Finished our taxes -- Sailing to Bahamas - Abacos?

We are getting ready to leave Fort Pierce with a plan to sail to Lake Worth in Palm Beach then go east across the Gulf Stream, 10 hours to West End or 24 hours to Great Sale Cay then 7 hours to our destination: Green Turtle Cay for entering the country! We are trying to do not to sail in the dark!   Everything must be in exclamation points because this, our fifth year, may be the time we finally go there!
Flags if entering Bahama waters - yellow quarantine flag and Bahama Courtesy flag!

  To get ready we leave all must-fixes to the last two days.  Don't ask why.  The dinghy is running after its oil change. Picture is of the outboard motor with the cover off.

We installed a new water pump after ours broke, and I bailed out 4 bins filled with water.  Good exercise for sure - upside down in a bin bailing water into a pail then lifting it to the sink - many, many times.  Check out the difference between the old and new rubber plates from inside the pumps.

water pump

 I asked Drew to walk me through an oil and filter change for Shawnee - man, that is a yucky and long job.  We don't have an electric pump so I hand pumped for half an hour. (Probably will be Drew's (my) birthday gift.-an electric pump.)

Items to use in oil change:  Pump, waste

  Changed the impeller, though it is working fine, it's been a long time.  Should change after 600 hours.   We've gone 638.  The first time we changed an impeller was just south of Cape Cod Canal, where we dramatically dropped the anchor quickly after the engine stopped dead.  The first clue to the problem was that no water was coming out of the stern exhaust.  Fortunately the water temperature was 10 degrees warmer on the south side of the canal.  I dove in with mask on to explore the water intake hole under the boat where water comes in to cool the engine when it's running.  I used a straightened hanger to clean/scrape out muscle shells lodged in the hole.  It was our first emergency.  We worked on it with the manual in my hands and the wrench in Drew's to replace the rubber impeller that came out in pieces.
Today the problem was the impeller was not in pieces so we have to pull it off a gear whole, and it's stuck.  Our friend recommended getting an impeller puller tool - (I don't like one purpose tools, however...) Who knew?  Off to good ole West Marine where they had one in stock on Easter Sunday.
 We wondered about the fins going in opposite directions but it's okay.  They go in
the right direction when the engine is on.

We replaced the impeller.  The plate is scored from use, so Drew filed it down smooth.

We replaced the fuel filter.

We found about a pint of water in the Racon fuel filter. We checked to make sure there wasn't any water in the bottom of the fuel tank (water is heavier than diesel fuel) by putting a clear tube in the bottom of the fuel tank and pumping it up and looking.  The pink is fuel - no water came up.  Hurray!  Can't have water in the fuel tank!

Drew restarted the water maker installing 2 new filters after 2 years of non-use, and it started up.  Hurray!

Drew found out it is best with Home Land Security if we get a Decal and Transponder Online Procurement System - DTOPS decal ($28) with a registration number for re-entering the country by boat.  When we re-enter we need to go to immigration.  He also added to our Boat US Insurance for the Bahamas for $88 that is refunded upon return.

When we enter the Bahamas only the Captain can get off of the boat and go to the immigration office to show the boat documentation, passports, and Bahamian dog health certificate (applied for earlier).

AND NOW . . .  your moment of zen - the Queens Island Fort Pierce Beach.