We will mark last night on our calendar as a great night. We were invited to dinner and a shower. Who could ask for more! Victor, his wife Dina and their two children Halee and Erin were amazing. Victor does the supply ordering for the boatyard here in Marsh Harbour, so we have visited with him just a little in the office and maybe a minute or two while we are working on the boat.
Victor is a nice guy from Nassau who moved here with his family a few years ago to get out of the city and improve their quality of life. His wife Dina is a black Bahamian from the same area while he is a white Bahamian. They call their children “bright”, not referring to their intelligence, which of course they are quite smart, but due to their skin color. Most of the Bahamas are open to interracial marriages, although a few of the outer Cays are not. Dina was telling me that her family is so proud to have bright grandchildren and that in time they will become their own race according to “They” who determine race. This must be the “Race Committee” who sets these standards and preside “Somewhere”.
I enjoyed listening to Dina tell stories about her family, I felt taken back into a time where what family you came from was important and gave you admittance into someone else’s family. Some of it sounded like “Alabama” since no one strays too far from home, not that there is any practical way to leave or go anywhere else for that matter, so cousins marry cousins and no one thinks twice about it… and everyone is related!
Dina then sent me to the bathroom for what she called a tubby, which is a good soak in the bathtub. It was heaven, I love a good soak on a cold night and lately I had been dreaming about the long lost hot bubble baths that I once enjoyed as a landlubber but gave up for this life of…. Oh yeah…adventure. I felt a little awkward not having to rush, pump and hide (standard operating procedures on the deck of SongBird) but I managed to do my best at relaxing. I even attempted to put some makeup on, it had been so long that I forget the order of what goes on when and where so had one eye that was a little worse for the wear, regardless I did look and feel better!
We enjoyed grilled Bull Fish, which is a local white mild fish, conch fritters with spicy dip, a salad and the tiniest fresh corn on the cob I have ever seen, but so sweet! This family was just a joy to us, to offer us showers, food, and friendship was beyond our ability to express our true feelings of thanks.
We miss our friends, we can’t just call someone up and say hey, let’s get together or what are you doing, or anything else for that matter. We rely on the people around us to be friendly and open to strangers. This has given us a broader perspective of the big picture when it comes to strangers in a strange land. I love living free to invite anyone over at anytime… not the people you know but the ones you don’t. I love the freedom to give someone a bit of food just because they are working near your boat and look like they could use a hand of kindness. The people who offer us a ride, just because we are walking down the road and look like we need a ride. The stranger who invites us to come to dinner and use their shower just because we need one, the people who offer the shower on their boat for our use just because they have one and we don’t... these are the acts of kindness that cannot go unaccounted for. We have to return the kindness, we are responsible to return the acts of generosity and we become driven to do the same for others. We may say we are strangers in a strange land but we aren’t, not really. We’re from the family of humanity, born on the same planet, breathing the same air, passing the same unfamiliar person who wants a friend and needs to be loved. Does our perspective grow small the longer we live in the familiar, the unchallenged, the unbothered, and the unthreatened? Maybe, mine did. So now living in the unfamiliar, full of challenges I am gaining a new perspective, or more accurately remembering an old perspective… hold your hands palms up, then you will be open to give and receive at all times.
Well, enough of that, I do really wish I was a wordsmith, had clear thoughts, could keep things in their right tense, be eloquent and well… make sense, then I think I would enjoy writing more and you dear friends would enjoy reading this blog much more betterer!
Monday, January 26, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
Mates Log 1.23.09
This on the hard stuff, working hard and freezing has not been our idea of a good time. Carey’s body is starting to show signs of wear, I am now sick and the weather is very cold. We are still working away because we pay for everyday we are here, so we have to make the most of our time so we can get off this land and head south to warmer weather.
It has been in the 50’s the past few days and it is predicted to stay this way through the weekend, this is not usual for this place either. We don’t have heat, we don’t have insulation and we don’t have hot water, except for what we boil. Normally these things are not an issue but lately I have been dreaming of sitting in a huge hot bubble bath and feeling warm all over. We have a pump sprayer that we use for a shower which works well but when the wind is howling at 30 knots and the air is cold and raining we elect the military style of bathing. Our hair suffers.
We hope to be here for only a week more, but as I recall we are usually way off with our departure dates. Make it two and we’ll let you know!
Thanks for staying in touch, it’s a little lonely here so we love your emails! We really miss our kids.
Lisa and Carey AKA Sick and Tired
Life on Abaco:
The Atlantic Ocean is called the Big Pond.
There is one radio station.
Weather is broadcasted twice a day at 7am and 8am and only Monday thru Friday.
Every morning the radio starts with devotions and then a good morning to those people who are having to get up so early (7am) to go to work and where they are working.
All day Sunday is Christian broadcasting.
We have been enjoying all the Bahamian style music.
We have never had to walk the full way to and from town, someone always stops and gives us a ride.
There are three pay phones in town but only one works and they are all located outside the phone company office.
Cruisers net is broadcasted on channel 68 on the VHF radio from 8:15am to 9am.
Weather, national, international, financial and sports news are all broadcasted along with island activities. Cruisers and businesses from all over the area participate.
Everyone here is happy to see Obama as president.
It has been in the 50’s the past few days and it is predicted to stay this way through the weekend, this is not usual for this place either. We don’t have heat, we don’t have insulation and we don’t have hot water, except for what we boil. Normally these things are not an issue but lately I have been dreaming of sitting in a huge hot bubble bath and feeling warm all over. We have a pump sprayer that we use for a shower which works well but when the wind is howling at 30 knots and the air is cold and raining we elect the military style of bathing. Our hair suffers.
We hope to be here for only a week more, but as I recall we are usually way off with our departure dates. Make it two and we’ll let you know!
Thanks for staying in touch, it’s a little lonely here so we love your emails! We really miss our kids.
Lisa and Carey AKA Sick and Tired
Life on Abaco:
The Atlantic Ocean is called the Big Pond.
There is one radio station.
Weather is broadcasted twice a day at 7am and 8am and only Monday thru Friday.
Every morning the radio starts with devotions and then a good morning to those people who are having to get up so early (7am) to go to work and where they are working.
All day Sunday is Christian broadcasting.
We have been enjoying all the Bahamian style music.
We have never had to walk the full way to and from town, someone always stops and gives us a ride.
There are three pay phones in town but only one works and they are all located outside the phone company office.
Cruisers net is broadcasted on channel 68 on the VHF radio from 8:15am to 9am.
Weather, national, international, financial and sports news are all broadcasted along with island activities. Cruisers and businesses from all over the area participate.
Everyone here is happy to see Obama as president.
Paint and the Gremlins
Mates Log 1.22.09
I painted today. I’ve been painting a fair amount lately. Today I decided to paint the bathroom, it’s not a huge bathroom but it’s a nice size, especially for a boat. I don’t really like painting, I’m not all that great at it and I usually end up with as much paint on myself as what I happen to be painting. I have been painting the deck of the boat and it has actually been going quite well, the paint stays on the deck and I walk away not looking like a paint bucket. Yesterday I mentioned to Carey that I felt I was getting better at this painting stuff and feeling more confident in my abilities.
In my confidence I decided to paint the bathroom. All was going well until half way through the project when the paint gremlins showed up. I’m not sure where they come from, and I have never actually seen one but I know they exist. I have also never been able to avoid the paint gremlins, but was hoping my luck had changed since the deck paint had been going so well. You know you have been attacked by the gremlins when you walk away from your painting project full of paint.
The gremlins started by splattering paint on me. I would turn around and there they were slapping paint on an arm or a hand or a neck. I would bend over and the next thing I know there would be paint on my pants. I had to duck to get into a tight spot and sure enough they put paint in my hair. Next they started attacking the woodwork trim so I knew things were going downhill fast. I was going to be doomed if I didn’t do something soon. I started to hurry, trying to get done before any more of these devious creatures showed up and the boat and I ended up in some real trouble!
