha call FORESIGHT.

Okay, gotta move around. Getting’ too itchy.

XOX,
JL
P.S., I’ve been introducing myself as Buster, Knucklehead, and other names periodically, so if you found it odd and hard to start using Jack (I would too, I imagine, if I was you), you don’t need to fear, there are many more to pick from. You have my enthusiastic endorsement to call me whatever is most comfortable for you. Unfortunately “Captain Sensible” is already taken.