"Wilbur Hubbard" wrote in message
anews.com...
I wonder where the pump-out boat discharges its contents, btw? Outside
the
harbor? Probably. I doubt all of George Town has anything that resembles
a
working sewage treatment plant.

Actually, they do have one, for the Sandals resort attached to Emerald
Bay
Marina. That's where it is taken currently, or by truck if the weather's
impossible.

The mooring and pumpout issue started as a result of a demonstration
project
with the Bahamian government, primarily to achieve a treatment plant near
GT. Once that's built, the pumpout will use it...


That's better than I thought. I wonder what they do with the treated
effluent? Deep well injection or outflowed into the ocean....

That's a good question. Perhaps I'll take that up with the minister of
tourism office tomorrow.



Oh, that reminds me of something. Just about every settlement has a de-sal
plant using reverse osmosis. I wonder where the brine ends up? The point
being once they start down this silly 'green' road where does it stop?
Brine is even more deadly to sealife than freshly-bucketed human waste.

Most of the islands' supply is well water, very hard, of course, due to the
limestone. In Abaco, it's also got a very high sodium content.

Exuma Markets has its own RO which it provides for free to the cruisers at
the dinghy dock, and for their own use. I imagine ice plants and the like do
as well, or run the well water through an RO. A fellow cruiser measured the
Abaco water, and found it to have 600ppm, well under the potable standard of
1000. Running it through his RO system produced a count of 200, very close
to distilled water!

So, well water is fine in the Bahamas. I expect the brine remainder
(recall the huge amounts of salt water processed to yield a gallon of pure
water) isn't of any effect other than on concentrated small bodies of water,
and with major plants' production of RO. As that would be a diminishing
return for plants, I doubt they'd use such ponds for the source...

It would serve George Town right if all the cruisers went elsewhere.

They're very well aware. I just returned from the tree-lighting ceremony,
and the MC mentioned "tourists" frequently, thanking them for being there,
and noting, several times, that without us, they'd be in a world of hurt.
Just before the end of the show (a very long, umpteen-acts event), I was
called up on stage as being a "bold visitor" - having taken the initiative
to walk backstage and tell the MC that the front of the stage had no
lighting and if they wanted to be seen, they had to stay behind the line of
the original square shape, which they did. He asked, and I told him, that
this was my third time to GT, and loved it. The crowd broke into
applause...

The locals "get it" - whether the government will wake up quickly enough to
prevent a "Bah, Humbug!" from the cruisers has yet to be seen. Yet, recall
the brouhaha which developed, and the threatened boycott which was produced,
when they went to the current boat fees. We're all still here. Maybe the
daytrippers stayed home, but I expect that those were not the source of a
lot of income locally, anyway...

As to being a "bold" visitor, we make it a point to get involved wherever we
go. I joined the choir on a moment's notice on Saturday for the town's
ecumenical production Sunday night, and will go to the choir rehearsal
tomorrow PM, having already sung in the choir in the morning service
(without rehearsal, yet, as I can read, and hit the note I see). Other
activities in other towns, too - and the locals very much appreciate it, as
deduced from those who take the time to thank me in terms of their pleasure
at my involvement in the community...

I try to leave a clean wake, so to speak, and get a great deal more out of
our cruising by integration into the local enviroment as much as possible...


Max in good times has been over 500. Last and prior years were high 2 and
low 300s, respectively. However, that concentration is very brief. After
Regatta, folks start leaving, and after the Family Island Regatta, it's
nearly empty. In June, you're likely to be the only boat in sight. When
we arrived (where this thread started) there were less than 30 boats in
the entire area. It's up to about 50 now, but the crowds will begin
after Christmas.

Too many folks. I'll remember to avoid the place unless in the off-season.
Marsh Harbor sounds like a better option for a cruising base to me.

We found it wonderful. Dozens of diving locations in a day-sail away, many
interesting places to visit, likewise, and hurricane holes that even our 7'
draft could get into. That's where we'll be this coming hurricane season
before we finally get to go south. We had no problems with bugs or heat,
only using a fan a few nights. We like it a lot...

On which subject, it was because of one of the same who stormed the
immigration office here, demanding (rather than politely working with
them) something WRT visa extension. That got the official person there
angry enough that she dug out the regs (vs the generally accommodating
nature of handling visa stuff).

Turns out that the regs call for no more than a 90 day stay without
someone leaving the country. [Practice had been to give sailboats 180
days, with up to another couple of months (no more than 8, we discovered
to our horror) by stopping into an immigration office being routine.
Those arriving by plane were given up to 90 days, same downstream
instructions by the immi guy/gal at the airport.]


