Wendy and Craig Head Home

...Reflecting on the bow in Hope Town...

Wendy and Craig sadly departed the fun on Island Spirit and headed back to the cold rainy north for some house work, landscaping work, and of course that bad four letter work...W O R K....we had such a great time and it flew by as it always seems to with close friends. We sailed nearly 100 nautical miles and that is a lot in the little Sea of Abaco. We covered from Treasure Cay to Tahiti Beach and all sights in between. We all agree our favorite was Hope Town and the beautiful Lighthouse and quaint town. We shared simple meals of spaghetti with homemade meat sauce and homemade "Dough Boy" bread! We had ham and eggs for breakfast most days, unless the team selected French toast or oatmeal.

Dough Boy homemade bread for sandwiches  

Then there were the great sandwiches and snacks for lunches and let's not forget the red wine and Island Spirit drinks at five o'clock along with "Music Man's" beautiful guitar playing and crystal clear singing! We shared fun parties on Island Packet Yachts FLATLANDER, and TRUE NORTH along with SLOW FLIGHT. We enjoyed the SOJER DAY on Man-O-War, and then made sure we returned back to the JIB ROOM for STEAK NIGHT. I do not think we could have fit more into 8 days in Abaco and as they say.....We Did it ALL....and had a blast. Thank you, Wendy and Craig, for taking the time to come down and join Team Island Spirit and share in our adventures. As Wendy would say, "It was big fun!"

Here is a Google Map of our 8 days. Click on the pins to see PHOTOS....

View Wendy and Craig Abaco 2013 in a larger map

The Source URL to this map is....

http://TinyURL.com/WendyCraigAbacos

 Here are a few photos as Wendy and Craig head home....

Wendy and Craig head home via a dinghy ride to the Jib Room
There goes our Music Program :-(

Our Friendly Cab Driver picks up for a trip to the Airport

Light Packing: Wendy with one bag and a laptop backpack
Craig with one bag, one snorkel bag, and our MUSIC Program with the Back Up Band

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If It's Gonna Happen....It's Gonna Happen Out There....
Captain Ron

Very lucky for all of us, the alternator decided to short out two days AFTER Wendy and Craig left. Sparks were flying and the positive lead was shorting out INSIDE the alternator, so we shut down the motor and SAILED back to Marsh Harbor from near Hope Town. This problem had to be developing for a long time. The last fix two weeks ago was the positive lead wire, so I should have pulled the alternator then. Lucky for us, we found it during a routine engine check so it did NOT start a FIRE!

Here is how we got back into the harbor. Pull the Alternator.
Make a mock up short belt using cable ties to run the coolant pump.
Sail to the harbor and motor in the last mile.
(Credit: Greg M. IP420 Anywhere for this brilliant quick temporary belt! )

Here is the problem. The positive post on the diode plate was not seated well.
This was a rebuild only 18 months ago by a shop in MD.....a questionable job!

The galley countertop makes a good workbench!
Where is are the guests now? We need HELP :-)

Fortunately, the alternator did not cause any problem while Wendy and Craig were onboard. Thanks to our training with Tom Tursi at The Maryland School of Sailing and Seamanship, www.mdschool.com, we do ENGINE CHECKS while running, otherwise this could have turned into a boat fire. We are glad we could sail back to Marsh Harbor where the unit was repaired in only one afternoon with cannibalized automotive parts. Let's hope it holds.....if not.....a new rebuild kit will be shipped in.....