Calm seas are still elusive

 Ever since we arrived here back on the 5th of April, we've been hoping for some calm water to facilitate the next part of the trip. We thought this would come sooner than today since we've been watching the forecasts for some time leading up to our departure for Lucaya. Back then it always seemed as though the Northwest Providence Channel was more cooperative based on the forecasts.

 Since all of that has changed we'll be here was seems like another 5 or 6 days waiting on the weather to calm down out there. While the wave heights are not all that bad, the period of the waves is short making for a very uncomfortable and wet ride.

 Our last encounter with heavy chop encouraged me to go after the seams in the hard top with some 5200 by 3M. Perhaps with this change the amount of water that makes its way into the bridge will be reduced. It wasn't the new enclosure that had all the issues. There are seams between the hard top cover and frame as well as between the enclosure bead and frame. With the help of the 5200 I have plugged up quite a few of these so I'm hopeful we will have less water dripping when we encounter weather.

 So things are getting done while we sit out the slop.

 Having a car for a week allowed us to move about Grand Bahama easily. We've done quite a bit of site seeing as well as shopping. Prices here are not all that bad but one has to be careful where one shops. Prices for the same items can vary substantially. More so than at home.

 Our site seeing included a visit to the Lucayan National Park. They have provided walkways to a couple of caves near the Southern shore of Grand Bahama and a very pleasant beach. Walking down into the caves was a bit of an experience since the openings start out as a rock ledge that overhangs some pools of crystal clear water. Going down some wooden steps one arrives at some interconnected platforms that are attached to the rocks allowing you to look around. There are several pools of water that have fish in them. Perhaps bringing along some food for the fish might prove interesting as the fish are quite sedate.  

  I think if you click on the photo of the water in the cave you may see some fish eyes that managed to ellude the red eye function the camera has. Maybe I should have used a "fish eye" lens?
 I know. Moving on -
 We have driven from one end of Grand Bahama to the other. Along the way we saw the damage caused by the brush fire along the canal and, we encountered another brush fire that was threatening the  road. It seems these fires are common here. The sun does leave quite a bit of dried our brush on the ground waiting to be ignited.
 Arriving at McLeans Town on the Eastern end we were a bit disappointed because there was no place that looked like a place we wanted to sit down and have lunch at. This is the Bahamas and there isn't much to support a small restaurant at this end of the island. While there is ferry service to Abaco, the dock is small and there is only a small hut with a teller whiling away the hours of duty in between dockings. The ride back into Lucaya was pleasant enough with stops at several beaches along the way.
 The beaches are quite clean from the water line up to the ground covering brush and trees but there isn't much besides the sand here. Apparantly the wave action is relatively light in close so nothing much is washed up. Once closer in to Lucaya we were able to locate Banana Bay where we had a good burger and a couple of beverages. It's the sort of place that comes to mind when you think of lunch by the beach. It's a very pleasant stop.

 On the other end of the island is West End (nothing complicated about that name) and having been there last year we elected to stop a bit short of it and check out the beaches.

 I came across this bit of rusted machinery and it appears as though this was a raft powered by an old aircooled Vtwin. It doesn't appear to be a motorcycle engine. It could be out of a small car or some other application. It had a manufacturer's tag on the block but I could not read it. I'm thinking some Haitian's made their way to the island on this given this memorial we found on a beach not far away. Hoping not to become another person of this sort of reflection we'll continue our wait for better weather.