April 3 & 4, 2020 - Royal Island

April 3, 2020  - Hatchet to Royal

6:46 am-  You surely do not need a morning alarm clock in Hatchet Bay. Between the roosters and the barking dogs in the distance, they make sure you wake up early. 

What a gorgeous morning. I think this is the calmness I have seen it in a while. You can see the turtle coming up and leaving there marks. The water reflected like a mirror.  

8:30 am- Left Hatchet Bay and headed to Royal. What a gorgeous sail. Steve put out his fishing rod hoping to catch dinner tonight. 

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9:15 am-  Yay!  Fish for dinner tonight. Steve caught a Cero Mackerel and it is good eating

12:30 pm- We were surprised by a call from Mike and Petra from Germany wanting to know if we were OK. It was nice seeing them since they Face Timed. They were suppose to come and visit us this summer but it looks like the trip will be cancelled due to the Pandemic. 

1:45 pm-  Arrived at Royal Island and we covered 22.5 nm today. Nice and calm. 

Around 2 pm, I cut Steve's hair and then he shaved after he went in for a swim.  Sure made a difference since he has not shaved for about 5 days.
3 pm We made water before we went for a nice dinghy ride to explore the area. 

5:00 pm-  The Bahamian government had a special press conferences updating everyone about Covid19 situation. Because there is a surge and community spread, the Government has decided, based on the advice of health officials that effective 8pm tonight, Friday the 3rd of April, a complete shutdown of all services which will be implemented until Monday the 6th of April at 5am.

 It will be interesting how this all plays out 

6:30  pm- We had such a delicious fish, sweet potato fries and coleslaw for our dinner.
Enjoyed watching the beautiful sunset.
Watched a couple of episodes of Ozark before going to bed.

April 4, 2020

7:00 am- Woke up to a beautiful sunrise. The wind is coming from the North so we will be staying probably until Tuesday. I would like to continue on however we have to preserve our fuel and want to go when the winds are in favour. Even when we go for small dinghy rides, you start realizing how you must preserve your fuel for times when you really need it. 

Not sure what people do who have dogs on board and usually take their dogs to the beach since we are not permitted to go on land . ( which includes many people)

11:30 am- Went for a brief dinghy ride and ended up in an area where there were dozens of turtle. They are so fast. It was fun to get off the boat. 

1:00pm-  After lunch we did a few jobs. We lifted the floor boards under the table to clean the bilge. 

Then Steve fixed the wiring on one of the small inverters. 

I washed towels and dish clothes. 

There is always something to do 

6:00 pm- While sitting ar the bow of the boat sipping on a glass of wine, we saw dolphins swimming. It is such a beautiful afternoon

Dinner tonight is chicken dumplings, potatoes, carrots and corn. Fresh veggies are running low. 

Watched a couple of Ozark episodes before going to bed.