Good sailing once again.  Lunch at Cane Garden Bay and then we spent the  night at White Bay on Jost Van Dyke and visited the Soggy Dollar Bar in the early afternoon.  The beach was stunning (easy to see why it is so named) and there were people and boats everywhere...one big party.  Once again we were viewing rather than partaking...this boating takes it out of you...

Aurora at Sidney's Peace and Love - Jost Van Dyke

A few thoughts about knots.  Good knots are wonderful things – bad knots are ugly.  They do stuff like tying the sails to the boat, tying the boat to the dock, tying other stuff to the boat, etc.  I was enjoying my sundowner drink a few nights ago.  A lovely Dark and Stormy (cocktail).  I was in relax mode, big time, and looked up to see an empty dinghy drifting down wind in Little Bay harbor on Jost Van Dyke island and my first thought was what idiot did not tie off his/her dingy with a good knot.  On closer examination I saw someone had painted numbers on the dingy for ease of identification purposes (most important in heavily dinghy-ed areas).  Then I realized it was our dingy heading nonchalantly down wind.  I shot up like a flash and, very luckily, Eilo was on deck and asked for my cell phone and wallet, neither of which needed a bath, before I went over the side to rescue Aurora’s dinghy.  The unneeded exercise cancelled the intended effect of my Dark and Stormy.  Obviously at fault was a bad knot.

Today we were having fun testing our anchoring system, first at Sandy Cay and then at Little Jost Van Dyke to ensure we could get the anchor down, get good bite - such that the boat stayed where we needed it to stay - and get the anchor back up without shedding any blood.  It worked great - we did great, all was good.  So good we decided to head into shore for some lunch and a walk to the natural Jacuzzi.  The dinghy was in the water and ready to chariot us to Foxy’s Taboo.  I had just shut down the main engine and was about to board then start the dinghy engine -  awaiting the arrival of my first mate.  Sailboats are typically more quiet than motor boats …you become accustomed to the quiet.  In a few days we have become accustomed to the typical noises generated by Aurora.  Unusual noises tend to grab your attention. Even though most of the sounds generated by the craft make sense – some do not.  I heard Eilo’s voice and it was not her usual voice nor was it a panicked voice.  It was more a voice that commanded action, pronto.  I heard "you better come down here now”.  And being a dutiful captain I obliged.  The noise was coming from the engine room/compartment.  It sounded like a minor waterfall with a small cascading river below it.  I opened one of the many engine compartment doors and saw a good spray of water coming from the main propeller shaft seal.  The water was cascading down into and filling the bilge.  Another point about boats - it is always a wonderful idea to keep the water on the outside of the boat.  Doing otherwise usually results in sinking. Had Eilo ignored the noise and had we left the boat Aurora would have been riding a lot lower in the water when we returned, which would have sucked!  The electric bilge pumps could not keep up with the leak so with me on the helm and my First Mate Eilo, manning the manual bilge pump, we motored back to the boat yard in Nanny Cay.  All the time I’m thinking this will be another several thousand dollar odyssey.  We called in hoping we could persuade the boat maintenance guys to hang in there before they departed for the day, it being late Friday afternoon and knowing how much the islanders love and respect their weekends. We got in and very casually one of the mechanics climbed abroad and went below.  It took him all of 15 minutes to adjust the leaking seal and teach me how to do same for the next time it happens.  All very exciting and emotionally draining.  We will sleep good tonight as Aurora bobs around back in her familiar home.  Do boats have feelings and personalities?   Did Aurora spring the leak intentionally such that we would learn more about her care?  Makes you wonder…