Waiting for Repairs
Jack left the boat and a big hole in my reality. He was a great partner and I hope he can return to the boat at some time. With his help we got the boat across the Gulfstream and across the Little Bahama Bank. There are always lots of issues on a boat that was marina bound for 3 years and with his help I feel the boat is now doing what it was designed for. The comradery was superb and I will miss it.
So now I'm waiting for parts for the outboard and transitioning to a solo sailor for now. I wrote down a few things to do, woke up at 7 and got to it. It wasn't much really but on a boat the chores that dirt dwellers take for granted as easy are a different animal altogether. Today was laundry day.
1. Gather dirty clothes (no problem)
2. Deploy dinghy and check out dinghy landing through binoculars at The Green Parrot Bar to see if they are open. (not something you do in Orlando)
3. Load Computer, wallet, phone, clothes, and soap into the luggage carrier. Put it in the pitching dinghy (ferries and cruise ships going to and fro).
4. Row to the bar where there is a nice floating dock. (not sure who paid for it so I thank everyone who looks at me)
5. Walk to bar number 2, Hammerheads (Get Hammered at Hammerheads is the sign),where internet is free. They open at 11 and I purchase a beer (to pay for the internet) $3. Check mail and ask Bob, manager, where the laundramat is. Bob has all the answers and volunteers to take drive me. Cool dude
6. Buy $8 in tokens, start the wash and visit the sharing library and the marina where the machines are and start a new book. The wash takes forever as the waterflow for regular folks is a fast drip. The wash and a couple of chapters are done so back to Hammerheads to thank Bob again.
7. Bob left so I decide to download Skype (overdue). Order a Kalick as I should pay for the internet right? It works and I can talk to Sheril for 2.3 cents a minute instead of $2/minute. I finish the beer and the bartender, doing her job right, brings another. Oh well, I'm getting alot of benefits here so what the hell.
8. Walk back to dinghy dock. The Green parrot is right on the water and I see my boat is safe and sound. They put the race on one of the televisions and I order a Goombay Smash. (I should acknowledge their charity provision of the dinghy dock right?
9. Finish and pay for drink. Load everything back into the dinghy and row back out to the mother ship. The sun is setting. It took a whole day to do the laundry.
Sunday 27 February 2011
Friday 25 February 2011
Nassau Run
It is very unfortunate for me that Jack and I now have a schedule to keep. Jack must be back at work on Monday so we looked at the weather and the flights and decided he needs to be in Nassau on Saturday afternoon for a flight home. For the average person this is not a problem. Nassau is 74 miles away. For a worry cruiser that I am it is not good. All my major boating mishaps have occurred because of a need to be somewhere at a certain time. One of the bigger errs was when Sheril and I ended a night sail in the bahamas on our 23 footer with a desperate midnight flashlight navigation job over one of the biggest Staghorn Coral reefs in this hemisphere. I looked over that reef last night from the Hopetown Lodge with a Goombay Smash in hand and I still can't believe we did it.
Jack and I must have an angel in the rigging. We motored off the bank in calms and continued motoring on and off offshore till about 3 when the winds kicked in for a perfect 6 knot close reach under a rising moon in 10 knots of wind. No storms, no collisions with crates, whales, or submarines, no major system failures that I constantly fret over at night. As the sun came up and the nocturnal demons went to their hiding place I was wishing the trip were longer. Jack and I spelled each other so we slept some but this night sail and the one across the Gulf Stream have given me a foothold of courage to face the many night passages between here and the Virgin Islands.
Jack and I must have an angel in the rigging. We motored off the bank in calms and continued motoring on and off offshore till about 3 when the winds kicked in for a perfect 6 knot close reach under a rising moon in 10 knots of wind. No storms, no collisions with crates, whales, or submarines, no major system failures that I constantly fret over at night. As the sun came up and the nocturnal demons went to their hiding place I was wishing the trip were longer. Jack and I spelled each other so we slept some but this night sail and the one across the Gulf Stream have given me a foothold of courage to face the many night passages between here and the Virgin Islands.
Wednesday 23 February 2011
The Sea of Abaco
February 18 to 22
We left Great Sale Cay first thing in the morning on the 18th. It was a very calm lake in the Sea of Abaco so we motored the entire day. As the sun was setting we were making the final approach to Great Guyana Cay which requires a brief journey into the Ocean around Whale Cay. I was a bit freaked out as sailing at night in the Bahamas is a no no but with the safe passage displayed on the chart plotter I was able to get us to the anchorage in the last of the light. A celebratory beer and a grilled cheese is about all we could manage.
Marsh Harbour is a place one could get stuck. There are an abundance of boaters so the bars do well. The dinghy dock is safe and there are plenty of hardware stores. The liquor store is blessedly close to the dinghy dock so it was no problem for Jack (my back again) to carry a $50 case of a great beverage called Kalik Gold Extra Strength down to the dinghy.