I only had a little bit of painting left on the floor. I don’t understand how they do what they do but they are good at it. I was grateful that I was almost done; I back up to get more paint on my roller when all of a sudden the paint bucket shows up on my left foot! I am now left with having to stand on one foot while I finish my painting. I start to move things out of the way so I don’t get paint on anything else, since by now I am a walking paint tray. I’m hoping the paint gremlins have left so I can clean up my mess in peace. But noooo… they aren’t finished with me yet. Every time I move paint starts flying off of me and on to something else! This is now truly becoming a disaster. I don’t call Carey for help because no one wants to this watch this kind of madness.
I stop, drop and roll down the hull until I come to the two steps that go up to the salon. I am pretty sure I have now outsmarted these gremlins and they will leave me alone. I crawl up the steps to the galley. I discover that I also have paint on my one paintless foot, the only thing I thought was left on my body that was not full of paint. I surrender, I start yelling into the air that I don’t care how much paint they get on me, or anything else for that matter, go ahead paint away you beasts! Nothing happens… I have now taken the fun out of their game.
I put the foot that had landed in the bucket in the sink, my attempts with water and rag had turned out to be futile. My position is now left foot high up in the sink, bum half on the counter, and right foot hanging down, not quite reaching the foot pump on the floor that sits part way under the counter. I stretch as much as possible and those long toes that my sister always made fun of, come to my rescue. I can just barely pump water onto my foot so I am able to get the worst of the paint off. The next foot is much easier and I am once again standing on my own two feet.
I start the slow process of cleaning up the mess, which of course by now has spread to the galley. Carey walks in and I tell him to forget I ever said that I was getting better at this painting stuff… he takes one look at me and says “Maybe I’ll just have those leftover biscuits for lunch today.”
I painted today. I’ve been painting a fair amount lately. Today I decided to paint the bathroom, it’s not a huge bathroom but it’s a nice size, especially for a boat. I don’t really like painting, I’m not all that great at it and I usually end up with as much paint on myself as what I happen to be painting. I have been painting the deck of the boat and it has actually been going quite well, the paint stays on the deck and I walk away not looking like a paint bucket. Yesterday I mentioned to Carey that I felt I was getting better at this painting stuff and feeling more confident in my abilities.
In my confidence I decided to paint the bathroom. All was going well until half way through the project when the paint gremlins showed up. I’m not sure where they come from, and I have never actually seen one but I know they exist. I have also never been able to avoid the paint gremlins, but was hoping my luck had changed since the deck paint had been going so well. You know you have been attacked by the gremlins when you walk away from your painting project full of paint.
The gremlins started by splattering paint on me. I would turn around and there they were slapping paint on an arm or a hand or a neck. I would bend over and the next thing I know there would be paint on my pants. I had to duck to get into a tight spot and sure enough they put paint in my hair. Next they started attacking the woodwork trim so I knew things were going downhill fast. I was going to be doomed if I didn’t do something soon. I started to hurry, trying to get done before any more of these devious creatures showed up and the boat and I ended up in some real trouble!
I only had a little bit of painting left on the floor. I don’t understand how they do what they do but they are good at it. I was grateful that I was almost done; I back up to get more paint on my roller when all of a sudden the paint bucket shows up on my left foot! I am now left with having to stand on one foot while I finish my painting. I start to move things out of the way so I don’t get paint on anything else, since by now I am a walking paint tray. I’m hoping the paint gremlins have left so I can clean up my mess in peace. But noooo… they aren’t finished with me yet. Every time I move paint starts flying off of me and on to something else! This is now truly becoming a disaster. I don’t call Carey for help because no one wants to this watch this kind of madness.
I stop, drop and roll down the hull until I come to the two steps that go up to the salon. I am pretty sure I have now outsmarted these gremlins and they will leave me alone. I crawl up the steps to the galley. I discover that I also have paint on my one paintless foot, the only thing I thought was left on my body that was not full of paint. I surrender, I start yelling into the air that I don’t care how much paint they get on me, or anything else for that matter, go ahead paint away you beasts! Nothing happens… I have now taken the fun out of their game.
I put the foot that had landed in the bucket in the sink, my attempts with water and rag had turned out to be futile. My position is now left foot high up in the sink, bum half on the counter, and right foot hanging down, not quite reaching the foot pump on the floor that sits part way under the counter. I stretch as much as possible and those long toes that my sister always made fun of, come to my rescue. I can just barely pump water onto my foot so I am able to get the worst of the paint off. The next foot is much easier and I am once again standing on my own two feet.
I start the slow process of cleaning up the mess, which of course by now has spread to the galley. Carey walks in and I tell him to forget I ever said that I was getting better at this painting stuff… he takes one look at me and says “Maybe I’ll just have those leftover biscuits for lunch today.”
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Mates Log 1.15.09 On The Hard
On the hard…Marsh Harbor Boat Yard, Marsh Harbor, Abaco, Bahamas:
Today marks our tenth day on the hard. “On the hard”… did you know most of you live “on the hard”; of course not, you thought you lived on land. Well, if you are a cruiser and your boat is on land, assuming your boat has not gone aground or been thrown up on land by a hurricane, you live “on the hard”. Hopefully, your boat is in a boat yard by intent at which time you can announce you live on the hard. It’s a different lifestyle on the hard; for starters, there is no movement, at least not in our current world. I found that when I heard a boat coming by the yard I had the expectation and sensation of rocking that would normally be created by a wake. This is where Pavlov’s dogs conditioning came into play and started messing with me. It took me about a week before I stopped rocking all together. Of course there are some disadvantages to living on the hard; if you fall overboard your chances of breaking a leg are greater. Since you can’t dump your toilet or get it pumped out your goal is to try and put as little water in your holding tank as possible, this causes air pollution that requires an air quality alert. So instead of the old, sick, and young having to stay inside until conditions improve, all are required to stay outside until further notice (a true disadvantage at night). Your air freshener bill increases as you count the days before your departure, which you can’t really predict because everything depends on how long your body holds up under all the work.
We spend our days grinding, sanding, patching, sanding, painting, sanding some more and painting again… actually Carey spends his days this way while I mix mine up with making new hatch covers to replace the ones we lost while submarine-ing, cleaning, de-molding from the same said event and reorganizing. I am also looking at what we need to move to take weight off forward and move more aft. While in Hope Town we noticed how far below the water line the bow of the boat was sitting. I figured we had to be taking on water somewhere and was concerned we might slowly sink. Carey checked forward and could not find anything so he felt sure we’d be OK for while anyway. Of course this type of thing is what my dreams are now made of… or more accurately my nightmares! Once we were out of the water I opened what are suppose to be air tight compartments for flotation at the very front of each of the amas (how’s that for a term? These are what the hulls are called on a catamaran). Sure enough the starboard side was full with about 70 gallons of water! We aren’t sure if the locker floor cracked while we were pounding our way to “the cut” or if it had been going on for some time, but either way it was a lot of weight and explained the “sinking”. One more thing to repair.
I recently discovered the difference between a rope, a line and a sheet, although they all look like what I have called rope my whole life. I can only hope to get it right in the throes of some unforeseen stressful situation and not embarrass myself in the process. When a rope is connected to a sail it is now called a sheet and if a piece of rope is in use on a boat it is now called a line, everything else is a rope until further notice.
We are now in a fight with the local flies and no see ums’… those nasty little bugs you can’t see but are all teeth. They like this place and enjoy coming inside out of the weather. Another thing we do is examine the bottom of the boat… a lot. The more Carey looks at what needs to be done, the more he finds to do, so is considering quitting now.
