5-15: Green Turtle Cay

Our entry into White Sound was uneventful. Securing Crookshank to a mooring was somewhat more eventful. Over-motoring our mooring ball resulted in a broken grappling hook, a necessary tool to pick up the line(s) attached to any mooring. After securing our mooring, we explored the surrounds, hiking over the island ridge past Bluff House to a beach on the Sea of Abacos side, where we saw beautiful 12” size brilliant maroon starfish in the crystal clear waters of the beach.
Returning to Crookshank, we discovered… to our chagrin… that our mooring was 100% downwind from the local dump ashore, currently operating in full burn mode, resulting in choking smoke, generous deposits of ash aboard, and heaven knows what else. We elected to move & find another mooring.
We spotted one outside the downwind smoke & headed for it. ‘One small problem, that being the broken grappling hook, offered a challenge as to the mechanics of the picking up the mooring ball. Necessity being the Mother of Invention, we came up with a solution. With no functioning grappling hook, we hit upon the idea of using the dingy to secure the mooring ball line & then hand it up to others on Crookshank.
This worked … up to a point. ‘This point being when the starter rope on the dingy gasoline engine snapped, leaving the dingy without power or means of movement. Meanwhile Crookshank bore down upon the hapless occupants of the dingy, me included. It seemed we were reprising the swimmer’s view from the water in "Jaws". But we prevailed and securement of boat and ball ensued.
‘Later that evening, Yvonne prepared a delightful meal of shrimp with tarragon sauce over rice, after appetizers of crab cocktail over cream cheese.
The weather continued to be clear, winds 15 to 20 knots, with low humidity. ‘Great sleeping weather!