Captain's Log -05/01/07
Georgetown Exuma
April 2007
Time in Georgetown was pretty nice. We discovered the other side of Stocking island with beautiful water and long sandy beaches. Plenty of swimming, fishing, snorkeling and beach activity. But besides the nature, everything else is pretty disappointing. Spending more than a week or two in this place proved to be a mistake. We got sick of inflated prices, crazy local boaters driving fast through the anchorage, filthy stinky street corners, bad food and stingy bartenders (the one at Chat-n-Chill took the 10 for a 4 dollar Kalick, and never gave me the change). Even the kids are very rude and have no manners. The one pushing the shopping cart from the grocery store to the dinghy dock, regularly smashes everything around. Eggs, juice cans and other groceries come flying down the dock. And these juice prices are 2-3 times more expensive than wall-mart. We needed a fax and quickly discovered that a 1 page fax to US was 8$ at the Exuma Business services? Later on we found out that exuma markets charges 2$ so that wasn't so bad. Gas was 5$/Gal ouch! That probably influences the price of taxi, a bit high, and everything else a bit overpriced. What I dislike the most is how loud everyone is. The only place we were able to find WIFI was Eddy's bar on lake Victoria. But don't dare going there when there's more than half dozen locals there. It turns into a shouting match and I couldn't even hear Crystal talking while sitting next to me. But we got used to all that, and thought that if we adjusted our approach to Georgetown we don't have to be so miserable, and we can actually enjoy the place. We had pretty good time during the Family Islands Regatta the Americas Cup equivalent for Bahamas. There were quite a few boats there. They built tents and plywood bars all along the government docks and it was crazy and wild. It was fun to go there for a day, but that's about all we could take. We got a bad case of diarrhea after eating some ribs and chicken. I think they reheat those during the week of regatta. So if you want some native Bahamian food on the 5th day of regatta, better go to a restaurant and pay 25 per plate. If you get it from the street vendors, it was likely cooked 5 days ago and then just kept there in the tent somewhere with all the flies and other insect crowding it. Then you order it, and it gets reheated on the grill for you.
Besides all the bad stuff we had an awesome time and met few other cruising boats that we hang out with daily. That is what cruising is all about. We had our own little parties on a different boat every night, and it turned out to be lots of fun. But then we had a spell of bad luck. Major issue was the fridge. Seawater got into the cooling loop and ruined the compressor, and the cold plate. So now we are stuck without the fridge and its hot down here. The guy that sold it seems like a nice guy but after spending 1200 on the fridge 3 years ago, I cannot see myself spending another 1200 on a new one. So I have decided to take the DIY route. Kind of like the way I did it with the watermaker.
I learned quite a bit about refrigeration in the last few weeks. I even learned how to spell it correctly after googling it so many times and sending so many emails to the manufacturer of the one that crapped out on us. Bottom line is, it seems that I can either spend in access of 1000$ and get complete new system and have my hands tied. I cannot work on it, nor fix it immediately. If something bad happens like seawater in the system I have no way of knowing until its all over. Or I can spend a bit under 1000, and just get tools, perhaps a compressor and refrigerant and try to get the current one working. If we were on the US soil that would be a no-brainer. But in a place where a can of refrigerant is 30 dollars(5$ can in the US), and a trip to the hardware store usually ends up in spending 100 dollars for small little thing that would not amount to a 20$ bill, I cannot start fixing it. I have to be patient. We just have to wait until we are in a more accessible place and order stuff online. Then I would get some more instruments that will warn me when disaster is about the strike so I can shut the compressor and the pump off before seawater damages everything.
Until then, we are gonna try to live a new life. The one without the fridge!!! Oh we take that little fridge for granted every day. Just expected to work and have ice, cold milk, and juice, meats etc. But one little screw-up and our life takes a 180 degree bad turn. But we are getting used to it. I am getting used to rum and coke at room temperature and starting to like it. No more meats, milk or cold drinks. But we'll see. Its been over a week and its not that bad. We could afford to go to the store and get sandwich meat, at an exploded price of 7$ for a 1/4lbs package of turkey. Ouch, and eat it for a day or two. But now we are under way. No stores around. So we'll have to live out of the can. We'll try eating eggs without refrigerating them and we'll see how long they last. On top of it all, mother nature cast a bad spell on me and I cannot catch any fish. In 3 weeks that we spent in Georgetown I only caught 3 fish. And riding the dinghy to the fishing place was a hike. So I spend about 100$ in gas dingying around and only have Yellow Jack, Grouper and a French Market to show for. At least the yellow jack was awesome. And it needs nothing. Yellow Jack fillet thrown on the grill is about as tasty as best grade tuna.
