Category Archives: Cruising
Track Data – 5/1/2010
Track Data – 4/30/2010
Track Data – 4/29/2010
Track Data – 4/27/2010
Heck of a Storm
We started back to Maine on Sunday and I had planned our route with much care. We would surely stop at Thunderball Cave where the snorkeling was fabulous but we didn’t have an underwater camera the first time we went. That was a no brainer, then there was Black Point; unparalleled laundry services, the best in the Bahamas without argument. Back to either Wardrick Wells or Cambridge in the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park to do a bit more snorkeling before heading out to Eleuthera. Eleuthera would involve no real pleasure stops just overnight anchorages on the way to the Abacos.
That was before Chris Parker announced the Heck of a Storm, Chris is the weather guru that all the cruisers listen to. It was too, a heck of a storm. It came in suddenly and even though we were expecting high winds we weren’t expecting this. We had, in fact changed our plans based on the info that was available, skipped Black Point which is open to the west and did laundry by hand. We anchored instead at Staniel Cay, between Big and Little Major Islands. In the Exumas there aren’t many places that have good protection from all sides and this storm was predicted to clock around and come from the west first and then swing all the way around to the East.
Sure enough we went to town in the early afternoon and just after we finished our ice cream and headed for the dinghy I noticed a rather foreboding looking cloudbank moving rapidly towards us. We grabbed the fuel tanks, filled them as fast as we could and jumped into the dinghy. Unfortunately we were already doomed. We’d dawdled too long watching the local fisherman feed nurse sharks and now we were in for it.
The winds were 15-20 directly at us as we hurled across the water towards Passages. We couldn’t even begin to stay dry. The waves were pushed towards us by the wind and broke and sprayed over the dinghy. With each boat length of progress we made the four of us got pelted with water, even with my sunglasses on I couldn’t see in front of us due to the buckets of saltwater that were covering my face. I wondered that Boyd could even see to stay on course. But we were making progress and it appeared to be in the general direction of the boat, until, about half way across the bay the dinghy engine stopped.
Yep, just like that, no more engine. The wind and the waves immediately turned us towards the shore. Ironically we were headed right for the sailboat that was ship wrecked in the bay before we arrived. Boyd tried valiantly to restart the dinghy outboard while Paul grabbed for the oars. Boyd being unsuccessful, Paul began to heave on the oars with all his might, to no avail. We just washed closer to the shore.
I was hoping that we could at least make it to the big catamaran anchored about 100 yards away but it quickly became apparent that there was no way to direct the boat with that much current and wind. Fortunately the owners of the catamaran saw our plight and jumped in their dinghy. They came and grabbed our painter and hauled us to their boat where Boyd was able to get the engine started.
By this time the wind had increased, we were all soaked to the bone and it had started to rain, hard, it felt like little bb’s in the wind. The couple on the cat, named Dances with Dolphins generously offered to let us stay and Nicole and I gratefully accepted. The guys however had to go on, to get back to Passages, in case the anchor dragged someone needed to be aboard to keep her from going aground.
Boyd and Paul returned to Passages with no further engine malfunctions, closed up against the wind, started the engine and stood ready for about an hour until the storm subsided some and the rain stopped. At that point Boyd came back and retrieved Nicole and I. The owners Dances with Dolphins were awful nice, in addition to rescuing us they gave Nicole and I clean dry towels to dry off with, jackets to warm up in and they even made a big bowl of popcorn as a snack.
Nicole played fetch endlessly with their little dog named Bailey and overall it was a nice enough time, considering it was a heck of a storm. Several other boats dragged in the storm but no one ran aground in our anchorage and the boat that was “outside” when the storm came in eventually made it in to safe harbor some time the next morning. I bet they have an even more interesting story to tell about their experience in the “heck of a storm”.
Indefinitely Delayed in Georgetown
We had planned to receive one more guest in Georgetown so when we left our 2nd guest off on the 14th we were prepared to have one more arrive on the 19th. The idea had been to stay that week for the annual Georgetown Regatta (#52) to be exact. When we found that our last guest of the trip wouldn’t be able to join us as expected we were a bit unsure what we should do.
Should we take advantage of the extra week and leave early to the Abacos and spend the time there? Would we be better served to begin our transit to the US early and use the extra time as a buffer or bad weather contingency for our return trip to Maine? Would we regret not staying and watching the regatta?
