A (near) Fiasco with a Silver Lining

The windy weather finally broke and we had the weather window that we had been waiting for come up, we gave the seas one more day to settle while we played in the sunshine and water.  We were all prepped to make our jump to Eleuthera when, as noted previously, my iPad broke.  I handled it poorly. Instead of using our much anticipated weather window to head south, we headed north in a frantic attempt to get back to Marsh Harbor so that I could ship it back to the United States.  The warranty was up in less than two weeks. We passed boat after boat heading south, all of them taking advantage of the weather window we were giving up, it was painful sail  motor. Adding to the frenzy, if we could get the device dropped off and repaired in time a fellow cruising friend would be able to pick it up and bring it back with her by plane the following week as she was flying back into the Bahamas.  This sounded like a plan and on the surface seemed like it would be pretty simple on both ends. Unfortunately I ended up dragging her into my mess.   “Overnight” shipping in the Islands turns out to be “overnight for 4 nights”.  Sweeeet, but that was only the first tiny bump in the road.  I ran into a roadblock with Apple, in which I will spare you the boring details, but I used up $40.00 in phone cards and two months worth of data, and many frustrating hours in a failed attempt of having the warranty repair completed in time.  It came to the point that I was so frustrated that I had lost the ability to be nice, making me feel like crap and I am sure the last person I talked to feel the same.  Not good.  It was definitely time to stop, refocus and take a breath. A little perspective was in order. It is just an electronic gadget.

Yes, on one level the whole situation blew up into an unnecessary (near) fiasco. But,  now that I have stopped and taken a breath, I can see the grander picture.  Cruisers have a reputation of being the type of people who help each other out.  I was very much on the receiving end this week and am ever so grateful for the fellow cruising couple went out of their way (and busy schedule) to help me.  Thank you, thank you to the cat with the adorable dog .  Our turn to pay it forward!  All around us other cruisers had REAL problems, and all around us we saw everyone helping each other out.  Boat names seem unnecessary but, one needed help picking up parts that were delivered while he was still a few islands away (and trust me, I can see why he wouldn’t want to leave the package unattended after dealing with the shipping “company” this week!), one needed help with a broken stern tube (for my non-boaty friends, the boat was leaking), one needed a new generator picked up and brought down-island (all those grey days I keep talking about, solar panels don’t do much on those days!), and another needed help getting into a slip without an engine (Ugh).  Everyone was gladly helped by another cruiser.  We are lucky to be surrounded by such wonderful company.  Life is all good.  ………And it will be even better once another weather window comes about!

**If you read this, then I have found a successful way to update this little blog while waiting on my iPad to be returned, and at this point who knows when that will be!  Hope the formatting is workable.  Also, we love LOVE reading your comments so keep them coming: unfortunately, it may be a while before I can respond to them.  I promise, we aren’t ignoring you!