Burntside Adventures: Preparing to Cross Back Over

Walking the beach at low tide, Moraine Cay

Conk that looked like he had a forest of moss on his back

Conk salad

Cleaning Conk (there is a learning curve)

It's about time to update things. It has been a while. Lots has happened as usual. We spent couple of nights at Hopetown which was very interesting. The community was settled by Loyalists at the time of the American Revolution. It has a lighthouse thought to be one of the most photographed in the world. We climbed it and took pictures, then on descending, signed the guest ledger. Out of curiosity I scrolled through the past several pages, and amazingly, there was an entry from someone from Ely. I couldn't discern the signiture, but took a picture. Got a good paddl in and Cindy ran the beach. We left Hopetown and scooted over to Marsh Harbor where there is a great grocery store. We were out of a few things, most importantly sour cream. We anchored couple of miles out and the next morning more troublle. The windless motor failed. It had been acting a little funny, but it was now just dead. Previously I had cleaned the solenoid contacts, which I did again, but no go. I applied 12 volts directly to the motor and it shorted across, so it has internal issues. So for now, I am hand cranking the anchor while Cindy handles the boat. It works, but is pretty physical. We moved up the Abacos chain to Guana Cay for a couple of days, A beautiful beach a mile and a half long let Cindy run and I paddled. Pulled out of there and went to a favorite spot from last year, Moraine Cay for the last two nights. Absolutely amazing snorkeling and coral, lobster and conk. Today we are on the move again to near Grand Cay at the top of the Abacos. There is a big blow coming tonight and tomorrow and it should give us cover from the predicted 30MPH winds. After that will be looking at a potential weather window to go back to Florida Sunday or Monday if things look ok. We need to find a marina to lay over at a few days to get a replacement windless motor and some other things.