It’s two miles to town, and floods when it rains. It costs $5 and hour to be online if you bring your own computer and $10 an hour if you use their computer. Salad dressing is $11 a bottle. Everyone here is very friendly; we were sitting down taking a break while looking at the map when some kids pull a U-turn in their car to ask us if we needed help. The only pay phones in town are at the phone company office, there are three, they never all work at the same time. Laundry is $2.50 per wash and 25 cents a minute to dry. There is no social life in the boat yard. There is no produce at the grocery store on Tuesdays, until late in the day. There is no public transportation but anyone will pick you up and give you a ride if you stick your thumb out.
On the news this morning the announcer urged parents to be sure to send their kids off to school with a jacket and not just a sweater, since the high temperature was only going to be seventy-two degrees today and not to worry, this cold snap would only last a couple of days.
Everyone smiles and says, how are you. There is not a lot of cussing here and kind words are many. Christianity is the national religion and all the locals believe God smiles on the Bahamas… we think they’re right.
We miss our kids terribly!!
So there you have it, nothing new, nothing exciting and nothing much to report. Just workin’, grindin’, sandin’, patchin’ and paintin’ and livin’ the life on the hard.
Today marks our tenth day on the hard. “On the hard”… did you know most of you live “on the hard”; of course not, you thought you lived on land. Well, if you are a cruiser and your boat is on land, assuming your boat has not gone aground or been thrown up on land by a hurricane, you live “on the hard”. Hopefully, your boat is in a boat yard by intent at which time you can announce you live on the hard. It’s a different lifestyle on the hard; for starters, there is no movement, at least not in our current world. I found that when I heard a boat coming by the yard I had the expectation and sensation of rocking that would normally be created by a wake. This is where Pavlov’s dogs conditioning came into play and started messing with me. It took me about a week before I stopped rocking all together. Of course there are some disadvantages to living on the hard; if you fall overboard your chances of breaking a leg are greater. Since you can’t dump your toilet or get it pumped out your goal is to try and put as little water in your holding tank as possible, this causes air pollution that requires an air quality alert. So instead of the old, sick, and young having to stay inside until conditions improve, all are required to stay outside until further notice (a true disadvantage at night). Your air freshener bill increases as you count the days before your departure, which you can’t really predict because everything depends on how long your body holds up under all the work.
We spend our days grinding, sanding, patching, sanding, painting, sanding some more and painting again… actually Carey spends his days this way while I mix mine up with making new hatch covers to replace the ones we lost while submarine-ing, cleaning, de-molding from the same said event and reorganizing. I am also looking at what we need to move to take weight off forward and move more aft. While in Hope Town we noticed how far below the water line the bow of the boat was sitting. I figured we had to be taking on water somewhere and was concerned we might slowly sink. Carey checked forward and could not find anything so he felt sure we’d be OK for while anyway. Of course this type of thing is what my dreams are now made of… or more accurately my nightmares! Once we were out of the water I opened what are suppose to be air tight compartments for flotation at the very front of each of the amas (how’s that for a term? These are what the hulls are called on a catamaran). Sure enough the starboard side was full with about 70 gallons of water! We aren’t sure if the locker floor cracked while we were pounding our way to “the cut” or if it had been going on for some time, but either way it was a lot of weight and explained the “sinking”. One more thing to repair.
I recently discovered the difference between a rope, a line and a sheet, although they all look like what I have called rope my whole life. I can only hope to get it right in the throes of some unforeseen stressful situation and not embarrass myself in the process. When a rope is connected to a sail it is now called a sheet and if a piece of rope is in use on a boat it is now called a line, everything else is a rope until further notice.
We are now in a fight with the local flies and no see ums’… those nasty little bugs you can’t see but are all teeth. They like this place and enjoy coming inside out of the weather. Another thing we do is examine the bottom of the boat… a lot. The more Carey looks at what needs to be done, the more he finds to do, so is considering quitting now.
It’s two miles to town, and floods when it rains. It costs $5 and hour to be online if you bring your own computer and $10 an hour if you use their computer. Salad dressing is $11 a bottle. Everyone here is very friendly; we were sitting down taking a break while looking at the map when some kids pull a U-turn in their car to ask us if we needed help. The only pay phones in town are at the phone company office, there are three, they never all work at the same time. Laundry is $2.50 per wash and 25 cents a minute to dry. There is no social life in the boat yard. There is no produce at the grocery store on Tuesdays, until late in the day. There is no public transportation but anyone will pick you up and give you a ride if you stick your thumb out.
On the news this morning the announcer urged parents to be sure to send their kids off to school with a jacket and not just a sweater, since the high temperature was only going to be seventy-two degrees today and not to worry, this cold snap would only last a couple of days.
Everyone smiles and says, how are you. There is not a lot of cussing here and kind words are many. Christianity is the national religion and all the locals believe God smiles on the Bahamas… we think they’re right.
We miss our kids terribly!!
So there you have it, nothing new, nothing exciting and nothing much to report. Just workin’, grindin’, sandin’, patchin’ and paintin’ and livin’ the life on the hard.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Random Information
Random Information
When you arrive in the Bahamas you are to fly a yellow flag (Q flag) to indicate that you have not cleared customs. To clear customs only the boat captain goes to the customs office with all the passports from his boat. He will return with the paper work to be filled out by the crew and passengers. He then returns to the customs office with the paper work and pays all fees. Once he returns the Q flag is lowered and the country flag is flow, this is called a courtesy flag.
Around the islands VHF radios are used a lot to save money on phones.
Kalik is the local beer and there is a lot of it.
A can of coke costs $3 at Atlantis.
Drive on the left.
Food is very expensive.
Marinas are expensive.
You can flag a bus anywhere in Nassau by putting your hand out and moving your thumb and fingers together quickly.
You can get off the bus anywhere by yelling, 'bus stop'.
The drinking water is a little salty because it is brought in on tankers from Andros, and if they suck the aquifers too much it draws out the salt.
You always want to say, 'hello, how are you?' before asking a question, or you will be considered rude.
The bank in Hope Town is open from 10am to 2pm on Tuesdays
You can drop your trash off on Mon. Wed and Fri from 6am to 9:30am on Mon. Wed. and Fridays.
A shower costs $4 in Hope Town.
When you arrive in the Bahamas you are to fly a yellow flag (Q flag) to indicate that you have not cleared customs. To clear customs only the boat captain goes to the customs office with all the passports from his boat. He will return with the paper work to be filled out by the crew and passengers. He then returns to the customs office with the paper work and pays all fees. Once he returns the Q flag is lowered and the country flag is flow, this is called a courtesy flag.
Around the islands VHF radios are used a lot to save money on phones.
Kalik is the local beer and there is a lot of it.
A can of coke costs $3 at Atlantis.
Drive on the left.
Food is very expensive.
Marinas are expensive.
You can flag a bus anywhere in Nassau by putting your hand out and moving your thumb and fingers together quickly.
You can get off the bus anywhere by yelling, 'bus stop'.
The drinking water is a little salty because it is brought in on tankers from Andros, and if they suck the aquifers too much it draws out the salt.
You always want to say, 'hello, how are you?' before asking a question, or you will be considered rude.
The bank in Hope Town is open from 10am to 2pm on Tuesdays
You can drop your trash off on Mon. Wed and Fri from 6am to 9:30am on Mon. Wed. and Fridays.
A shower costs $4 in Hope Town.
Big Seas!!
Mates Log:
Monday Dec. 29th, 2008. We left Nassau yesterday at 9am, without any problems while leaving the dock, and even looking like we knew what we were doing. Actually, it was beautiful, the spot we were in did not allow us to just back out and leave, it was more complicated than that. Carey had to back out towards another dock, move forward towards the boat next to us, and then back out into the harbor. It was flawless, no close calls, no pushing off, no heroics and no obscene hand gestures. People were watching and giving us the hi-five and the atta boy. I couldn’t help but wonder if these were some of the same people who were present at our fist Nassau arrival.
