Still Dancing in the Rain: March 15, returned from our sailing trip

March 5, 2015 – Port Lucaya to West End

Left on Thursday at 10:55 after much debate on whether to wait another day. Of course it's wavy as hell, bouncy, rolling waves, double the forecast size and even worse as we approached the harbour probably doubling in size, again.

Lots of freighters to dodge (in slow motion).

One of many freighters

Bill and Gerry both said it would get better after the harbour and it did in a way – waves were bigger but longer so the ride was smoother but then there was the odd wave that wanted into the cockpit so now not only am I half seasick but wet too.

Then it started to rain (forecast 0%). Gerry ducked inside but I thought someone should be watching for rogue waves or freighters. I popped open my umbrella and experienced scorching sun on my legs – stretched out in front, bracing me so I wouldn't lose my seat - and a steady stream of rain cooling them off at the same time. Finally dropped anchor (for the 2^nd time) at West End at 6:33. First time was not a good place, too many waves so we moved where I had suggested earlier but was firmly told it was too shallow and open to the ocean. Apparently there was a deep spot he had forgotten about.

Time to assess the chaos. Didn't have to go far – the bathroom counter was awash in salt water. I kid you not; the seacock to the sink hadn't been properly closed which in itself wouldn't have caused this much water. We had placed the solar shower bag full of water in the sink, the hose had come off and it had more than a sink full of water in it, hence the mess on the counter and floor. The second mishap was also in the head. I attempted to flush and it wasn't working, at all. Gerry tried, then asked if maybe something had fallen in. Yes indeed, my small bottle of coconut oil had managed to leap over the counter railing and was just the right size to get wedged in there. Fortunately I got it out without too much trouble, unfortunately it was beyond saving so out it went.

Full moon rising

Was totally wiped from all the day's good fun so tried to go to sleep early. Was not to be. At 9 p.m. the boat started to roll. Side to side 5 times, then pause, side to side 5 times, then pause, for half an hour (tide was turning). Finally stopped and then we heard the anchor and/or chain dragging over the flat rocks. Gerry turned the engine on, just in case and went forward to check things out. We hadn't really moved although the GPS said we were on the rock wall, stupid thing. Guess what happened 6 hours later, yes, rolling rolling, chain dragging. I didn't get back to sleep until 5, every time I heard the chain I got up to see if we were any closer to the boat behind us.

Friday March 6 West End to Great Sale

Despite lack of sleep was awake at 7 but we didn't really get moving until after 9. I don't know which is worse: navigating through a narrow channel with constant course corrections for 1.5 hours or the hours upon hours of gazing at nothing but water with minor corrections.

Navigating with the iPad

Hitchhiker

As usual on our journeys a little bird landed on the boat and stayed until we turned on some music when he opted to ride in the dinghy.

The only island we passed was Mangrove Cay at 3:00 and except for a few powerboats and one sailboat there was absolutely nothing to see. Not even the clouds were entertaining.

Gerry fastened my umbrella to the winch handle.

Finally arrived at Great Sale Cay, creeping in between the boats after dark. Gerry picked 2 boats (on radar) to get between and of course that's where we are, exactly in between at 7:07 p.m.

Sunset Great Sale Cay

Saturday March 7 Great Sale Cay

Woke up at 7, all was calm, until 8 when a fierce wind and dark clouds swept over Great Sale Cay and stayed all day. At least 2 other boats had arrived after we did making it 10 boats overnight. Only one braved the elements and took off and during the day 3 more arrived. We hunkered down for the day, listening in on conversations on the VHF radio which came in clear while the weather report was totally garbled. Gerry replaced the engine's water pump belt and tightened the refrigerator one. I didn't accomplish much except a bit of reading and I made a crude version of The Game out of a cereal box.

It's 8:44, the wind is still roaring, the halyard is still clanging, the boat is still rocking and it's raining, again. Is it time for bed yet?

Here's a snapshot of the GPS showing how much the boat “sailed on anchor” while we were here, an impossibility. There is something definitely wrong with the system.

March 8, Sunday Great Sale Cay to Allan/Pensacola Cay

Time change last night so we don't really know what time it is. Neither one of us has a watch; will our gizmos update the time without being told to by the internet gods? I finally thought to look at the camera, yes the gizmos updated the time. Wind had died a bit, but it's ENE, not what we want. On the bright side (pun intended) the sun is shining, so what the hell let's see where we can get to.

Leaving Great Sale Cay

It all started out so grand – for the first hour (motor sailing), even saw a dolphin and another one later. The waves got higher and we had to tack. The sudden shift made worse by the waves made Otto slip his belts! Last year we couldn't find a proper replacement belt but Les managed to find 2 smaller ones that put on together would work. So off with the wheel while the boat is heeled way way over and pitching through the waves. Not my idea of fun. The belts refused to lie flat where they belonged, but guess what Gerry had found, just yesterday, while sorting through some boxes – a proper replacement belt! We managed to wrestle things back into place, going in circles only once and were back on course. It's then that I noticed Great Sale Cay just barely off to our left – to my dismay we have not made much headway.

