Day 187 - Centre of the World Rock

Miles cruised 62, fuel purchased 0, slip fee $0, daily high temperature 80°f

We had a nice breeze overnight without Sea Bear blocking the wind. We bid farewell to Green Turtle Cay Marina. On our way across the sound to Great Sale Cay we head Chimera II call into the Sea Breeze Marina inquiring about slip availability.

A minor crisis was dealt with on Monday morning. Bahamians have taken Easter to an art form by celebrating for 4 days in a row. It can be difficult to get service during that time. Dale had checked the Racor fuel filters and found them both to be clogged. We had been experiencing some minor pulsating on the port engine. Not enough to slow us down, just enough to be annoying and worrisome. We have gauges on the Racors that indicate when they need replacement and they did. Our best guess is we purchased dirty fuel not once but twice at the Nassau Hotel and Marina. This was the more cost effective (cheap) Marina compared to the recommendation from our friend the mega yacht Captain Roy. We started having some engine pulsing after the first time we fueled there and after the second fuel up the Racors clogged. We had one extra set of Racors and Dale replaced them. However, we do not know just how dirty our fuel is and we have 200 miles to cruise back to Florida including crossing the Gulf Stream. If the new Racors clog up we would be in a pickle.

Some good advice.

Dale checked with the front desk on Sunday and they advised there is a Racor filter distributor on Green Turtle. They called him on Monday morning and George came right over with an extra set of Racor fuel filters. He inspected our engines and noticed we had not changed the engine fuel filters in two years. We had him change the engine fuel filters before we departed. He also took out the new Racors and replaced them with a smaller particle size filter to catch more of the fuel debris before it gets to the engine fuel filters. George then suggested that after we cruised the 60 miles to Great Sale Cay we swap out the Racors again to give us the best chance to cross the Gulf Stream with clean fuel filters. This assumes the Racor filters he installed will have filtered out more of the dirty fuel.

As we cruised past Great Abaco Island and then to Little Abaco Island we passed the Centre of the World Rock. The water all around this rock is 16 feet deep for miles in every direction. Then we come to a huge rock that appears to be levitating in the middle of the ocean. I am sure that rock gave some early navigators a thrill during some night crossings. The Bahamas is an archipelago consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 rocks.

We spent the night on anchor in the Northwest Harbour on Great Sale Cay and will transit the 136 miles to Stuart, Florida on Tuesday. We met a family at the swimming pool at the Great Turtle Club that has crossed from Ft Pierce, Florida to Green Turtle in one day. That is over 200 miles. A good days run.

Anyone want to buy a tractor?

We will spend four nights at the Sunset Bay Marina in Stuart and visit with Dan and Iris Carlson from Lake Bluff. On April 1, Dick and Candy Smith will join us also. Then we wil start our cruise up the east coast. Our plan is to arrive in Norfolk, Virginia by May 2 for the Loopers spring rendezvous.

Bonus photo.

Carl (Chef) Wooden – quote of the day.

“Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink.”
Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Samuel Taylor Coleridge ; 21 October 1772 – 25 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. He wrote the poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan, as well as the major prose work Biographia Literaria. His critical work, especially on Shakespeare, was highly influential, and he helped introduce German idealist philosophy to English-speaking culture. Coleridge coined many familiar words and phrases, including suspension of disbelief. He was a major influence on Emerson and American transcendentalism.

Throughout his adult life Coleridge had crippling bouts of anxiety and depression; it has been speculated that he had bipolar disorder, which had not been defined during his lifetime. He was physically unhealthy, which may have stemmed from a bout of rheumatic fever and other childhood illnesses. He was treated for these conditions with laudanum, which fostered a lifelong opium addiction.