I spend the next ten minutes stowing lines and fenders before I sit down and say goodbye to Nassau. It’s a lovely day and the winds and seas are supposed to be in our favor… or so we think. How wrong we were, and I do mean wrong. I’m still not sure what we missed because the winds were as predicted but the seas were way bigger than predicted. If we had waited another day there would not have been enough wind but the seas would have been flatter.
Once we are out of the channel the seas pick up, white caps are becoming more frequent and the troughs are increasingly getting deeper. We raise the mainsail and the jenny; the winds are just starboard of the bow. SongBird does not seem to want to sail close enough to the wind, or we have not yet discovered the trick. We comment on how well SongBird rides in this type of sea and are again thankful for the catamaran. I head down for another seasick pill, just in case. From here I cannot recall the exact order of events, and the order doesn’t much really matter. What does matter to us is that they happened and we are still here to tell about it. OK, so, that may be a little dramatic!
The seas are mounting and I am feeling worse by the minute (I have not had any problems with this seasick stuff since we first went to Bimini). SongBird is getting slammed by the waves and shutters when hit hard. We don’t have excessive bridge deck clearance which is the distance the salon sits above the water. The waves are starting to come over the port bow and are getting us wet. It looks lovely and is exciting to see... this is about the end of the fun. Next, the waves start rolling over the top deck on the port bow and we are starting to feel like a rising submarine when all the water rushes off the decks. I come inside the salon area and discover that the front ports that we usually leave open while under sail are taking in some water, the side ports are also taking in a little water, I close them or so I think (see lessons learned).
I go back outside; the troughs are, or at least seem huge, 10-12 feet, and what we believe to be a conservative estimate. Water is everywhere, on the decks, the seats, the cockpit area and us! I go inside to lie down; I am feeling awful and I can tell it’s going to be a long day… I had no idea how long. The front ports start to leak again, they were not completely latched, and I get wetter and colder. I get up to see what’s happening outside… lots of big seas, lots of water and lots of nausea. I go back in and lay down again on the seats in the salon. I hear, but don’t want to open my eyes to look, that the water is cascading down the salon windows on a fairly regular basis, and I begin to wonder just how waterproof and sealed up we are.
Once everything is properly latched no more water enters the boat. All of a sudden, water starts rolling over the roof of the salon and cascades down through the top hatch which is located right over my head and chest… sigh… I get a face and mouth full of water, I am now completely drenched. It is not a good day, and life on a boat is not good either. Carey gets me towels and discovers the hatch has two locking positions (see lessons learned) I get up and lay down on the other side of the seating area. I can’t really deal with this as I’m afraid I will vomit all over the place, and the last thing I want to do is clean up puke and sea water. I am freezing, sick, and feeling guilty I am not out there giving Carey moral support. When he needs my help he asks me for it and I give it to him, but as soon as he’s done with me, I’m back in the salon lying down on the seat, soaking wet, and miserable. I continue to lay and listen to all the water coming over the boat, and the shuddering when we run into a mountain of a wave. I know we won’t sink or die, although dying sounds like a pleasant relief about now.
At 12:30 in the morning Carey gets me off the water soaked seat and informs me we are getting ready to head through “the cut”. “The cut” is narrow and shallow, there are breakers and coral heads to avoid… and we are planning to maneuver it in the middle of the night! Under normal circumstances, or at least circumstances where we have our sanity, we would never attempt to do such a thing, but we don’t have much choice at the moment, and our sanity is in question since we are desperate for calm waters.
We have a handheld GPS and chartplotter, and a remote for the autopilot. Carey will be inside the salon area with the chart, the plotter, and the remote, while I sit outside keeping watch. He shows me on the chart the shallows, the coral heads and the breakers that we will be trying to miss. I know he can do this because he knows he can do this, and I trust his judgment, but I’m still not sure about our sanity. I keep watch… it is a moonless night, full of stars, but no light whatsoever except the lit beacon flashing every 4 seconds to indicate the cut!
I start to hear the breakers and get the flashlight out… yeah, right. All of a sudden we take a sharp turn to starboard and I hear and feel the wave… we have found a breaker. Wide eyed, I tell Carey that we are now surfing in a wave heading to starboard. He can see what we have done on the handheld and corrects our course with the remote control. He says this reminds him of playing video games, I’m really hoping he is a good player. The engines are full throttle and the sails are still up. He wants to shoot through the cut as fast as possible so we don’t get taken in by the breakers. It's working and we are back on course. We continue through the cut, surfing waves to some degree with erratic motion, when all of a sudden everything is calm and peaceful… just like that. We lower the sails, and again thank God for His hand on us.
We head north to where we want to anchor for the next two nights. It’s so dark we can only see a few dim anchor lights and lots of stars; it’s not easy to tell the difference. We anchor and sit back to try and let the adrenaline settle before we head off to bed. It’s 1:30 in the morning, and again we know why sailors drink so much.
The next morning we get up and start to assess the damage and clean up the mess from the events of the day before. Stuff is everywhere and everything is wet. I check on the port side in the forward berth to discover that a small line from the hatch cover was caught in the hatch which caused the hatch to leak. The berth is full of water which had also washed over the side of the berth and into the head. We lost 2 hatch covers, and the port side tramp lines are frayed and started to unravel, thus leaving a flapping trampoline. Fortunately the tramps were not damaged. The lines for the tramps on the starboard side were only frayed and will also need to be replaced. No major damage was done, for which we are very thankful.
Today all I want to do is sit on unmovable land. I know we will still have the sensation of rocking even though we will not be on the boat, but I don’t care… I just want to know we aren’t moving. We find a lovely beach and we have it all to ourselves. We read, go hunting for seashells and have a picnic… all on hard, solid ground that does not rock. Today is a good solid day.
After two calm and peaceful nights we head off to Hope Town which was established by British loyalists in 1795. Hope Town is on Elbow Cay and is such a quaint and charming place. There are a lot of tourists here this time of year as Junkanoo is planned for New Years. The lighthouse here is the last manned lighthouse in the Bahamas and uses vaporized Kerosene to make the light. The inlet is protected and full of boats from all over the world.
I wish I could stop here and tell you we came in, found a mooring and all went perfect. Well, of course I can’t because most everything we do is new, so it seems everything has to become an event… and an event it was!
We came into this lovely harbor full of boats on moorings. It’s crowded and there are only a few mooring left. We find one we want to use, pull up perfectly to it but it’s painted with 'NOT FOR RENT', so we have to abandon that idea. Carey moves around the other boats, gets to an outside edge and sees the mooring he wants… I say honey this water is churned up, don’t you think we should raise the dagger boards a little? He says no sweetheart, we need the maneuverability. Not 10 seconds later I say honey I think the dagger board is hitting… no it is hitting… no it is stuck… so much for maneuverability! So, now here we are stuck, run aground for our first time, in a small harbor full of boats! Some things seem so unjust! It takes us about 10 minutes to pull the dagger board loose. We wonder about putting handles on top of the boards and how a comealong may have helped. In the meantime another boat has entered the harbor and taken our mooring. We weave in and out of boats until we find one last mooring on an end spot… this is good. We have one miss but the second time around we hook it, tie up and again settle down talking about cruising and drinking and the whys.
A man on a boat comes up and collects our money for the next two nights. We lower the dinghy and head off to Capt’n Jacks for dinner where we sit outside and watch the sunset over the harbor. It’s a lovely scene. It is all so quaint, with water and boats everywhere, people coming to dinner in their dinghies, tying up to the dock, locals and tourists alike, dressed up for a nice date or in boat clothes, wrinkles and all. It’s fun to watch. We really like this place and would find it a nice place to live, but it’s been discovered and real estate is outrageous.
