Nassau Harbour, New Providence, Bahamas

It is getting extremely hot in the Bahamas now as the summer comes and between the rain showers the humidity and heat is astonishing. The current running through the harbour also means that Invincible is turned to have the cockpit in the sun as it rises then in the evening turned again to be faced back into the sun. Despite having been in the tropics for nearly a year, we are both struggling with the heat and it is difficult to summon the enthusiasm to move let alone do anything. I vainly spend the morning trying to read in the shade and the breeze but the current isn’t quite strong enough to hold us steady and 5 minutes after getting into the shade the boat turns and you are full into the sun again. The wind has also reduced to almost nothing at the moment so even the breeze is flaky.

However, it seems that I managed to catch the prop again when we were in Allen Cay and the outboard is again not able to get to full revs without the prop slipping which is not much fun when operating in a busy harbour. Two teenage boys seeing me return to the dinghy dock the night before asked me if I wasn’t scared to get in the little boat, he said it was so small it could fit in the palm of his hand!  The outboard has also not been ticking over well recently, so definitely time for a service. We duly lift it onboard, luckily the helm seat works as a very good bench to support it in the swell and Kevin sets to work on first replacing the screws which he previously designed to do just what they did – work as a shear pin. Next, he changes the oil and replaces the spark plug. He gives it a quick start onboard, all seems well so we lift it back onto the dinghy and Kevin takes it for a spin. I can tell as he planes down the middle of the channel at full throttle that we must have had success and the tickover is also perfect when he brings it alongside.

We decide to take a walk ashore together, I also show Kevin round the mall and we decide to visit the dvd store and try and hire a film for the night. There seems to be no indication of price anywhere and I go to the counter to see if they will hire to us without an address. The assistant answers to say that there are no hires, they are all for sale at $6 each! We look around and there are all the latest releases, racks filled throughout the shop. They even have a section in the corner of pre-release films (e.g. Angels and Demons) though I am told that these are not good copies and they are not recommended. It slowly dawns on us that this is a high street store selling entirely copied DVDs! We wonder what on earth the copyright laws are in the Bahamas that this is done so blatantly. However, we decide that this is pretty good value and decide to get a couple to try out. Back on the boat they both play perfectly (Slumdog Millionaire and Quantum of Solace), so we have a great evening in with some new films.