As the anchorage began to fill with new boats and the airwaves in the morning began to become even more heavily trafficked we did what any good cruiser would have done, nothing. We thought about moving north but without any significant wind advantage it seemed less appealing than staying. The kids found new friends and old ones that were coming in daily on the incoming boats and each morning the social calendar filled with birthday parties and baby showers, dinners with friends, and trips to town.
We provisioned and filled the water tanks, took “last” strolls on the beaches, collected “last” seashells (I mean it not one more will fit on the boat, except I’m the one with the problem, I can’t leave them alone). It was all very relaxed and yet seemed a swirl of constant activity.
In addition to the 75-100 boats that are here to participate in the races there are now between 300-400 cruisers in all manner of sail and powerboats here to watch the races. Some of the cruisers even participate in the races if the local boats need more crew. ??There have been 3 races per day for the last few days. There are arts and crafts booths, “fair” food Bahamian style, the local band has played music in the street. The straw market which is usually a relaxed laid back place has been brimming with activity.
Nicole finally learned to plait, which is what they call weaving palm fronds to make the famous local straw handbags. It’s been really fun and Nicole caught on quite quickly.??We finally got it together enough to pick a day to leave, the last Friday prior to the big Saturday final races was it. We were planning to leave first thing in the morning Saturday but right away when we turned on the radio in the morning there was a call on the VHF radio appealing to the cruisers for some more kids.
On Saturday they have a kids race and apparently the racer have to have to have a minimum of 2 kids per boat to participate. The racers prefer kids that are 14 to 16 but have few locals to choose from as most of the local don’t sail and surprisingly many don’t swim. So come Saturday morning at 8 am they were still short a fair number of kids so Nicole was asked if she’d like to try racing Bahamian sailboats and she said sure so off we rushed without breakfast.
We loaded her onto a boat and then proceeded in following the race around the harbor as the boats beat upwind, rounded the marks and then finally screamed toward the finish line. There were three races and Nicole’s boat never came in even in the first three but she had a fabulous time! ??Then, Paul, who didn’t qualify as a kid because he is 18 (knife through the heart there) got asked to race in the 1pm adults race so as soon as we got Nicole off her boat we ran her and Paul in to town to eat some lunch and then took Paul out to his assigned boat.
His boat didn’t win either but he also had the most wonderful time and couldn’t stop talking about it when he finally got done with the race. By the time Paul raced the wind had picked up and accordingly so had the waves, these boats, a bigger variety of the ones that Nicole was on heel over with just a bit of wind and they all have long boards called pikes that the crew all hike out on to keep the boat balanced. In addition to the increased wind and wave action the course was more challenging and Paul was completely soaked (and beaming) when he got through.
So as you can see we have been indefinitely delayed in Georgetown. Tell me, if you will, how you could possibly say no to birthday parties, Bahamian “fair” food, dinner with friends and still more shells. We for one couldn’t seem to. Hopefully the future will be less interesting, or we may never leave.
VHF Entertainment
Years ago when my mother was young she tells me that there was no TV and that people sat around the FM radio on Sunday nights after dinner and listened to the stories and music that issued forth from that amazing invention. Still later, in my childhood I remember the telephone lines in Alaska being “party lines”.
For cruisers the VHF radio, while often a powerful tool for communication and safety is also a suitable substitute for the combined purpose of the FM radio and telephone “party line” style. For those of you to young to remember the old radio or party line phone system (or to stubborn to admit you remember it), I’ll refresh you.
The FM radio used to have weekly programs like “The Shadow Knows” and others for entertainment purposes, whole families would (as I’m told) sit around and listen in amazement and amusement as the stories unfolded.
The local house phone came a little later and the first iteration of that invention involved multiple houses on the same phone line. If you were lucky enough to have a phone at home it was likely that you shared the line with others on your block or in your area. This, I remember was sometimes somewhat amusing and could be, from time to time rather annoying.
The party line phone worked like this. Each of 3-4 families, depending on the area, shared the same phone wires. Lines went to each house but none were to just one house. When a call came in to your house it would ring a “special” ring that indicated that the call was for you. At other times when a call was for your neighbor it would ring as well but “their” ring rather than yours. If you had a particularly nosey neighbor there was nothing to stop them from picking up on your incoming call and listening in, thus the “party line”. In fairness, even if you weren’t a nosey neighbor it was impossible to tell whether there was a party on the line without picking it up and listening in.