Today we take a tour of the area in the dinghy, climb 120 steps to the top of the lighthouse and walk over to the other side of the island and eat our lunch. The views are spectacular and the water is unbelievable. Tomorrow we will spend at the beach, snorkeling, as we plan on leaving here Friday to head to Marsh Harbor on Great Abaco. This is where we will haul out SongBird and give her a fresh coat of paint. We are hoping this will only take about 2 weeks but we don’t really know. We do plan on staying on the boat while on the hard.
Lessons Learned
The hatches have two options for being in a closed position. One is only slightly opened for ventilation, while being able to be locked. The other is in the fully closed and locked position which is preferable in large seas.
Make sure nothing is caught in any hatch.
When the water is churned up it’s because it’s shallow.
Raise dagger boards in shallow water.
Dagger boards can be used as an extra anchor in shallow waters… not!
We draw 3ft with the boards UP
Carey’s trying to tell himself to stop stressing so much over everything.
Monday Dec. 29th, 2008. We left Nassau yesterday at 9am, without any problems while leaving the dock, and even looking like we knew what we were doing. Actually, it was beautiful, the spot we were in did not allow us to just back out and leave, it was more complicated than that. Carey had to back out towards another dock, move forward towards the boat next to us, and then back out into the harbor. It was flawless, no close calls, no pushing off, no heroics and no obscene hand gestures. People were watching and giving us the hi-five and the atta boy. I couldn’t help but wonder if these were some of the same people who were present at our fist Nassau arrival.
I spend the next ten minutes stowing lines and fenders before I sit down and say goodbye to Nassau. It’s a lovely day and the winds and seas are supposed to be in our favor… or so we think. How wrong we were, and I do mean wrong. I’m still not sure what we missed because the winds were as predicted but the seas were way bigger than predicted. If we had waited another day there would not have been enough wind but the seas would have been flatter.
Once we are out of the channel the seas pick up, white caps are becoming more frequent and the troughs are increasingly getting deeper. We raise the mainsail and the jenny; the winds are just starboard of the bow. SongBird does not seem to want to sail close enough to the wind, or we have not yet discovered the trick. We comment on how well SongBird rides in this type of sea and are again thankful for the catamaran. I head down for another seasick pill, just in case. From here I cannot recall the exact order of events, and the order doesn’t much really matter. What does matter to us is that they happened and we are still here to tell about it. OK, so, that may be a little dramatic!
The seas are mounting and I am feeling worse by the minute (I have not had any problems with this seasick stuff since we first went to Bimini). SongBird is getting slammed by the waves and shutters when hit hard. We don’t have excessive bridge deck clearance which is the distance the salon sits above the water. The waves are starting to come over the port bow and are getting us wet. It looks lovely and is exciting to see... this is about the end of the fun. Next, the waves start rolling over the top deck on the port bow and we are starting to feel like a rising submarine when all the water rushes off the decks. I come inside the salon area and discover that the front ports that we usually leave open while under sail are taking in some water, the side ports are also taking in a little water, I close them or so I think (see lessons learned).
I go back outside; the troughs are, or at least seem huge, 10-12 feet, and what we believe to be a conservative estimate. Water is everywhere, on the decks, the seats, the cockpit area and us! I go inside to lie down; I am feeling awful and I can tell it’s going to be a long day… I had no idea how long. The front ports start to leak again, they were not completely latched, and I get wetter and colder. I get up to see what’s happening outside… lots of big seas, lots of water and lots of nausea. I go back in and lay down again on the seats in the salon. I hear, but don’t want to open my eyes to look, that the water is cascading down the salon windows on a fairly regular basis, and I begin to wonder just how waterproof and sealed up we are.
Once everything is properly latched no more water enters the boat. All of a sudden, water starts rolling over the roof of the salon and cascades down through the top hatch which is located right over my head and chest… sigh… I get a face and mouth full of water, I am now completely drenched. It is not a good day, and life on a boat is not good either. Carey gets me towels and discovers the hatch has two locking positions (see lessons learned) I get up and lay down on the other side of the seating area. I can’t really deal with this as I’m afraid I will vomit all over the place, and the last thing I want to do is clean up puke and sea water. I am freezing, sick, and feeling guilty I am not out there giving Carey moral support. When he needs my help he asks me for it and I give it to him, but as soon as he’s done with me, I’m back in the salon lying down on the seat, soaking wet, and miserable. I continue to lay and listen to all the water coming over the boat, and the shuddering when we run into a mountain of a wave. I know we won’t sink or die, although dying sounds like a pleasant relief about now.
At 12:30 in the morning Carey gets me off the water soaked seat and informs me we are getting ready to head through “the cut”. “The cut” is narrow and shallow, there are breakers and coral heads to avoid… and we are planning to maneuver it in the middle of the night! Under normal circumstances, or at least circumstances where we have our sanity, we would never attempt to do such a thing, but we don’t have much choice at the moment, and our sanity is in question since we are desperate for calm waters.
We have a handheld GPS and chartplotter, and a remote for the autopilot. Carey will be inside the salon area with the chart, the plotter, and the remote, while I sit outside keeping watch. He shows me on the chart the shallows, the coral heads and the breakers that we will be trying to miss. I know he can do this because he knows he can do this, and I trust his judgment, but I’m still not sure about our sanity. I keep watch… it is a moonless night, full of stars, but no light whatsoever except the lit beacon flashing every 4 seconds to indicate the cut!
I start to hear the breakers and get the flashlight out… yeah, right. All of a sudden we take a sharp turn to starboard and I hear and feel the wave… we have found a breaker. Wide eyed, I tell Carey that we are now surfing in a wave heading to starboard. He can see what we have done on the handheld and corrects our course with the remote control. He says this reminds him of playing video games, I’m really hoping he is a good player. The engines are full throttle and the sails are still up. He wants to shoot through the cut as fast as possible so we don’t get taken in by the breakers. It's working and we are back on course. We continue through the cut, surfing waves to some degree with erratic motion, when all of a sudden everything is calm and peaceful… just like that. We lower the sails, and again thank God for His hand on us.
We head north to where we want to anchor for the next two nights. It’s so dark we can only see a few dim anchor lights and lots of stars; it’s not easy to tell the difference. We anchor and sit back to try and let the adrenaline settle before we head off to bed. It’s 1:30 in the morning, and again we know why sailors drink so much.
The next morning we get up and start to assess the damage and clean up the mess from the events of the day before. Stuff is everywhere and everything is wet. I check on the port side in the forward berth to discover that a small line from the hatch cover was caught in the hatch which caused the hatch to leak. The berth is full of water which had also washed over the side of the berth and into the head. We lost 2 hatch covers, and the port side tramp lines are frayed and started to unravel, thus leaving a flapping trampoline. Fortunately the tramps were not damaged. The lines for the tramps on the starboard side were only frayed and will also need to be replaced. No major damage was done, for which we are very thankful.
Today all I want to do is sit on unmovable land. I know we will still have the sensation of rocking even though we will not be on the boat, but I don’t care… I just want to know we aren’t moving. We find a lovely beach and we have it all to ourselves. We read, go hunting for seashells and have a picnic… all on hard, solid ground that does not rock. Today is a good solid day.
After two calm and peaceful nights we head off to Hope Town which was established by British loyalists in 1795. Hope Town is on Elbow Cay and is such a quaint and charming place. There are a lot of tourists here this time of year as Junkanoo is planned for New Years. The lighthouse here is the last manned lighthouse in the Bahamas and uses vaporized Kerosene to make the light. The inlet is protected and full of boats from all over the world.
