Leaving George Town

Still in George Town but the forecast for the next few days looks favourable for us to make some distance to the east.  It difficult to try and satisfy all the requirements for a smooth sea, a wind off the beam and then time to see each destination.  We are aiming for the Dominican Republic but depending upon how the weather is will determine exactly where we go.  Doubt we will be able to post so this is a quick update.
George Town has been fun but we are ready to leave.  The wind has been blowing 15 to 20 gusting 20 to 25 almost constantly since last week.  Most of the time the sun has been shining and as we are anchored in the lee of a place called Stocking Island we are pretty well protected and the boat is not moving much.  The main problem is that the town is a short dingy ride away across the bay and the wind can whip up quite a fetch.  The first time Nic, Beth and the kids tried it they came back with a dingy full of water and all of them absolutely drenched.  So now we get our wet weather gear on to go to town even though we have clear blue skies.
Beth has joined the crew and is settling in well.  She seems to have adapted to the life at anchor rather well although it has been fairly relaxed.  She did her first lesson with Calley today which seemed to go well - no tears anyway.  One great thing about Beth being with us is that it gives the kids a break from each other.  Nic also really likes having her onboard to chat to and to help out.  Will have to see how she goes with the sailing.

New Dulcinea Crew - Beth 

We had a major issue last week in that the low pressure feed pump for the watermaker started smoking. We pulled it out and tried to get it looked at but there was little chance.  This next two week period is probably the only time when we need a watermaker.  We will be in the outer islands with relatively few resources.  First step was to used water containers to fill the tanks.  Given the containers are 6gal and we hold about 350gal you can imagine what a pain that was.  Luckily we were over half full already.  Next Scott was speaking with a couple of other people and after looking closely at the pump specs decided we may be able to wire in a different type of pump which we had onboard as a spare for the domestic supply.
Just finished the test run of the watermaker and it seems to be working.  Just as well as a new pump is made to order and would take 2 to 3 weeks for delivery.
It has been pretty relaxed in George Town over the last week.  We have been trying to hit the school books each day although there are a lot of other distractions.  There is an active community of cruisers and the beach is the focus of any activity.  We have met a few people and so there is never any shortage of company.  Calley as always has found some new friends.

Calley and friends feeding the rays

Need to get the boat ship shape.  Hope the Australians had a good 26th Jan and all the Scots a fabulous Burns night.