I got up Saturday and said goodbye to the owners brother and immediately started to turn his room over. The owners daughter was coming in later in the day and I had to get everything ready.
Our parts for the underwater lights were coming in with her and before she got here I wanted to make sure I had everything ready to go. I contacted the electrician in Key West who worked on the lights with me, as well as the electrician in Nassau. Upon the arrival of our new guest we were also greeted with heavy rainfall. It was good because the island really needed it and for the Bahamas the rain actually lasted pretty long. It rained on and off for about an hour before the clouds finally gave way to the sun again. As soon as the rain stopped I got down in to my hole in the rudder room to start on the lights.
I disconnected all of the lights and disconnected the AC input side running to the ballast. Doing this isolated the ballasts themselves. I could then check the resistance on both the input and output side of the ballast. I did this because the owner wanted to make sure that one of the ballast or lights wasn't shorting out. All seemed fine and I hooked everything back up. I hooked up the new contactor down in the engine room and after a skype conversation with the electrician in Nassau to confirm everything I was ready to try the lights. They worked!
I scrambled out of my work clothes and ran up to the yacht club and I still beat the dinner bell.
As I sit here on the aft deck on Sunday morning writing this blog the American flag slaps against itself and sailboat rigging of a nearby sailboat slaps the mast of a trimaran that is actually out of Saugatuck (I met them it is the Van Howe's who I actually talked to two summers ago in Michigan about my sailing trip down here. They run a sailboat charter in Saugatuck.)
The water down here is more magnificent than a clear blue sky. The turquoise blue waters of the sandy shallows are scattered with dark shadows of nurse sharks and sting ray going about their normal day. A dark patch runs for about a hundred yards as a coral reef lines the bottom and eventually becomes a small island which protects our harbor. Off on the horizon a mega yacht is on the hook probably enjoying a nice breakfast or getting ready for a morning dive. Sailboats scatter the leeward side of every island as almost any place out of the wind and current proves to be an excellent anchorage. The Van Howe's are weighing anchor right now as they head off to their next destination in paradise. The owner said it himself last night, "I think this is seriously a little bit of heaven." A fresh easterly breeze pulls on the dock lines and white caps can be seen in the distance where the islands peel away and give way to the ocean. Its gearing up to be another busy day in paradise as people make decisions whether they should stay another day or head to the next destination, snorkel the grotto or head over to the aquarium, or should they just find a deserted beach with not a footprint and waste another day away.
Sound Waves Out
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