Tacking course line

Wind and waves had now picked up and this is where Les and Steve would have yelled “put more sail up” and Chris and Anita would have yelled “no, no, reef the sails, reef them.”

Dropping the hook.

So we're bouncing along and Gerry announces that in a few miles we'll have to tack again. I look at the wind indicator and ask “Why not now?” He started to feed me some nonsense about apparent wind but I wasn't buying it. A few minutes later, we're tacking. Apparently I was right. At 2 p.m. we're still not going where we want to and it's getting rougher so we give up, pull in the sail, point into the wind and waves and carry on by motor, aimed directly at Allans/Pensacola. Closer we got the smoother the ride.

March 9 Monday Allans/Pensacola Cay

Beautiful sunny day, dark clouds in the distance but they stayed there. Not moving today. I tidied up, Gerry changed the fuel filter (with a little help). Yesterday the engine kept slowing down all by itself, then sped up again. Makes one a little nervous. Fuel filter was disgusting. Around 1 we decided to get off the boat, first time since Thursday morning.

Paradise

Ramblynn

Nice beach but water was weedy further out.

So I'm sitting in the water with my umbrella and suddenly notice a beautiful shell that I know was not there when I sat down. 'Twas a baby conch. Check out his little eyes before he moves and his "foot" pushing out the back.

When we got back Gerry cleaned the bottom of the boat and I took a shower (what could be fairer?), washing and brushing my hair for the first time since Thursday (I didn't brush my hair until today wondering if it would turn rastafarian. When I used the don't-need-to-rinse-out conditioner it magically dissolved the few tangles I had so I've given up. Gerry was not going to shave till we got back but I couldn't take it any more so he's back to shaving. A red letter day isn't it?

Right after sunset a sailboat came tearing in, obviously in a hurry to get here and drop anchor before dark because some people, like him, don't use anchor lights so you can't see them. He raced by us, stopped halfway between us and a powerboat, turned, raced back, turned, got back between us and the powerboat boat and dropped his anchor, strange. Even though he was only a few boat lengths away it was so dark that we couldn't see any trace of him, idiot.

Gerry's new boat beacon: solar rope lights wrapped around the man overboard pole (think it works for women too). With these, the anchor light and the patio solar light we are definitely lit up enough so everyone can see us.

Anita, we watched the stars for you, the big dipper was spectacular, standing straight up on its handle.

March 10 Allans to Powell

Beautiful sunny day, stiff breeze. Hoisted anchor around 9:30, outta there like a herd of confused turtles. I was trying to steer with the GPS so I could go out the same way we came in but of course the little triangle boat wasn't going where I thought it should and I looked up just in time to steer away from the nice family in the next boat.

This was our track last night despite the fact that we motored straight in and immediately dropped the anchor.

So this has eliminated the short cut option past Spence Rock. The water is too shallow to trust the GPS, Gerry doesn't want to go back through West End (historically a bad trip from there to Freeport) so it's right around the Abacos this trip, about 200 nautical miles. If we average 5 knots that's 40 hours.

The shipwreck is still near Hog Cay and there seems to be a lot more houses there as well. You can see a giant container in the middle of them.

Sailboat on the rocks.

New houses on Hog Cay

We're poking along at 3 knots right into the wind and waves and of course the waves are building. No need for pesky sails today but we're going nowhere fast and taking a beating. Gerry finally revs the engine faster so we'll have time to explore the island before dinner so now we're flying at 4.5 knots.

At least today there's more to see: more islands and more boats. Mostly power boats.

We arrived at 1 p.m., lots of time to rest and explore.

Powell anchorage

Powell beach

The beach appeared barren but I managed to scrounge a few treasures. Found 2 baby conch but one was still alive so I threw it into deeper water. Spotted a sea turtle bobbing along but didn't have the camera, oh well.

The first 3 days I got to stand behind the wheel carrying out instructions while Gerry dropped the anchor. Somehow our rolls have been reversed. First time it refused to go, Gerry had to run forward and give it a whack. Second time I whacked it and it dropped but I thought it should stop when I turned the winch handle once but it didn't so Gerry had to run forward once again (I hit it so hard it spun the handle around more than once). The third time I got it going out but then it stopped. I kept pulling it out of the anchor locker and then chaos; it got out of its track around the winch and was free flowing out. Gerry had to come forward again. I figure 3 strikes and I'm out, right? Gerry says “Not likely.”

March 11 Powell to Manjack

GPS messed up again last night.

Woke to incessant squeaking noise, went on and on and I couldn't find the source until I looked up. White birds with really really long tails were circling the boat, squeaking away. They were still doing it when we left Powell around 9:30. Looked it up online, might be Tropicbirds.

