Let There Be Light

George Town   

As I was doing my morning stretching, Barry was lowering our mast in preparation for some diagnostic work on our faulty anchor light. Sometime between our departure from Key Biscayne to our arrival in George Town, the light decided not to work. Barry had done some basic troubleshooting to no avail. The next step was lowering the mast and examining the bulb and fixture. Our friend Neal (Harvest Moon) arrived around 9:30 with what he brainstormed last night as the solution to our problem -- his bosun's chair. The chair is standard equipment for climbing the 65-foot (or more) mast on a sailboat. Our mast rises only 15-feet above our upper deck and lays down for maintenance. When at a marina, we simply use a stepladder on land to reach the light. When we're anchored, however, the mast lowers down and the top extends beyond the swim platform and lies 12-feet above water. Neal and Barry affixed the lifting harness to the mast and then got Barry hooked up. Neal hoisted Barry into a free-swinging position that he could remove lens, test the bulb, and clean the connectors. It was a simple issue -- the long-lasting LED bulb we installed not long ago had met its premature and untimely demise. With no spares onboard, the boys went into town to find a replacement and do a few additional errands.

Glenda, Jaxon, and Cooper picked me up and we headed to beach to stretch our legs. It was a wet ride into the wind and waves, but we dried quickly in the warm sunshine. We crossed the island on the same trail Barry and I took the other day knowing it was comfortable for bare feet and puppy feet. This beach walk never gets stale and the view changes on every trip. Today I took notice of the vegetation growing on the rocks in the surf. Even without freshwater and soil, they were healthy and green. A strange little bird sat alone on the exposed rocks. Except for two other ladies we had the beach to ourselves. That allowed Jaxon and Cooper to run loose in the sand. Glenda led them away from me ...

and then I called them to come to me. They sprinted as fast as their little legs would go. Cooper was blue flash in the sand, and took an early lead over his older brother Jaxon who sported the red harness. We were onshore for about two hours before we returned to our boats. Barry and Neal had not yet returned from town, so I went to Fiberglass Beach to finish reading Book 6 in the sunshine. The boys returned and I assisted as we raised Barry back up to the mast to install the new bulb. The moment of truth came when I turned on the breaker and it glowed. Victory. We returned the mast to its upright and locked position and Barry began cleaning up his work area. I did finish Coach Smith's memoir expounding on "The Carolina Way" -- Play Hard. Play Together. Play Smart. 

At 4:00 we gathered on Paradigm Shift for appetizers with fellow Selene owners Asante and Kallisto. We had a great visit with plenty of tasty food, laughs, and beverages. As the sun set, we headed back to Crossroads and were excited to see our new anchor light shining from the top of our mast. The LED camping light we received for Christmas came in very handy (in an unanticipated way) over the past few evenings as we hung it like a lantern in the darkness, but there's nothing like having everything working again as it should.