We sailed the short distance to Hopetown harbour. One of the most picturesque spots in the Bahamas with colorful little houses overlooking the pink beach and a candy striped lighthouse scanning the night sky.
I have an odd relationship with the wind. I'm always happy to be out of it which isn't good for a sailor. It may be hereditary. My brother inlaw, Kelly, told me of a visit with my Mom and Dad in VA at a time they had a small sailboat. Kelly and Caroline were anxious to get out on the Chesapeake Bay when they got there. Dad says "too much wind". Kelly thought okay its his boat so we'll do something else. The next time they inquired Dad says, "not enough wind". Kelly thought, when it is windy you can't sail and when it is not windy you can't sail, so what is the point of having a sailboat?
I'm pulling the same stuff with Jack I think. If it weren't for the fuel cost I would happpily motor in dead calms from place to place. Tonight we are sailing to Nassau overnite so we arrive in good light. We have a fair forcast with what I hope is just the right amount of wind.
We left Great Sale Cay first thing in the morning on the 18th. It was a very calm lake in the Sea of Abaco so we motored the entire day. As the sun was setting we were making the final approach to Great Guyana Cay which requires a brief journey into the Ocean around Whale Cay. I was a bit freaked out as sailing at night in the Bahamas is a no no but with the safe passage displayed on the chart plotter I was able to get us to the anchorage in the last of the light. A celebratory beer and a grilled cheese is about all we could manage.
Marsh Harbour is a place one could get stuck. There are an abundance of boaters so the bars do well. The dinghy dock is safe and there are plenty of hardware stores. The liquor store is blessedly close to the dinghy dock so it was no problem for Jack (my back again) to carry a $50 case of a great beverage called Kalik Gold Extra Strength down to the dinghy.
We sailed the short distance to Hopetown harbour. One of the most picturesque spots in the Bahamas with colorful little houses overlooking the pink beach and a candy striped lighthouse scanning the night sky.
I have an odd relationship with the wind. I'm always happy to be out of it which isn't good for a sailor. It may be hereditary. My brother inlaw, Kelly, told me of a visit with my Mom and Dad in VA at a time they had a small sailboat. Kelly and Caroline were anxious to get out on the Chesapeake Bay when they got there. Dad says "too much wind". Kelly thought okay its his boat so we'll do something else. The next time they inquired Dad says, "not enough wind". Kelly thought, when it is windy you can't sail and when it is not windy you can't sail, so what is the point of having a sailboat?
I'm pulling the same stuff with Jack I think. If it weren't for the fuel cost I would happpily motor in dead calms from place to place. Tonight we are sailing to Nassau overnite so we arrive in good light. We have a fair forcast with what I hope is just the right amount of wind.
Monday 21 February 2011
feb13 to 18
Caribean Bound
On February 13 I gathered up Jack Genge, fueled up Top O' The World, and headed down the ICW. It was a giant day for me as I have spent 3 years working on the boat and Sheril has spent 3 years spending her hard earned money in loving support. William, Joyce, and Shane came out to bid farewell and gave us a nice gift of books and colored pencils for Jack to do some drawing in his spare time. We ended up at the beautiful city marina in Vero Beach. The next morning we had a few repairs to do but made it out of the Ft. Pierce inlet at sunset in calm weather for an overnight Gulf Stream crossing. We motored halfway before the wind picked up about 3 am and we could sail in a blazing moonlight. I tried to sleep from 9 to 12 but don't think I did. Jack tried a couple of times through the night without much success. We were blessed with good wind and nothing breaking so it was a great relief for me as so many people warn of crossing the Stream in any north winds. The sun was coming up as we sailed onto the Little Bahama bank, a vast area of shallow water (9 to 30ft). As one approaches the bank the Ocean bottom comes up rapidly from 3000ft. to 30 ft like a steep mountain. This boundary area was like a giant washing machine, with waves coming from every direction. The tossing about was short lived though as we settled into a nice sail toward Mangrove Key, a small patch of island used as a rest stop for sailors coming to Abaco. We motored the last 10 miles in a dead calm. Most sailors eschew this condition but I love it as you can sit on the deck watching the bottom go by in swimming pool clear water while Magellan (the name Jack coined for the autopilot) steers. I have recurring dreams of this scenario so I never tire of it. The bank is like a dessert though. Unlike Florida which is rich with birds, dolphins, and Manatees, the Bahamas has its sea life concentrated in certain areas. We stared at the bottom and noted anything at all, a plant or a sponge. As we approched Mangrove Cay we saw a cute little Hammerhead Shark swim by and a turtle. I noticed us a approaching a large dark spot and as we closed on it we saw it moving. My heart raced as we could see it was a large fish. In the swimming pool clear water we stared in disbelief at the largest fattest fish I have ever seen in the wild, an 8 ft. shark!
