Friday, April 24, 2009
24 April - Day 51. Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink. It's time for us to take on water as the starboard tank is empty and the port only 1/4 full. Fresh water wouldn't normally be worth mentioning, but this is the Bahamas. The islands on the east side of Great Abaco have no fresh water wells. So, houses are built with cisterns, in lieu of basements or crawl spaces, and gutter fed downspouts direct water into them. By balancing rainfall and usage the average homeowner makes out fine. Marinas and other commercial users however must convert saltwater into freshwater by reverse osmosis (RO); an enery extensive and expensive process. Marinas here charge anywhere from $.20 to $.50 per gallon. It cost $18.80 to fill Nellie's tanks today. This will last us over two weeks and thus averages out to around $1/day (not a significant sum in the grand scheme of things ;-) At anchor in White Sound, Green Turtle Cay, Bahamas. 1nm today: 1302nm total. DBH
