Boat deliveries are interesting. This one was no different.
I got to the bahamas about noon on Saturday. It was a difficult trip with being in First Class on the way to Miami and then suffering business class to Marsh Harbour. I endured.
The chief worry I had was having to declare the few things that I brought with me. A roll of butyl tape. Ratcheting crimpers and wire strippers. Wire.
Crimps for the crimpers. 15 miles of rescue tape. A mast boot. 50 or 60 hose clamps. And much more. I checked 2 bags and carried a dry bag with other stuff.
In Marsh, I made sure I picked out the friendliest looking immigration official and walked my bag up. “Do you have any liquor or tobacco products”, she asked. Leaning in, as to focus on her every word, I reply simply “No.” “Why are you in the Bahamas?” “To enjoy my vacation,” I answer. “Well please do so.” And off I went. Some others were not quite as lucky. They had minor items that could be construed as tools and had to explain that they were not here to take jobs away from Bahamians.
If you have not been to the Bahamas, you need to know that Bahamians are friendly people and many exude happiness that is a wonder to behold. Also, if you go and never leave you beach resort you will miss out on much. For instance, my multi hour taxi ride with Miss V.
Miss V. drove me and one of my crew all over Marsh Harbour. Liquor store for Rum and beer. Then to Maxwell’s for provisions. Finally, she drove us all the way to Treasure Cay, which also happened to be her home. During the drive we entertained by her views on Bahamian culture, recent arrivals from Haiti, the death of her husband and how she had just recently wrecked her last taxi. Oh well, I would have been happy to never know that last piece.
These were at first superficial anecdotes. But as I showed interest and asked questions, she opened up and we received details on her husbands life and death, her children and grandchildren. I made the long drive to Treasure a pleasure.
Once at the boat, we loaded our provisions and gear. After firing up the air conditioning and making sure the fridge operated, we got right to work drinking a beer or three at the bar. We had to walk a block or two to get to the Abaco Beach Club pool bar and were promptly kicked out. There were about to have a wedding and did not want sailors 
drinking all the wedding party’s rum or carrying off their women. I tried to explain that we would absolutely not carry off any of their women, as we were married and too tired to try; but we could promise anything on the rum. Out we went.
A short walk up the most beautiful beach in the world, we ran into some old friends at Coco’s beach bar. Well, about 3 weeks old of friends, but who can put a timer on friendship. Couple of drinks later we were on the way back to the boat. We seemed to have a hard time getting to the boat since we got stuck at the “Thirsty somethin or other” with cold Kaliks and a pizza… Since we needed the rest of our crew, we decided to wait there a bit and enjoy the pool.
Finally, our next crew member. About 9:30 PM; 2130 for all you folks in uniform. This time, our good intentions already squandered, we went to work on some Kaliks. “Boats deliveries are hard..”, quipped our newest member.
The next day, we finally did get to work on the boat. We cleared out years of items. Bags of old towels. 65 wrenches that fit no nut or bolt on the boat (and the one we needed was not on the boat). Pulled spares out of the bilge. Exercised seacocks that we could. Attempted to mount the stay furler since we were barely sweating in the AC and still had no major injuries. We could not get it on. Inches short. But we had a plan, carefully engineered over 2 rum drinks. We could use an extra swivel we found to make up the distance. We struggled to get the pin out of the existing fork swaged fitting. After selectively placed blows from a hammer we freed it and promptly dropped in the bay. We retrieved it quickly. One beer lead to another and we lashed the whole assembly on deck. Problem solved.
There were a few other experiences before we left out. Met some drunks, got blocked out of the fuel dock by a fuel barge and chased down by a kid in a dinghy to get his mooring fee. But I will share those on another post.