So I’m walking along a street in Marsh Harbor, Abacos after a fruitful
trip tracking down a) rechargeable batteries and b) a recharger. Of
course, this is not the first world so the charger and the batteries are
sold in different places. The place that sells batteries hasn’t a clue
where you can buy a charger and the place that sells chargers doesn’t
have any batteries. Ok, so we manage to get the two combined and home
we go to the boat.

We’re walking along this major street and we come across this group of
people who’ve just left a hardware store. The one guy asks “Are there
any more hardware stores around there” i.e. where we’ve just come from.
Yo, there sure are I say. There’s an Ace Hardware, a US chain, around
the corner and up a ways. Ok, cool, we know where it is but
unfortunately it closes at 4.00pm as we found out. So the party decides
tomorrow will be good and we all turn and begin walking back to the
marina/s.

The guy I’m talking to says where have you come from so I say we’ve been
down the chain a bit in the Exumas and we originally crossed over from
Florida. So he then says “OK, you’re Australian and you’ve come over
from Florida so you must be the guy who bought one of my systems”. It’s
Andy Keenan, the owner of Filter Boss! We have a Filter Boss system on
board and as fate would have it I’m walking along a street in Marsh
Harbor in the Bahamas with a guy I’ve been emailing back and forth re a
minor fix to the system. I think I’ve said before – It’s a small world.
We could just as easily have been on the other side of the street, or
simply walked on past. Unbelievable.

We arranged to meet later in Mangoes restaurant but he came by in his
dinghy to say plans have changed and they’re over in Snappas bar for
Happy Hour. Happy Hour in Snappas today is a bucket of Heineken (4 in
ice) and a dozen conch fritters for $20. So we sit at a table on the
deck with Andy, his wife Carol, and four of their friends for beer and
conch.

I called it a day at 6 but only because we were the last ones there.
Great night – interesting people with a huge range of stories to tell
and pleasant company to boot. One of the ladies we were talking to on a
Bristol 40 was actually a horseback guide in Yosemite National Park.!!
It’s a great life.