It goes on

 Here in Hope Town things have settled down. We've had a chance to visit a number of establishments and now that the boat is parked for a while, some work items I've wanted to get underway have been started. Some have actually been completed! Occasionally I impress (even) myself because now that we are retired finding time to squeeze in projects has become challenging.
 Today in spite of the demanding schedule and brisk winds out of the ESE we took the dink out onto the Sea of Abaco hoping to get around to the new place on Elbow called Firefly. Lunch out and about was our game since we had been cooped up with getting projects underway. We were hoping to use the dink since the West side of Elbow was in the lee today and we didn't want to walk all that far. As it turned out the ride around was smooth enough allowing us to make it to Firefly easily. Looking at the first two photos one can conclude the Sea of Abaco was cooperative. I believe the owners of this esthetically well positioned place are involved with Firefly Sweet Tea back in the States. I imagine they decided to burn some cash on a place over here on Elbow. In our opinion they have done a terrific job of locating a very pleasant establishment.
 They did a really nice job of laying out the property and setting up a very cool place to have a meal. As well accommodations within various cottages are located on the property if living aboard is not and option.  As you can see from these photos taken from the bar the view is spectacular and sunset dinners will be awesome. But we were here for lunch and Deb had a bowl of conch salad. I had their tuna as well as a calamari appetizer. Yes! We found fried calamari in the Bahamas and it was very good. It came with a sweet and spicy chili sauce drizzle that went well with an ice cold beer. The tuna was also well prepared and quite tasty although I would have wanted a bit more on the plate. The conch salad was as good as any on the island and there was plenty of it. So we both had a great meal at a reasonable price (for the islands) with a wonderful view.

 It was a refreshing break from installing a new outlet in the galley for the microwave, a stereo on the bridge, and some work with DirecTV that spanned several hours.
 Nothing goes into Freedom easily. Well, nothing of substance anway. To get the new outlet from a stand alone breaker associated with the inverter, I had to pull all of the paneling off the starboard interior wall. It might look easy but it isn't. The paneling fits into a groove under the window sill and another groove in the floor. That means paneling that has aged since 1985 has to bow out in the middle for its entire length to facilitate popping out of both grooves. If it cracks, the finish is ruined and it's in an obvious location. Anyway this portion is the comfortable zone of this project and it went very well. I was able to get the cable into the A.C. panel and pull it through under the inverter I installed in 2008. Once that far it went into the bilge where dwarfs have the advantage. Dan does not fit well down there. If you look closely at the photo (click on it) you will see the outline of the hatch over the starboard engine. That engine would be a Detroit 6-71 turbo charged inter cooled diesel with a 400 pound gearbox. The cable goes down into the bilge just aft of the floor mounted battery selector switch under the inverter. From there it goes across the salon floor and down into a conduit up to the bow where it then goes through the floor up into the galley. Cake. Not. But it's done and I can enjoy morning coffee without having to get up and reactivate a breaker that pops because the coffee maker and microwave are on the same circuit. I've had the parts on the boat 2 years now.
 What can I say?
 She finally wore me down.
 Anyway along with this, the stereo that has been aboard for a while also got installed. You may have noticed the grey wire hanging out of the vent opening above the inverter? They go to the speakers that have been muted by removal of the stereo to make room for the inverter. With this latest surge of activity the stereo has been relocated to the helm and we have speakers up there now as well. Once this grey cable gets pulled up a very narrow raceway that is loaded with control cables, A.C. freon lines and all sorts of other "trivial" stuff, we'll be able to listen to the Door's album (inside) I down loaded from Itunes the other day. Something like 40 of their best on a single album. I'm thinking the folks on the mooring balls would appreciate our keeping the volume down so the inside speakers are probably a good idea.
 As for DirecTV, I have to hand it to them. We have been down here the past three Winters and the basic antennae has worked flawlessly. We can order movies over the internet, and the picture only pixelates during stout wind storms or thunderheads when I don't have the tracking system up and running. This year we switched our install address to be that of Miami Florida coincident with our departure from the NYS residence. You guessed it, right when the playoffs started, the company (Sunbeam) owning the station that broadcasts FOX decided they wanted more money to transmit their infomercials and local news. DirecTV said no. Sunbeam pulled the plug. As a result everyone here as well as in Miami and Ft. Lauderdale using DirecTV missed the Giants game this past weekend. Last year we had good reception for the NYS stations all the way down to Staniel Cay which is the rumored limit so we knew based on past experience that we could watch FOX if we were not associated with a rogue local network. Even though we are no longer resident in NYS, DirecTV let us use the old address so we could watch FOX. Thank you DirecTV!