Shipping to the Bahamas... hmmmm,... How hard can it be?

Do you know the saying that goes "... If there is a will, there is a way..."?

It's like ordering parts for your boat when you are in the Bahamas.
Why to buy online you ask?, Good question...
A - you can not find every part that you want here;
B - those items that you do find (lets say 5200), are very, let me repeat, very, very expensive;

So, you go online and you order - simple, no?
Than you discover that Amazon doesn't really ship (anything) to the Bahamas.
So you search other websites, and yes, some do ship here. They use companies like DHL, FedEx, and even the post office to do it.
You buy online (reasonable price), you pay and arm and a leg to ship it, and the rest of your body in import taxes and VAT.
And it is not all; None of the shippers call you, or send you a message that they need you (custom form etc.). You have to follow up on your shipment in every step of the process, then call the company, find out why there is a delay, pay the taxes, and hope that you will get your order..

I have tried 4 different methods - DHL, FedEx, mail (from England) using eBay, and a service from Florida.

In the meantime I enjoy great sunrises and sunsets and cooking (See photos below)


Update --
I got two out of the four orders...
I got the FedEx package, which I had to walk 2 miles to the office, pay, and collect the package.
Two days later I had to walk to DHL office (only one mile), again pay, and collect the package.
No other package has arrived as yet (Sunday May 26, 2019)...
Stay tuned...
Below are some great dishes and sunsets..

Making spagetti

Update 2 - after another few days I got the 3rd order. Still waiting for the forth and last original order.
I, in the mean time I located a service here in town that  allow you to order to a US address and they ship it here for you.
I placed an order and following up - as before - stay tuned.

\

Another week, another....

Another week has passed. I wouldn't know it, if I did not look at the calendar.

This morning in the marina

The days look identical and the weather almost the same too. The rainy season has started, which mean increase risk of daily rain and in some days it did, some days it didn't.
The only different for me is, should the hatches be open or closed before I go to the pool... Decisions, decisions, decisions...

Day out

I have walked most of the town, and I think I have found all the stores, bakeries, and drinking locations (sell or drink) that are in the area.
more reading at the bottom of the page....

Day in

Another project - main sail adjustment

One of the projects - Dinghy name

Another beautiful sunset

Lightning at night

 The video above is Cocoa going through speech therapy / training.

To be true the days are interesting; There are a lot people coming and going however,very few staying. It does give a great opportunity (for me :-)) to talk to many people and pass the time.
Something to do while I am in the pool; As the pool is very close to the main gate - so, people come, stop, talk, and continue. time flies...
I also found that the grocery boat comes on Wednesday evening - so shopping on Thursday morning is the best - planning, planning, planning.
And as it is the rainy season, another interesting night tonight (Sunday).
Next week I hope to complete some of the engines work, and find how I extend my cruising permit.

All by my self...

Hani has left me... Well only for 7 weeks...
Vacation is here :-)
Well - almost, as Cocoa is with me, and my to-do list is as long as my (long) arm.

Hani in the airport before leaving me

Cocoa is waiting for Hani to come back

Cocoa and I bonding

Homemade Pain Killer

It is Monday night and it is storming, wind, rain, lightning etc.
It will be a long night...

Purple light  - no fish

Hani left on Thursday and my days so far has been with pain - and pain is treated with the favorite local drink - pain killer. And it works. That rum drink is the solution (at least that is what I think) for many pains. And if you drink enough of it, you probably don't even remember that you had pain :-)

So really my days have been quite routine. I try to complete my selected daily project by 1000 - 1030, and before it gets too hot, than I rest a little (code name for doing nothing), talk to people, boat watching, looking t who get grounded and the coming and going of the Baker Island resort, than, to the pool. shower and.. repeat (day after day after day....).. And I almost forgot, I am working on my tan...

Cocoa resting

Hard life.

Marsh Harbour

So far I have sawed, fixed some stuff, schedule rigger, mechanic and spoiled Cocoa.

Still looking for fish

One of the projects completed

Boat grounded in low tide

View from the dock

Marsh Harbour is a commerce hub for the Abaco. It has many marinas, restaurants (and KFC), large supermarket, hardware stores (even ACE), one limited supply marine store and many liqueur stores!!!
So I follow my original rule Beer = Food!!

For those of you that are interested more in technical stuff, I am having a rigger coming to look at a few thing tomorrow. One item is that I am unhappy with my new sails, main issues is that the Jib camber spar is not rotating - thus third of the sail is not effective, and the main sail is not adjusted correctly and the top is not working. And - I did do a fix to the boom under way and I would like it to be checked.
That's all for tonight. Hani is not here to check my mistakes - so have fun correcting them.

in Marsh Harbour, Abaco, Bahama

We are in Marsh Harbour (the correct English spelling...)
For our American friends, we are in Marsh Harbor.....