When Gerry switched over to the other water tank we discovered it was empty. Must be a leak or someone forgot to fill both tanks. We have plenty of drinking water so there's no need to panic.

I think these past few days we get up, see which way the wind is and aim straight into it. The waves always start off small and continually grow, today they were at least 3 feet by the time we arrived around 11. I dropped the anchor successfully but it didn't set so Gerry dove it, having me move the boat up and then back – I didn't run him over, and made sure the little boats full of tourists didn't either.

Happy Hour

Around 4 all the tourists had left so we puttered into the cove looking for the ray we had encountered last time we were here. We skimmed over a really big one and then saw a smaller one, then we ran aground. Didn't break anything but paddled to shore instead of motoring. There were 2 little sharks in the water and Gerry kept urging me to wade in deep for a photo. I gave it a try but they never got close enough.

Decided to visit the other side of the island and found a lovely deserted beach.

Cove on the other side of Manjack

Manjack sunset

SPOT location

March 12 Manjack back to Powell

Another faulty GPS track overnight – is this an omen?

Haven't entirely decided which way to go home so we're backtracking to Powell from which we could go either way.

Fastening boom vang to toe rail so we don't accidentally jibe.

Finally really sailing. Started with engine running to cool the fridge and charge the batteries. Set off before noon, both sails up, almost 5 knots. After a while we cut the engine, dropped almost a knot but well worth the loss in speed for the peace and quiet.

Skimming Abaco

After purposely jibing we skimmed along the coast of Abaco running close to 5 knots, eventually turning slightly to aim right for Powell and picked up to 6 knots. What a great day for sailing.

Dropped anchor (successfully) early in the day and soon discovered that the fridge had not been working and my computer was dead. Captain Gerry managed to jury rig the fridge but alas, nothing could resuscitate my computer. A very sad situation.

Cove on other side of Powell Cay.

Decided to check out the other side of Powell where we took lots of photos but the SD card had not been put back into the camera so we only got as many as would fit in the internal memory – 10.

Strange roots.

Lots of dead Australian Pines.

We think this tree has roots at different levels due to the sand being higher later in its life.

A good day mostly, but let's take stock of what has happened the last few days: flooded bathroom; plugged toilet; phone keeps quitting (weather report); can't create a hot spot on the phone; replaced autopilot belt, engine water pump belt, fuel filter; computer died; water tanks empty; fridge on the edge of working; Gerry cut his hand on a tin can; broke my umbrella; GPS is unreliable; I burnt myself on the cast iron frying pan; lost a few photos; and I'm not sleeping well due to rough seas and racket. Did I miss anything?

March 13 Powell to Great Sale

Working with the last weather report we can either make a run for home going back through West End or mess around for another week and hope we have good weather to go the long way around. I staged a mini mutiny based on my gut feelings and we headed back the way we came.

Left Powell around 10, a beautiful sunny day. Eighteen knots of following wind. We managed 5.5 knots most of the day just using the main, jib was useless without a whisker pole.

Lowrance - 6 knots, 22.2 feet of water.

This is how to sail wing on wing.

Great Sale Cay sunset - OMG Gerry without a hat.

An absolutely wonderful day of sailing with just a few rolling waves. I went below for a while to get out of the sun and to enjoy the quietness of just sailing, listening to the water rushing by the hull. Anchor down around 7:30.

Passing Little Sale Cay, just a rock.

March 14 Great Sale Cay to West End

Great Sale sunrise.

Last night we had decided to leave Lowrance on and compare his overnight tracking to the GPS on the iPad. Guess what, according to both we didn't budge. I'm taking that as a sign that we did the right thing.

Another great day of sailing, not much to do so I took a bunch of pictures of passing boats and videos. Wasn't much wave action so I tried to take a nap; most of our anchorages have been bouncy and with lots of banging halyards and broken lazy jacks. Of course as soon as I laid down the waves got bigger and the boat started bouncing. Eventually I gave up, went back out, Gerry went in and the waves calmed right down

We passed Mangrove Cay, again, which is supposedly one giant mangrove.

According to Windfinder the wind was supposed to be NE – it was clearly SW. Even our secondary wind indicator doesn't know where the wind is coming from. Can't rely on anything.

Anchored near "Possible Anchorage"

We navigated back down the narrow channel near West End and then veered off to a safe anchorage, successfully dropping the anchor at 5:45.

SPOT location

March 15 West End to Port Lucaya

Awoke to find 3 boats anchored right in the passage. Didn't really think that was very polite but they moved off before we got to them.

They all went north.

Wind is calm, waves aren't a problem so we set sail for Port Lucaya around 7:30. Unfortunately lack of wind means we had to motor sail. This time when we passed the harbour not a single freighter threatened to get in our way. Saw tons of flying fish and one beautiful frigate (bird).