I wish I could stop here and tell you we came in, found a mooring and all went perfect. Well, of course I can’t because most everything we do is new, so it seems everything has to become an event… and an event it was!
We came into this lovely harbor full of boats on moorings. It’s crowded and there are only a few mooring left. We find one we want to use, pull up perfectly to it but it’s painted with 'NOT FOR RENT', so we have to abandon that idea. Carey moves around the other boats, gets to an outside edge and sees the mooring he wants… I say honey this water is churned up, don’t you think we should raise the dagger boards a little? He says no sweetheart, we need the maneuverability. Not 10 seconds later I say honey I think the dagger board is hitting… no it is hitting… no it is stuck… so much for maneuverability! So, now here we are stuck, run aground for our first time, in a small harbor full of boats! Some things seem so unjust! It takes us about 10 minutes to pull the dagger board loose. We wonder about putting handles on top of the boards and how a comealong may have helped. In the meantime another boat has entered the harbor and taken our mooring. We weave in and out of boats until we find one last mooring on an end spot… this is good. We have one miss but the second time around we hook it, tie up and again settle down talking about cruising and drinking and the whys.
A man on a boat comes up and collects our money for the next two nights. We lower the dinghy and head off to Capt’n Jacks for dinner where we sit outside and watch the sunset over the harbor. It’s a lovely scene. It is all so quaint, with water and boats everywhere, people coming to dinner in their dinghies, tying up to the dock, locals and tourists alike, dressed up for a nice date or in boat clothes, wrinkles and all. It’s fun to watch. We really like this place and would find it a nice place to live, but it’s been discovered and real estate is outrageous.
Today we take a tour of the area in the dinghy, climb 120 steps to the top of the lighthouse and walk over to the other side of the island and eat our lunch. The views are spectacular and the water is unbelievable. Tomorrow we will spend at the beach, snorkeling, as we plan on leaving here Friday to head to Marsh Harbor on Great Abaco. This is where we will haul out SongBird and give her a fresh coat of paint. We are hoping this will only take about 2 weeks but we don’t really know. We do plan on staying on the boat while on the hard.
Lessons Learned
The hatches have two options for being in a closed position. One is only slightly opened for ventilation, while being able to be locked. The other is in the fully closed and locked position which is preferable in large seas.
Make sure nothing is caught in any hatch.
When the water is churned up it’s because it’s shallow.
Raise dagger boards in shallow water.
Dagger boards can be used as an extra anchor in shallow waters… not!
We draw 3ft with the boards UP
Carey’s trying to tell himself to stop stressing so much over everything.
Friday, December 26, 2008
NASSAU NOTES
Mates Log: 15.12.2008
Today is Thursday the wind is still blowing the wrong direction for us to leave but the weather report confirms that Friday is still our day to head to Nassau. We start to prepare SongBird for our departure with a few basic checks, the first being to check on all of Otto’s parts, namely his steering gear on the port side under a swim step. To Carey’s surprise and frustration he has discovered that the potentiometer (this is the sensor for the rudder angle for the auto pilot) has broken off due to the link arm raising it up and down (the link arm will also have to be replaced if we don’t want this to continue to happen). A little JB Weld and 8 hours should do the trick for the potentiometer; the link arm will have to wait. The amazing thing is the potentiometer must have broken loose after we arrived at Chub Cay and once again the autopilot would have rendered itself useless! We cannot deny God’s hand on us… nor do we want to.
LEAVING CHUB CAY (pronounced key)
The weather report indicates that the wind will shift around 4am so we plan to leave at 4:30. We head off to bed early. Carey wakes me at 1:30 informing me that the wind has shifted and he wants to leave right away. He promises I can return to my peaceful sleep once we are underway. My mind is foggy and I don’t know why we can’t wait until a more decent hour, but what I do know is Carey has a good handle on the wind, waves and weather and I have no problem trusting his judgment or reasoning. I do have trouble waking up and finding the check list. Tom and Susan are also leaving today and we hope to see them in Nassau. Once out on deck I see the seas and understand why we are not waiting to leave. Our protected harbor is no long protected and the waves are mounting. Let me say this about that! In the dark everything is bigger. The land is closer, the waves are bigger and the deep troughs in between the waves are deeper yet. As I look out at the seascape I wonder what kind of sail we will have today, should I take seasick pills and if so how many! The seas look like our biggest yet! How will SongBird ride and will anything break today? Its dark… gads its 1:30 in the morning! Then the thought hits me… How will we see the bottom?! My hesitations start mounting, I’m tired, I’m foggy and I can’t get everything clear in my head… but again the thought haunts me… just how are we going to see the bottom? We always watch the bottom, it’s shallow in these parts, and the charts don’t claim 100% accuracy, coral heads sleep in these waters waiting for their prey, the bottom of boats. They linger near land, they roll around in the shallows seeking, trying to hide, preparing to hit with lighting speed while the unsuspecting captain plows onward. I can no longer deal with my haunting concerns to this lingering question, even though I know my husband is going to have a good answer for me and that my apprehension will prove to be ridiculous. I have to ask “Honey how are we going to see the bottom, it’s so dark?” “Sweetheart”, he patiently replies, “we are going to be in The Tongue of the Ocean”. I knew it! I knew I was going to feel ridiculous! The Tongue of the Ocean is 6,000 feet deep!
THE TOUNGE OF THE OCEAN according to Wikipedia:
The Tongue of the Ocean is the name of a deep oceanic trench in the Bahamas separating the islands of Andros and New Providence. The depth of the water drops from roughly 115 feet along Andros' east offshore barrier reef to over 6,000 ft, and the drop is roughly 100 miles long.
This channel - and the Providence Channel - are the two main branches of the Great Bahamas Canyon, a submerged geological feature formed by erosion during periods of lower sea level. During their early history the Tongue of the Ocean and the Providence Channels were broad, relatively shallow basins flanked by growing carbonate banks. As the Blake-Bahamas platform subsided, sedimentation kept pace with subsidence on the banks, but not in the basins. Many Bahamian people believe that this trench "feeds" the surrounding water area because many species of marine life emerge from it.
We pull anchor without any hitches, close calls or yelling over the wind. We are working on our hand signals for everything, its not been easy but we are improving. Underway, we raise the jib, Carey grabs a bowl of cereal and I head back to bed. Carey takes the first watch, he will make sure everything is working and that our sail choice is good. We are no longer able to use the screecher, our new whiskers have stretched too much and the sail is slightly sagging, I have raised it as high as it will go. I am concerned if we use the sail it will get beat up too much, requiring a replacement. To replace this sail alone would probably cost about $4,500… we treat them with great care.
The rhythm of the boat quickly puts me back to sleep. I have grown use to SongBirds movements and the slapping of the waves and I now find them very comforting. I am not sure how I will ever sleep on land again. I wake once the sun starts to come up and head up on deck to see how Carey is doing. He’s starts telling me how quiet and peaceful it was and how things were going along just fine when all of a sudden something landed on the deck right next to him…. It’s black out and he can’t see a thing but something is making a racket and he has no idea what it is! He grabs the flashlight aiming it in the direction of the noise… it’s a flying fish! How did this thing get all the way up on the deck and so far onto the boat? The fish is not on the edge of the deck but in the cockpit by the door! This thing is flopping around and he’s trying to pick it up to put it back into the water. We don’t have a fishing net, we weren’t sure we would need one; he’s having second thoughts about this decision. Finally he gets a hold of the fish and flings it back into the ocean. His heart is still beating and he wonders if the stress will ever end. There is something about being in a big deep ocean in the pitch black of the night experiencing flying things boarding your boat uninvited. It can be a bit unnerving so your imagination goes wild. You now know what it is but those moments before you have things under control you think you might die or worse yet get attacked by some undiscovered sea creature lurking in this very deep part of the ocean. OK, so maybe all that didn’t go through his head but it did cause his heart to do some healthy pounding and get his adrenaline going! He heads down below to sleep.