Wrong! The cruising permit is for 180 days with an option to renew for
another 180 days before having to leave the country for ONE DAY before
returning. The 90 day stay limit is for other tourists who did not arrive
on boats with a valid cruising permit.

Close, but no cigar. Cruising permit has 6 months printed but is crossed
out without asking, and 12 written over it, both on my 2originals and the
recent renewal of the second. There is a "free" in/out if you do it within
90 days.

The VISA is the issue. Boat permits are still a year, but visas are very
short, now, just in the last few weeks, perhaps days. ALL the recent
arrivals tell the same story, regardless of which port they cleared in at.

As a result of that brouhaha, word got back to Nassau, and, at the
moment, arriving criusers and deplaners are given no more than 30 days,
ditto on renewal, and will be required to leave in 90 to remain in
compliance.


Correct for those arriving on airplanes. Incorrect for those arriving on
boats with valid cruising permit.

See above. You used to be granted as much as 90 days on the plane. Not
now. You used to be granted (up to) 180 days on a sailboat checkin. Not
now.




General guessing on that is that it won't last, as that will drive all
the cruisers off (for the entire Bahamas, not just GT), by default, and
sooner or later, the officials will come to the conclusion that it's a
bad decision. But, the way things work here, it won't be a quick change,
so it may not happen in time for all the many folks here and arriving, as
many stay (ordinarily) for well beyond 90 days even if they're
"commuters" - let alone full-timers who are spending an extended time in
the Bahamas, such as we.


It won't last because it's in incorrect interpretation of Bahamas customs
and immigration law.

Actually, unless you can provide the cite, I'd bet it's the PROPER
interpretation, but everyone in Immigration was previously advised to ignore
it within expanded parameters. It will probably take an act of Parliament
to rectify what some asshole Canuck caused, here in this very location. How
long that takes will remain to be seen. In the meantime, every single
recent arrival is wondering how they'll deal with it, very soon...

(clippage)
We're thankful that the high will be in the 70s today, but sad that the
wind won't be there to twirl our KISS!


Kiss is the most noisy and shoddily-built of all the wind generators -
shame on you. When it wears out in the very near future consider getting
two of these.

Nice try. It's all in the balancing. Ours makes the softest whiiisssshhhh
other than in a gale. As to their wearing out, not only don't they do that,
but if it did, it would be a bearing or a seal, both a NAPA or other parts
store standard part. If the electronics break down, same deal. No brushes,
only one moving part (if you disregard bearings)...


http://www.marlec.co.uk/products/win...3-windcharger/

They are very kind to your neighbors. It's freezing cold here in the Keys,
too. Been in the forties the last two nights but it's supposed to warm up
10-20 degrees in the next couple days but another cold front on the way
Sunday or Monday. The water's already down around fifty degrees.

I have nothing against the rutland, as I don't own one and our practice is
not to be near anyone else, anyway, so if one were noisy, I'd not hear it.
By the time ours gets noisy enough to hear more than 10 feet away, it's so
noisy from the wind you'd not hear it or any other wind gen, either. OTOH,
if I were going to do something different, likely it would be the D400, a
500 watt unit vs the Rutland's only 250 watts - and that requires 38 knots!!
Both (or neither, depending on how you look at it) aren't suited to owner
repair, however, one of the reasons I chose the KISS. Likewise vis-a-vis
rutland, ours will do the trickle charge bit at 5 knots, but in 10 knots
we're seeing about 7 amps, and at 19, about 20. At 25 knots, we're seeing
25-30A, it's sweet spot... As to the Rutland itself, you should have read
the article they trumpeted. "Low Power" was the class they dominated, with
their "Mid Power" one generating half or less than higher performing units.
Note also that noise wasn't tested, and KISS wasn't, either.

Go see Practical Sailor's reports for more definition on noisy and power
output (http://www.naviclub.ca/Test_comparat...es_marine.pdf).
Quiet, yes, but probably because it can't make any power. From that
article: "The Rutland 913 finsished next to last on every day except when
the wind was light on Day 3, when it was last by a half amp to Superwind."
Sorry to upset your applecart :{))


Water here's still in the mid-70s, fine for swimming, but I'll sorely miss
my wetsuit when I clean the bottom again. That's the one gripe I have about
Marsh Harbour - horrible growth. Here in GT, once I've got it clean, it
will stay that way. Our prior visits have had no growth in months at a
time...

L8R

Skip


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Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
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