Andros Island Orphanage - Letter from Rudy Vedovell

This report was an update from my last visit to the orphanage last may when we sailed to Andros Island on our sailboat with several boxes of supplies, appliances and gifts. It saved pastor randy 6 flights to carry these supplies and gifts to the 0rphanage.   We sailed from there back to Florida where the boat was stored for the summer.

 Last November, after the hurricane season, we sailed the boat from Fort Meyers to Andros and on to Man-o-War, over 500 miles, in order to reach our destinations.   The crew consisted of my wife and a good sailing friend.  The voyage was accomplished with great success and we were blessed by God to have a perfect day to sail into Morgan’s Bluff Harbor on a perfect day with a very favorable breeze from the Southeast.  This is a very exposed harbor for any North winds and I was very concerned about this. Pastor Kevin, who is in charge of the orphanage, was there to meet us with his truck and we were pleased to deliver to the orphanage a 60 lb container of paint primer and three 30 lb grout bags for caulking the tile they were going to use to finish the dining room.   Also included in our cargo list were 14 gift packs from some friends from Livonia, who wanted to do something for the orphans.   We also included 14 backpacks for the incoming orphans.  

 They are now putting the finishing touches on the orphanage and I am very pleased to report that they expect to finish in the next few months.   After the orphanage building is completed they are planning on building a quest house for visitors to use.   This would make for a very interesting and nice vacation for anyone interested because they could fly to Nassau to see Atlantis for few days and then go on to Andros, which has a nice airport in Nicholstown.  Also, we will be building a house for Pastor Kevin and his wife.   We had a nice visit at the orphanage and had to leave that same day in a hurry because bad weather was heading our way so we sailed all night. 

The big-time storm hit just before reaching the abacus right at the cut through reefs at Little Harbor in the wee hours of the morning. We were able make a safe anchorage in the harbor at 4:00 am.  One last comment: I have been a sailor for 63 years. I bought my first sailboat in 1951 and joined the US Coast Guard Reserve (served for 10 years) in that same year. During the Korean War I was called to active duty. After my tour of duty, I was back to sailing my 18 ft sailboat. I have really been blessed to have sailed all over the Great Lakes including 26 Mackinac races, around the world crossing all three of the great oceans, through the Bermuda Triangle, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico and cruising the Bahamas for past 18 years.   There is always something unexpected that happens. I have survived pirate attacks off Ecuador, vulture attacks in Florida bay, many storms at sea…but never was I struck by lightning.   Nautilus is the name of my 39 ft cutter and I have spent 18 winters living on board while surviving two 120 + knot hurricanes on mooring the past two summers.   I though the boat would safe stored in Florida this past summer, but guess what? It was struck by lightning.  It was not a direct hit down the mast, but close to the back end of boat and the bolt blasted through concrete!   It did give us some problems and delays with insurance claims but we were able to finally get going.  

 It is my hope to get over to see the orphanage when it is completed sometime after my arrival February 1st and give a report to the membership then.   Thanks to Jim Meier he will help then to complete a DVD program to show the membership.

Sent to Gary Bogle from Rudy Vedovell and edited (image added) by Terri Smith - 1/21/14