No Audley today, but it turned into a really great day. Tessa and Tristan joined the boys in fishing. We had lunch with Susan and Holly. Afterwards we all rode bikes into the settlement at West End. The settlement was small and there were still several homes that still hadn’t been repaired since the last hurricane. We found an ice cream shop and the kids got ice cream before we headed back to the marina.

Later John and Chris came back from deep sea fishing. It was getting near sunset and the kids were anxious to try for the shark again. John and Chris had fish to clean so they gave Dan some bait and a pole. Now I am sure none of us, including Dan, thought anything would come from it. The boys, Tessa and I stayed with him while he was fishing. I wasn’t paying attention to what I was doing and fell on some rocks at the edge of the lagoon, cutting my leg. I told Dan I needed to go back to the boat and get some band aids. I wasn’t on the boat very long before Tessa comes running to the boat, screaming “Mom! Mom! Dad caught a shark! He caught a shark!”

My first reaction? Oh my God, what are we going to do with a shark!

I head over to the lagoon about 50 yards away as a crowd is starting to gather. Sure enough, Dan has a shark on the line. Dan, who hasn’t fished since he was probably 11, and who has never fished in anything besides a river, has now caught a shark. I need the camera. It’s in Dan’s pocket. I struggle to get the camera from his pocket while he is trying to reel in the shark. I pull out the camera along with several ten dollar bills, which are now scattered on the ground and threatening to blow away. What to do now? Take the shark picture or go for the cash? I chose the cash losing valuable photographic opportunities. Finally I get the money stuffed back into Dan’s pants and try to take a picture of the shark. John has come up to help. The marina guy gets a gaff which the site of gives me the willies. I look at Dan. “We are going to let it go right?”

“Yes.”

Ok. I can’t get a good picture of the shark in the water but I don’t want it gaffed. John goes up and cuts the line to let the shark go. “A lemon shark” he says appreciatively. Dan and I look at each other and say “Lemon shark” and nod as if we know what that means.

A lady standing next to Dan exclaims, “You caught a shark! Wow! What were you fishing for?”

Dan looks at her, a bit confused “Um … A shark,” he replies. There’ll be no living with him now.

Another week in an expensive marina. Audley stopped by to let us know the customs paperwork was not correct and he needed to get new paperwork faxed to customs before they would release the part. We go through stages of being upset and then realizing we are in the Bahamas where we want to be and the kids are having a great time, so we need to enjoy ourselves.

Tristan and Tessa met three boys from a fishing boat that pulled into the marina late in the afternoon. They watched them fish in the lagoon next to the marina. It was starting to get dark when Tessa came running up to our boat yelling “Shark!!” In the lagoon where the kids were fishing they saw a shark. Dan and I went out to see for ourselves. I never saw it but Dan and the kids saw a nurse shark. We did get to meet the parents. We talked for a few minutes and as we left to go back to our boat we agreed to meet the next night for a shark hunt

Well what started out to be an overnight stay in Old Bahama Bay Marina (to simply clear customs) has started to turn into an ordeal. We were scheduled to leave Thursday morning. Dan checked the port engine, the one we had just spent a small fortune on in Palm Beach, and discovered an oil leak. It was down under the engine so he hadn’t noticed it when we first stopped. Apparently now it looks like the Exxon Valdese has capsized in our engine room. After checking it he comes to me and says “I think we may need a new engine.”

Well that’s not want I want to hear. We have just gotten started!! This is unacceptable! I send him back to the engine room with orders not to come out until he has found a better answer. (Actually he went back to the engine room after a few expletives from me.) He comes back later and says there is definitely an oil leak but it is not as bad as he thought. We will need to get someone to look at it as it is under the engine and he can’t access it. Oh and we also may have a fuel leak thrown in for good measure. We need to now find a mechanic.

Dan inquires at the marina office and the lady there gives him a paper with the names of several different mechanics. We try to call them but we can’t get through. He goes back to the office. Apparently the cell phones are down. He asks her if she can recommend anyone and she suggests a mechanic named Audley. Audley is not on our list. She will phone Audley for us or he is usually at the Marina everyday and when she sees him she will send him to our boat. Yes, we have heard all the horror stories about local Bahamian mechanics, but we really didn’t feel we had a choice. The kids and I head for the pool while Dan waited for Audley.

The facilities at Old Bahama Bay Marina are great. They have 2 heated swimming pools connected to each other with a waterfall. The staff is friendly, and there is a wonderful beach with free Kayak and Hobie cat rentals and also free bike rentals. In the water you can find beautiful starfish, the biggest I’ve ever seen. Tristan and I had just returned from a starfish adventure when Dan joined us.

Audley has seen the engine and feels it is a rear main seal and if he had the part he could get it repaired in two days. That sounded too good to be true. Dan felt that he was a good guy so we agreed to have him start right away. Friday, Audley and a helper came to the boat, raised the engine, got the old seal off and he went back to his shop.

“I go to come back,” he said.

He called us later and said he needed to order the part. Of course! He would try to get the part here by Saturday. We said fine. Saturday comes. No part. No Audley. He calls. The part is not in. Sunday is Easter. Monday is a holiday in the Bahamas. I am starting to feel we have been in these waters before.

The kids had a great Easter. The “Easter Bunny” visited our boat and they were quite pleased with their Easter baskets. There was one small problem. It seems the Easter Bunny had stored the solid milk chocolate Easter Bunny next to the Bounce fabric softener sheets. A fresh spring rain is not what you want your chocolate to taste like. Who knew?

Dinner on Alegria