I settle in with my bowl of granola and grape nuts and watch the changing sky. It’s lovely this time of morning and I take in the view. The ocean is so deep here that there are no longer the light greens and turquoise colors that dominate this part of the world, only a deep dark blue with no end. When you sail in the Bahamas you feel as though you are sailing on top of a big sand bank. The waters are clearer here than in any other part of the world due to the high concentration of calcium carbonate. You can always see the bottom and you always wonder just how deep it is since it always looks as though you could jump in and touch the sandy bottom. I can now clearly see that we are in the deep of the deeps and I can’t help but wonder what sea creatures lurk in the blackness.
OTTO ISSUES
Otto doesn’t seem to be having any problems…, or so I think. I go inside the salon to see where we are on the chart and if I need to make any heading adjustments. Otto seems to be having a hard time staying on course he veers off 35 to 40 degrees at a time, corrects himself then does it all over again, but his behavior is sporadic. I’m not sure what is wrong with him, his course is not steady but I am hoping it is only the nature of the wind astern and a following sea. I look at the instruments inside the salon area and notice Otto’s screen is displaying AUTO FAIL. I can’t get him reset so I go down and wake up Carey hoping it’s nothing, while at the same time hoping I haven’t woken him for nothing. I am informed that this was Otto’s condition during the first watch and is currently not of concern. These are the things we are learning… when you brief the next watch you have to pass on all information and observations about the last watch. I feel bad waking Carey for nothing but at the same time relieved that this is nothing… at the moment.
We have wind so are able to sail all the way to Nassau; it’s not an easy sail as the wind keeps shifting around our aft from side to side. The seas have at least 4-5 foot troughs with an occasional 6 footer. Since we are going with the wind and have following seas SongBird rides well. The sun comes up I can see more action on the water, mostly flying fish as they are everywhere here. I notice some fish are taking flight when all of a sudden, not far behind them is a mahi mahi (Dorado) in quick pursuit! It is amazing! The Dorado is coming up out of the water by a foot then dipping just barely back in the water before jumping out again. It looks like something out of a National Geographic movie only it is happening right off the forward port side of our boat! I could only sit and watch in total amazement realizing I may never see this kind of thing again.
NASSAU
Six hours later we arrive at Nassau Harbor; this is our first big port of entry that we are unfamiliar with. We have to call Harbor Control for permission to enter and give them SongBirds information. I am a little nervous and working on my radio etiquette, making sure I can understand what we are being told to do. We are taking it all in, huge ships are everywhere, and a humongous cruise ship is following right behind us. Carey tries to speed up our two 8 HP engines and I can’t help but laugh. We will never keep ahead of this thing they have to slow down for us.
There is a lovely old light house on our port side where you can stay and be the light keeper for the night, if you like. Six cruise ships sit anchored off our starboard while the world famous resort, Atlantis, becomes visible to our port. We have heard about Atlantis, huge aquariums everywhere, water slides, pools, beaches, a lovely marina, and a can of soda for three dollars. It is quite the site, and if you are looking for a fabulous resort in the Bahamas go to and money is no issue visit www.atlantis.com, they do have it all.
WORST FEARS
From here on I’m not sure how I’m going to explain our “comedy of errors” or more aptly called our “worst fears”. I call Nassau Yacht Haven where we will be staying, to let them know we have arrived. I pass the radio to Carey so I can go up front to get out the fenders. Carey is now attempting to understand where the marina wants us to dock. It is not always easy understanding folks on the radio, but when an accent is added, well, it's near impossible. I can’t understand much of what the guy is saying at all. Carey seems to be able to get most of it, or so I think. I will mention here that the tide is going out… this is called a tide but really it’s a river flowing through the harbor at 3 to 4 knots. The current is rushing by us… and again I will mention we have two 8 HP engines. This does not allow for a lot of control. Oh, did I mention yet that we keep having engine troubles? Yes, we do, they like to die, and they like to die (instead of idling) at critical moments, moments when you need them the most.
So, here we are heading into a marina with no real idea where the guy wants us, the water is rushing by us at breakneck speed, and one of our engines dies. This marina is packed full of boat with docks going every which way. No one is on the dock to direct us, but evidently they can see us in the office and keep telling us we are going down the wrong dock. I’m not sure what is happening except that we are headed, seemly, full throttle into a dock. I am at the bow and yell (the wind is blowing like crazy here and I have no hand signal for you are running into a dock!) that we are headed straight into the dock. Carey yells back “Yes, I know.”
At this point I don’t know what to think other then I better hold on to something. I can't help but wonder... if he knows we are heading straight into the dock why is he not putting the motors in reverse to stop us? I decide I better hang on or prepare to perform some Superman stunt to stop us! I choose to hang on. Right before we are getting ready to hit the dock we stop and then ever so slowly start to move backwards. I turn to look at Carey, to get some kind of indication as to what might have happened. The only indication I have is he is stressed and I don’t blame him.
This place is crazy and we are doing our part to keep it that way! We back out with the wind howling and seemly little control over the boat. We move on down to the next dock and some guy starts telling us where to go, so we head in this new direction. The radio cracks and the marina is telling us again we are going the wrong way! We can’t help but wonder who the heck is this guy on the dock!? We again back out and a cacophony of yelling breaks out and I slowing start to understand, "SHALLOWS"! We are backing up onto a sandbar!
By now it is quite clear to us why cruisers drink so much and start to entertain the thought ourselves! Carey moves SongBird forward, wind blowing and water rushing by. Once more we try to find out where the guy wants us, only this time the marina has finally sent someone out to show us where to go. My fear is they have sent this guy out to tell us to leave because obviously, we have no idea how to drive a boat!
Fortunately this is not true, he is informing us to take our pick of the slips on the end. Please, just take anyone! This may sound all nice and dandy to be able to pick your own slip, but at this point we don’t care, we want it over with as much as they do! We still have a long way to go before we can actually breathe a sigh of relief!
I give Carey two reasonable (yeah right) options and he picks one. We are not properly lined up because we have been on our own personal tour of the marina, and we really can’t get lined up between the current, the wind speed and failing engines.
Finally, we head into a slip, by now I should be throwing dock lines to the guys on the dock… But, I have forgotten to get the dock lines out I have been so distracted by our marina tour! The lines are not attached to the boat!!! In all of the commotion and terror they just slipped my mind! This is not good and we find out just how 'not good' it is.
There is the wind (I may have mentioned) and the current (I may have mentioned) and there is a stationary dock on one side of us, and a sailboat on the other side, and a dock in front of us. We have two, I say 8 HP engines that are not working well!!! First we kiss the boat then we kiss the dock. By now I at least have the lines out, but, Carey is yelling at me and I’m thinking, someday we will laugh at this!!!!
Finally we are tied up and standing on the dock, actually Carey is laying on the dock. There are people everywhere, politely pretending they did not see a thing. I can’t help but think back at the night we left FL, perfectly docking in the dark with not a soul to see, of course the water was perfectly flat and there was no wind. I now wonder if we will ever repeat that performance. Probably not, for awhile.
FRIENDS AND FAMILY
We have finally made it to Nassau, we wash the boat down, we take out the trash, we do laundry and we take showers. You may wonder why we have a need to mention showers. We don’t have a real shower on the boat and we don’t want to use our water in the sprayer (our version of a shower) if we don’t have to. Showers have taken on a new meaning for us a “special day”, a “day of celebration” and always noteworthy.
While doing laundry I hear my name and turn to see Tom. Tom and Susan our new friends we met in Chub Cay have just arrived, we make plans for dinner. The folks from CA have passed on some fish for us. We love the cruising community.