The next few days we worked on the boat some, and rested. On Feb 16 we motored upwind 24 miles to Great Sale Cay, another uninhabitted resting spot for east west sailors. We took the dinghy over to a beautiful beach being guarded by some small sharks. The peace of thescenario did not go unnoticed by me. No manmade sounds of any kind. No humans within 20 miles. Just the sound of the light wind blowing through the Casuarina trees and our feet splashing the water as we walked. If the outboard hadn't died on the way there it would have been perfect but nothing's perfect. On the long paddle in the dinghy back to the boat I was stressing about the number of broken things when Jack noticed something under us. I donned the mask for a look and yelled "there's 100 nice Snappers on a wreck right under us"! The broken stuff in my thoughts disappeared as Jack came up with the great idea of anchoring the big boat right over the Snapper hole. We did this and tried every combination of gear and tossing food into our aquarium to no avail. I donned mask and spear next and defined the saying, shooting fish in a barrel. The snapper were almost fighting so see who could get close enough. Maybe they have some game of counting coup on the ugly bald white guy. They lost one of their 4 lb members which we released into the frying pan for dinner. Tomorrow we plan a little payback for the snapper by killing 4 Lionfish on the wreck, a foreign species destroying the Bahama's reefs.
On February 13 I gathered up Jack Genge, fueled up Top O' The World, and headed down the ICW. It was a giant day for me as I have spent 3 years working on the boat and Sheril has spent 3 years spending her hard earned money in loving support. William, Joyce, and Shane came out to bid farewell and gave us a nice gift of books and colored pencils for Jack to do some drawing in his spare time. We ended up at the beautiful city marina in Vero Beach. The next morning we had a few repairs to do but made it out of the Ft. Pierce inlet at sunset in calm weather for an overnight Gulf Stream crossing. We motored halfway before the wind picked up about 3 am and we could sail in a blazing moonlight. I tried to sleep from 9 to 12 but don't think I did. Jack tried a couple of times through the night without much success. We were blessed with good wind and nothing breaking so it was a great relief for me as so many people warn of crossing the Stream in any north winds. The sun was coming up as we sailed onto the Little Bahama bank, a vast area of shallow water (9 to 30ft). As one approaches the bank the Ocean bottom comes up rapidly from 3000ft. to 30 ft like a steep mountain. This boundary area was like a giant washing machine, with waves coming from every direction. The tossing about was short lived though as we settled into a nice sail toward Mangrove Key, a small patch of island used as a rest stop for sailors coming to Abaco. We motored the last 10 miles in a dead calm. Most sailors eschew this condition but I love it as you can sit on the deck watching the bottom go by in swimming pool clear water while Magellan (the name Jack coined for the autopilot) steers. I have recurring dreams of this scenario so I never tire of it. The bank is like a dessert though. Unlike Florida which is rich with birds, dolphins, and Manatees, the Bahamas has its sea life concentrated in certain areas. We stared at the bottom and noted anything at all, a plant or a sponge. As we approched Mangrove Cay we saw a cute little Hammerhead Shark swim by and a turtle. I noticed us a approaching a large dark spot and as we closed on it we saw it moving. My heart raced as we could see it was a large fish. In the swimming pool clear water we stared in disbelief at the largest fattest fish I have ever seen in the wild, an 8 ft. shark!
The next few days we worked on the boat some, and rested. On Feb 16 we motored upwind 24 miles to Great Sale Cay, another uninhabitted resting spot for east west sailors. We took the dinghy over to a beautiful beach being guarded by some small sharks. The peace of thescenario did not go unnoticed by me. No manmade sounds of any kind. No humans within 20 miles. Just the sound of the light wind blowing through the Casuarina trees and our feet splashing the water as we walked. If the outboard hadn't died on the way there it would have been perfect but nothing's perfect. On the long paddle in the dinghy back to the boat I was stressing about the number of broken things when Jack noticed something under us. I donned the mask for a look and yelled "there's 100 nice Snappers on a wreck right under us"! The broken stuff in my thoughts disappeared as Jack came up with the great idea of anchoring the big boat right over the Snapper hole. We did this and tried every combination of gear and tossing food into our aquarium to no avail. I donned mask and spear next and defined the saying, shooting fish in a barrel. The snapper were almost fighting so see who could get close enough. Maybe they have some game of counting coup on the ugly bald white guy. They lost one of their 4 lb members which we released into the frying pan for dinner. Tomorrow we plan a little payback for the snapper by killing 4 Lionfish on the wreck, a foreign species destroying the Bahama's reefs.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)