The VHF is in many ways a combination of these two historical pieces of techknowlegy. In the cruiser community, especially where the cruisers dot the anchorage like here in Georgetown, the VHF is on on most boats virtually all the time. The hailing frequency varies from anchorage to anchorage but for all intents and purposes it is the “phone” of the cruisers. It is also, most definitely a party line. Don’t for a moment be lulled into thinking that this is any way a private form of communication.
As a result the VHF is also a never-ending source of entertainment and, as with the radio stories of old, new and interesting stories unfold each night on the VHF. Some of the funnies ones unfold without our meaning to listen in as this one did.
When calling another boat rather than a ring there is a boat name and the hail goes, “Passages, Passages, Passages this is Taua”. The hailed boat responds “Taua, this is Passages, switch to 69” to indicate the channel that the conversation is meant to continue on (this is done to keep the hailing channel clear for hailing and with the intent of some assurance of privacy) the later is a flagrant and blatant exaggeration as everyone on the radio is equally able to switch to 69 or any other channel named.
Last night we had the radio on, after dinner as it happened to be and on a Sunday night just to make the story better, when a boat called Independence hailed a boat called Lost Marbles. So the hail went, “Lost Marbles, Lost Marbles, Lost Marbles, this is Independence”. Lost Marbles came back, Independence, this is Lost Marbles how you doing?” Independence doing the “right” thing responded, “Pick a channel” to which Lost Marbles said “Okay”. For about thirty seconds there was radio silence as Independence waited for Lost Marbles to communicate the channel he’d picked. Lost Marbles, however, had already changed to the channel he’d picked and was happily awaiting the continued conversations there.
After about 30 seconds the poor boat Independence (who was also now lost) came on again, “Lost Marbles. Pick a channel? Lost Marbles, Lost Marbles?” The kids and I dissolved into giggles. This I assure you is better than standup.
Within a couple of minutes, Lost Marbles, realizing that no one had joined him on the channel he’d picked came back to the original channel and sheepishly shared the channel he’d picked with Independence (and the rest of us) so as to continue the “party” conversation.
Magic Beans is Dragging
The hail heard on the VHF is one no boater wants to hear, Magic Beans is dragging”. Nearly everyone, if they are on board of their vessel, pop their heads out of the companionway hatch to see if they can spot the affected boat. A high percentage of the anchorage who are near enough to spot the boat jump into their dinghies.
There is no coast guard here. Even in the states the Coast Guard, good as they may be, don’t respond this fast. Within seconds the first dinghy arrives with crew who jump aboard the boat that is dragging it’s anchor, yes today it really was a boat called Magic Beans. Within a couple of minutes (at the most) they are joined by a couple more dinghies and in less than 5 minutes the boat is surrounded by dinghies of all sizes and there are more captains than any boat should have.
Even though the boat is relatively close and we can easily see the action we don’t move to leave our boat. We are prepared instead to move our boat should it become necessary. Besides if any more people climb on this little sailboat it might just swamp.
It’s windy today, Chris Parker (the weather guru that nearly every cruiser in the Bahamas listens to has called it a Compression Zone. This term makes the cruisers shutter and put out more scope. It’s an area that is centered between to weather systems, the area between gets squeezed and the wind produced it often very high. That is, in fact. the case today and tomorrow and for the next couple of days we will get wind. It’s supposed to range between 25 and 35 knots, which is quite windy.
Magic Beans dragged anchor and at least a dozen dinghies responded in less than 5 minutes with crew and lines and pushed the offending boat away from the other boats who were still securely anchored but weren’t safe now that there was a boat dragging through the anchorage. In no time they secured the boat and either using engines or dinghy power had the boat turned around and headed back for it’s original spot.
The anchor hauled up and reset someone on the new “crew” donned a mask and snorkel and dove overboard to check the set of the anchor and make certain that the new anchor spot was better than the old one.
Once the boat was re-anchored and all involved were satisfied that the job was done right the crowd of dinghies and make shift crew dispersed and disappeared back into their own boats. All was quite again in the anchorage.
Christopher Columbus Monument
After Dean’s blue hole and trip to the southern end of Long Island, which really does seem like a LONG island, we headed home to the boats again. Seeing a grocery store that was still open, Monika and I decided we’d like to grab some fresh veggies before returning to the boats. Our plan was to have lamb curry together on Passages before turning n for the evening. It was after 8 pm when we left the grocery store and fully 9:30 before we ate dinner.
Tired as we were we had a great time and were happy to share yet another full and fabulous day with the crew of Taua.