BTW - you can always track our location (when updated) using an application that will report the following -

EMANUEL IV Noon Position Report Sailing Vessel, Flag: USA, IMO: 0, MMSI: 367594850, Call Sign: WDK7239

Local Time: 2019-05-04 11:56 (Time Zone UTC-4)

Time UTC: 2019-05-04 15:56

Position Lat/Lon: 26.54693° / -77.05356°

Speed/Course: 0.0 knots / 353°

AIS Status: Class B

Area: CARIBS Caribbean Sea

Source of Position: TERR-AIS

Have fun with it...

Before we left Hope Town, that I know we will go back to visit, we walked some more, and climb the Light House. The view from the top is always amazing

The famous T-Shirt

..
Just look at the photos.

We came here on Friday around 1000, after an event-less motoring on flat seas and little wind. Well, it is really only less than 9 miles from Hope Town so... less than two hours and.. we are here.
We had to circle around for an hour until a slip was vacant. We already know that we will need to move the boat to another slip in a day or two but that's OK with us. (for those that like full details - we are in slip 34 and will move early in the week (maybe as things keep on changing) to slip 16.
We plan to stay in Marsh Harbour for 2 - 3 months.

My home for the next few months

Marsh Harbour is a major city and a hub in the Abaco islands. It has stores, technical support (thou limited to a degree) and even a boat yard (not that I need one). However, I do have a long list of to-do's.
One of the reason we are taking our time and stressing the boat, is the find out what breaks. And guess what it does break - so we (spelled I) need to fix it.

I have a list of things to do and I will go through them.

Sun rise in Marsh Harbour

I/ We will also explore every thing around us.
Hani will leave me.. She is going to Israel this coming Thursday for almost 7 weeks to take care of her parents. I will miss her, but that is why she left me with her list of my To-Do!!!

Today, Monday, we took the dinghy to Mermaid Reef and went snorkeling. I go the go-pro ready, all the gear we needed, put the dinghy in the water and

Cocoa had a hair cut...

what a day - it was a new definition to swimming with the fish.
You just float in the reef and fish come to you, swim with you, and some are even happy to clean you.

Anchorage in the bay

Unfortunately, i left the go pro on the boat.... so, next time I will do a video.

PS - we have moved to day to our new slip - yes, slip 16.

Panoramic view

Look at the name

Oh What a night....

What a night last night...

Drone photo of Hani and Cocoa

Schooner Bay

Sorry - no photos..., and no it is not what you are all thinking..
It blew almost 40 kts last night and a boat that was moored was drifting (yes, with the mooring lines) through the mooring field, including through our poor little  boat.

The colors...

Even Cocoa is sun-bathing

Fish cleaning

Hani celebrating B-D

Schooner bay

Hard at work

We were alerted that something going out side, by a sound of something crashing into our boat. We run outside, and saw a sailboat drifting with its anchor rubbing against our rub-rail, with a poor guy, in a dinghy trying to get hold of it and control it. It still had its two mooring lines and floats (red ones...) connected to it.
We pushed him away from the front of our boat, so he was now drifting along side in 35 kts of wind and rain, and moving toward our boat again. We fended (or better said defended) our boat.

But lest go back.

We are in Hope Town in the Island of Abaco in the Bahamas.

Hope Town Mooring field

Hope Town is a very very pictorial town. Most of the houses in and around the bay and beach are rentals. Nice little shops, nice hotels, and overall very easy to be in and stay around place.
We arrived on Sunday after a nice motor-sail from Schooner Bay.

The color through empty cup

We enjoyed our time in Schooner bay very much. We flew the drone, walked the beaches, toured around, fished (I did catch a white-tip shark in the marina there, and had to cut the line and let the shark go. White-tip in in declining numbers and we do not eat sharks...). How ever, I did not catch any other fish. It did not stopped us from receiving a very nice dolphin fish (Mahi Mahi) from a very nice fishing mean machine boat (a 76' Viking) that was next to us.

With out words

I did clean the fish (apparently the wrong way for big fish, as it took me 45 min to do it, while watching them cleaning much larger fish in less than 5 min), and every one was watching me and enjoying the cleaning show...
We grilled the fish and are still eating it after 4 days...
We also got a Wahoo (cleaned and cut already) which is still frozen.

Let the fun begin....

Here, in Hope Town, we are on a mooring ball and enjoying our time. We do our walking, we are doing laundry today, and plan to walk some more. Yesterday we went snorkeling, swimming and.... yes... drinking the famous 5 Rum drinks T-shirt and certificate competition. (see at the bottom of the blog)

It is going to rain and storm more today and tomorrow, so plan staying close to the boat, and if all is well, sailing to Marsh Harbor on Friday.
We still need to go to the mandatory tour of the last remaining oil, manually-operated light house. Which is the Hope Town light house.
More in our next blog.
Do not forget to look at the photos below..

Hope Town at sunset

Hope Town Light House

Blowing in the wind...

Schooner bay from the front gate

Signs... (including Edina, MN)

Cocoa continue to have fun (and eat)

View from the road

I can drink...