Stuck in Paradise?

The "ocean" side of where we are.  You'd never know there were five hundred boats on the other side!

I know, I know....poor me. I don't mean to complain - because, really - we are stuck in the Bahamas, of all places and let's face it, there are certainly worse places to be. But no matter what - when you want to move and cannot (and it is out of your control), it's just sort of a bummer.

Our dinghy saga continues, and - as with most lost and found stories - there is good news and bad news. The good news is, our dinghy was found. Our little Johnson 2HP motor was found as well, just at the bottom of the ocean and full (and I mean FULL) of sand. The mechanic told us it was a wash.  That's the bad news...

So the hunt for a new dinghy began...

At first, we were going to buy our good friends' sailing dinghy. Scott has wanted one forever and we were really excited about it. Unfortunately, when we tried the dinghy on the deck, it was too big. We were bummed. Really bummed. So the search continued...

We then heard on the "net" (the cruising community's form of "Good Morning America" here; it's on the VHF every day around 8am) that someone had a dinghy with an outboard they wanted to get rid of. We checked it out and it looked promising. The dinghy was in better shape than ours, and there was even a 5hp motor - which was better than nothing, right?

Well...maybe.

The engine isn't working exactly right.  We decided to buy it anyway (the price was a steal) - but now we sit and wait to hear of it's fate from the mechanic.  Time is ticking by as we sit here with fingers crossed.  Granted, I am sipping on a cold Kalik Beer, so again...could be worse...

Being without a functioning dinghy has us feeling sort of stranded.  We can't just zip to the beach or zip to town or zip to a snorkel spot.  Instead we hitch rides (thanks to all our friends who have helped us out!) or we just chill on the boat.  And wait.  It has us feeling slightly helpless.

And finally, while George Town has been great for the past week, we are ready to leave.  But we can't, because the next place where we will find all the resources we can find here is weeks away.  If anything is going to get fixed or bought or found, it will most likely happen here.

And such is the story how we have completely fallen right into the George Town cliche of "just another couple of cruisers who got 'stuck' here".  This is not a title we were striving for...

Stay tuned!  We should hear about the motor in another hour or so...

Love,

Brittany & Scott