April 2007
Time in Georgetown was pretty nice. We discovered the other side of Stocking island with beautiful water and long sandy beaches. Plenty of swimming, fishing, snorkeling and beach activity. But besides the nature, everything else is pretty disappointing. Spending more than a week or two in this place proved to be a mistake. We got sick of inflated prices, crazy local boaters driving fast through the anchorage, filthy stinky street corners, bad food and stingy bartenders (the one at Chat-n-Chill took the 10 for a 4 dollar Kalick, and never gave me the change). Even the kids are very rude and have no manners. The one pushing the shopping cart from the grocery store to the dinghy dock, regularly smashes everything around. Eggs, juice cans and other groceries come flying down the dock. And these juice prices are 2-3 times more expensive than wall-mart. We needed a fax and quickly discovered that a 1 page fax to US was 8$ at the Exuma Business services? Later on we found out that exuma markets charges 2$ so that wasn't so bad. Gas was 5$/Gal ouch! That probably influences the price of taxi, a bit high, and everything else a bit overpriced. What I dislike the most is how loud everyone is. The only place we were able to find WIFI was Eddy's bar on lake Victoria. But don't dare going there when there's more than half dozen locals there. It turns into a shouting match and I couldn't even hear Crystal talking while sitting next to me. But we got used to all that, and thought that if we adjusted our approach to Georgetown we don't have to be so miserable, and we can actually enjoy the place. We had pretty good time during the Family Islands Regatta the Americas Cup equivalent for Bahamas. There were quite a few boats there. They built tents and plywood bars all along the government docks and it was crazy and wild. It was fun to go there for a day, but that's about all we could take. We got a bad case of diarrhea after eating some ribs and chicken. I think they reheat those during the week of regatta. So if you want some native Bahamian food on the 5th day of regatta, better go to a restaurant and pay 25 per plate. If you get it from the street vendors, it was likely cooked 5 days ago and then just kept there in the tent somewhere with all the flies and other insect crowding it. Then you order it, and it gets reheated on the grill for you.
Besides all the bad stuff we had an awesome time and met few other cruising boats that we hang out with daily. That is what cruising is all about. We had our own little parties on a different boat every night, and it turned out to be lots of fun. But then we had a spell of bad luck. Major issue was the fridge. Seawater got into the cooling loop and ruined the compressor, and the cold plate. So now we are stuck without the fridge and its hot down here. The guy that sold it seems like a nice guy but after spending 1200 on the fridge 3 years ago, I cannot see myself spending another 1200 on a new one. So I have decided to take the DIY route. Kind of like the way I did it with the watermaker.
I learned quite a bit about refrigeration in the last few weeks. I even learned how to spell it correctly after googling it so many times and sending so many emails to the manufacturer of the one that crapped out on us. Bottom line is, it seems that I can either spend in access of 1000$ and get complete new system and have my hands tied. I cannot work on it, nor fix it immediately. If something bad happens like seawater in the system I have no way of knowing until its all over. Or I can spend a bit under 1000, and just get tools, perhaps a compressor and refrigerant and try to get the current one working. If we were on the US soil that would be a no-brainer. But in a place where a can of refrigerant is 30 dollars(5$ can in the US), and a trip to the hardware store usually ends up in spending 100 dollars for small little thing that would not amount to a 20$ bill, I cannot start fixing it. I have to be patient. We just have to wait until we are in a more accessible place and order stuff online. Then I would get some more instruments that will warn me when disaster is about the strike so I can shut the compressor and the pump off before seawater damages everything.
Until then, we are gonna try to live a new life. The one without the fridge!!! Oh we take that little fridge for granted every day. Just expected to work and have ice, cold milk, and juice, meats etc. But one little screw-up and our life takes a 180 degree bad turn. But we are getting used to it. I am getting used to rum and coke at room temperature and starting to like it. No more meats, milk or cold drinks. But we'll see. Its been over a week and its not that bad. We could afford to go to the store and get sandwich meat, at an exploded price of 7$ for a 1/4lbs package of turkey. Ouch, and eat it for a day or two. But now we are under way. No stores around. So we'll have to live out of the can. We'll try eating eggs without refrigerating them and we'll see how long they last. On top of it all, mother nature cast a bad spell on me and I cannot catch any fish. In 3 weeks that we spent in Georgetown I only caught 3 fish. And riding the dinghy to the fishing place was a hike. So I spend about 100$ in gas dingying around and only have Yellow Jack, Grouper and a French Market to show for. At least the yellow jack was awesome. And it needs nothing. Yellow Jack fillet thrown on the grill is about as tasty as best grade tuna.
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see:
posted by sundowner-cruise at 10:59 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home