My girlfriend Lisa, and her 4 year old daughter Leyna, arrive the next day. It’s great to see friends and share our new life style with them. Leyna is a trooper and we are all hoping no one gets seasick. It is rocky here and I do mean rocky. We are on the edge of the marina which is not protected at all. The wind howls, the current flows and only when the tide is changing do things calm down for a few moments. The waves slap the boat, the halyard slaps the mast and it is hard to stand up, even on our catamaran. Lisa and Leyna seem to be settling in, except for the rockiness. We talk about staying at the Atlantis Marina for 2 days, one, so we can all get a break from this wind and two, so we can all play. If you stay at Atlantis everything is free except food and drink, of course. We know Leyna would have a good time and we don’t have any doubts about the rest of us. Plans are made to go to Atlantis Marina after our trip to Rose Island.
Before we can leave Carey will need to fix Otto and the link arm issue. He is sure that he will not be able to go to a boat store and just buy what he needs. He is now faced with the familiar task of deciding what will work in its place, and what resources are available. Improvising is a big part of life now. As always he rises to the challenge and seems to enjoy it. While Lisa, Leyna and I go looking for a phone card, a phone, and the internet service company. Carey heads to the boat store across the street from the marina... nothing there, as he suspected. He is hoping for a motorcycle shop but that would be asking too much, so he finds a place that sells personal watercraft (Seadoo style craft). Sure enough he figures out what type of parts they have that he can make use of, and is on his way. After a few custom adjustments his parts work perfect! Who could ask for more? Not only is Otto fixed but this part of him should outlive all of us.
Jared and Ruthie arrive 2 days after Lisa and Leyna. As soon as they arrive at the marina and hugs and kisses are given we start to take off. We will head to Rose Island and anchor out for 2 nights. We have to plan to leave at the change of the tide, so we can have some control over the boat. Please note the word some… The wind will still push us, but it should be much easier. Please note should.
We all have our orders and are prepared to leave. I can’t really tell you what happened; I wasn’t looking in the direction of contact, but was watching out for the dock in front of us. All of sudden I hear this noise and turn to see Jared pushing with all of his might the piling at the end of the dock while SongBird hits and rubs the corner of the dock. Jared’s heroic efforts work as he pushes us off and no damage is done. We are free, free of the magnetic control a dock seems to possess over a boat. Then and there we decidedly agreed that being on the hook (anchoring) is so much less stressful than this marina stuff!
OUR ISLAND
Rose Island is small and has maybe 4 houses on it. We anchor at West Bottom Harbor just off the island, in between another spit of land. We are nicely protected and we view a beach we want to explore the next day. This place is beautiful, and peaceful, a nice change from Nassau. The next day we take the dinghy over in two trips to get us all to a little deserted beach. Check out the pictures. It’s about 150 yards wide and a half a mile long. No one is on it. A local guy has two tourists with him and they are fishing in the waters just off the beach, which is only three feet deep. The local comes over and says “Welcome to my island!” I ask him if this is truly his island, he shakes his head no, and says, 'you can call it your island too'. This day we have our own private island and we enjoy every moment of it. We stay in this protected anchorage for 2 nights until it’s time to head to Atlantis.
Atlantis is high roller and the marina is lined with mega yachts. I use to think SongBird a good size, I still do, but in this arena she is smaller than some of the dinghies on these mega yachts! I have included a picture, but am not sure you can get a good sense of what she looked like. Also, remember she is in need of paint and has a few patches, and half sanded areas. We looked like the Beverly Hillbillies in this marina and we can’t help but laugh!
For our docking performance at Atlantis we kept things simple, after all, this marina is protected. We are given a slip number so we know right where to go and they have guys on the docks ready to catch your lines, which were of course all in place. I also had all the extra lines out “just in case”. There were 5 of us and all hands were on deck. We were prepared… we are heading towards the dock and this time we are parking on the side, no boats to slip in next to, and no dock in front of us. Just mosey on up to the side of the dock. But I notice we are coming in too fast and not turning, but heading at a 45 degree angle into the dock. I run up with a fender while Jared performs more heroics. We hit the dock instead of just kissing it this time, and leave a white mark that unfortunately, we forget to sign. We don’t know what happened but Carey will tell us in due time. To protect the innocent and the guilty we will be keeping our Lessons Learned section at the bottom of our letter.
We have arrived at the infamous Atlantis, made our mark and once again survived yet another docking experience… it’s time for a walk. This place is amazing and we can’t wait to go play. We spend the next day playing in the water, riding slides, winning money, losing no lives, and wearing out a 4 year old. A very good time was had by all.
Today is Friday December 26th and I promise I will bring this up to date and keep it short. Lisa and Leyna left last Saturday. We were so sorry to see them leave as it was great having a friend here and so much fun getting to know Leyna again. Leyna was about 18 months the last time I saw her. Lisa said Leyna cried all the way to the airport, I think she had a good time. We still had Jared and Ruthie here with us so we celebrated Christmas with them on Sunday. We made Christmas dinner, exchanged gifts and played games. Monday we walked to the beach on Paradise Island and hung out. They had to leave on Tuesday, and I cried. We are not exactly sure when we will see them again or where but hopefully within the next 3 months, and we are hoping Jeff will be with them, or us, by then. We think (Carey, Jared, Ruthie, Jeff and me) will be broke about this time and in need of work so we plan on staying in St Croix or St John for a spell.
This morning we got up at 3:30 in the morning to go to Junkanoo. This is the biggest event of the year in the Bahamas and the biggest social event. The girls all have special hairdos and colors and their cutest clothes on. The event starts at midnight and goes until 11am. There is a parade that has to circle town twice and each group is judged. The groups have an elaborate float with a group of people following, beating on a variety of types of drums, horns, whistles and brass bands. Each person has a costume that looks like it took months to prepare. My pictures did not come out well since everyone is dancing, but I’ll post one so you can at least get an idea. It is a parade of rhythm and dance.
One of the floats gives tribute and thanks that Obama is president, they see him being president as an end to the war and greater freedom for blacks. Another, celebrates the birth of Jesus, children’s rhymes, and self employment. A few businesses are represented; gangs and violence are encouraged to end and some cowboy and Indian thing. The fire department had great costumes but they were shaking and jumping too much for any of those pictures to come out, which was too bad as I know my old fire chief would have gotten a kick out of them. Everyone was friendly, no matter their age.
This brings me to a custom they have that I would like to tell you about. When you pass someone on the street they will say hello as many times as there are people in your group. They may say hello, hello, hello, how are you, how are you, how are you, because there are three of you together. People walk by you and look you in the eye. They would consider it rude if you walked up to them without a proper greeting of hello how are you today, and just started talking. Everyone wishes you Merry Christmas on Christmas day and Boxing Day (the following day). They are a spiritual lot and freely talk about God in their general conversation. We have enjoyed these islanders immensely. We have also enjoyed riding the bus and not really knowing where we were going, getting to know other cruisers, meeting the local people and finding every day so different from the last.
We are on a great adventure and have loved sharing it with my kids. We are hoping that as time goes on more of our family will be able to join us.
Do stay in touch, we love hearing from you! As always, love Carey and Lisa
Lessons learned this time around:
Do not put the engines in a forward motion when you really want to go in reverse.
If one engine dies keep steering especially while docking.
Have all dock lines out and attached to the boat before docking.
Make sure you understand what the person is saying on the radio.
At the change of a watch make sure all briefings are complete before going to bed.
Come up with a hand signal that communicates, 'you are going to be hitting a dock soon', but it can’t be obscene.
Where strong winds and currents exist, wait for the lull at the tide change before docking.
Purchase two 15 HP engines in St Martin ASAP.
Sign all dings left by your boat at marinas.
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