A BELUGA WHALE EPIPHANY

Coming back from the Exumas cruise I had good intentions to get BIANKA splashed as soon as possible. Until I heard of some unusual visitors in Long Island Sound. Three Beluga Whales where feeding and playing around in various harbors on Long Island Sound. Since these creatures normally reside in Arctic waters having them in the local area is a reminder that the cold temperatures of the past brutal winter are still leaving their mark on the local waters. So that I might not be able to start swimming off the boat soon.  I'm now thinking there really is no rush to get  launch the boat and get out to the mooring until things warm up a bit. I'll continue on my various brightwork projects for another week or so. Trimming with paint brushes is always better when the boat is not moving about anyway.

DINGY TRYING TO MAKE A GET AWAY

While we were looking at the semi abandoned boat our dinghy mysteriously drifted off. Seems the ghost of the Pirates of the Caribbean are always still trying to steal stuff. Luckily, we were in a small cove and Adam was able to wade in and retrieve it before it got to far away.

EXUMAS SHIPWRECK MYSTERY

While we were heading north toward Staniel Cay from Georgetown in the Exumas we passed a Cay with a sailboat beached on the shore. Both Captain Adam and I speculated on what it was doing there. It looked pretty intact from a distance. I thought perhaps the owner might have careened it on the beach to clean it's bottom. On our return south we anchored off a nearby Cay from where the beached boat was. I suggested that we take the dingy over to investigate. Adam was thinking the same thing. So that's what we did...

A LEVITATING DINGY?

I'm currently taking a little break from getting BIANKA ready for launching with a little cruise on a 44 foot St. Francis catamaran in the Bahamas. The waters here in the Exumas are amazingly clear.

The clarity is so good  that when I took the photo below of Captain Adam at Staniel Cay heading off in the dingy for an ice run  it appeared to be levitating above the water. Even though it is just an optical illusion it still sounds like a neat idea:

CONVENIENCE WIRING WITH ANDERSON POWER POLE CONNECTORS AND A RIGRUNNER JUNCTION BOX

I mentioned in a previous post about using my Morningstar solar controller as a junction point for some new rewiring rather than the main breaker panel. I also added a  Rigrunner 4005 junction box. This box allows for several individually fused  Anderson Power Pole connectors to be plugged into the box.

 You can see some of the items I chose to connect to the box in the photo below:

UH OH!

BIANKA is not yet in the water but Tropical Storm ANA has formed off the southeast United States. I'm a little concerned as the storm makes it's way up the coast. But, there are a few good things in my favor:

1) One thing is the boat is still on land.
2) The mast has been unstepped which means less windage and stress on it.
3) The brutal cold winter has meant that the waters around Long Island are colder than normal and so should knock down the storms strength.

All of the above help ease my fears about the storm doing any major damage but, I'll be keeping a weather eye on it.

BOTTOMS UP!

It's getting busier in the boatyard and roomier too as the boats begin to get launched. The smell of bottom paint starts filling the air. My boatyard's contract has a stipulation that only they can paint the bottom which as I get older seems like a better idea anyway. Though when thinking about bottom painting I get reminded of something I saw in Oyster Bay last fall. It was the test station for one of the manufacturers of marine bottom paints: