After almost 2 weeks of sustained 20+ knot winds, the Georgetown harbor finally calmed down to make it possible to get off the boat without getting drenched. We then got busy provisioning with water, fuel and groceries and made ready to head out to Long Island.
Anchoring drama comes to an end
In our last update, we described the entanglement that resulted in our chain being wrapped on another boat’s drive shaft. The chain was successfully removed, but we weren’t yet using it again. We now needed to re-assemble it and anchor on our primary anchor and chain. This required a little planning because we had the rope part of our rode spliced to the chain that had been loaned to us by another cruiser. That chain was already attached to our primary anchor. Also, the bridle plate was configured into a new longer bridle to compensate for the shorter, borrowed chain. We needed to get the rope spliced to our chain, the chain shackled to the primary anchor, the bridle reconfigured with its standard 15ft 3-strand nylon lines, and the anchor hauled and then re-deployed. We needed to do all this preferably without spending too much time motoring around in the harbor in the process and without getting all of the line and chain tangled.
So, we developed a plan.
While still anchored on our borrowed chain, Dave would remove the end of the rope rode from its fitting in the anchor locker. He would then splice this onto the end of our chain. At this point, our ground tackle would consist of a Delta anchor, 91 ft of borrowed chain, 200 ft of rope and then 130 ft of chain. A little odd, but it wouldn’t stay that way long. At this point, Cathy would start the engine. We would then ease up on the anchor so that Dave could retrieve the anchor bridle. He would then re-work the bridle to its original configuration. At this point, we would pull the anchor up. Cathy would then motor downwind (the winds and seas were still up in the harbor at this point), so that Dave could remove the anchor from the existing chain and re-shackle it to the other end of our chain, and stow our chain in the locker to position it to be redeployed. We would move back over to Volleyball Beach and anchor off Marianna. Once anchored, Dave could remove the borrowed chain from the now reverse end of the rope rode, stow the rope back in the anchor locker and re-attach it to the fitting in the anchor locker. We would finally be back on our own anchor and in a position to return the chain to the generous donor.
Amazingly, we managed to pull it off without losing an anchor, chain or other ground tackle hardware in the process. With Fred’s help, we returned the chain the next day and were grateful to put the whole incident behind us for now and enjoy Georgetown – if we could just get off the boat.
Anchoring drama comes to an end
In our last update, we described the entanglement that resulted in our chain being wrapped on another boat’s drive shaft. The chain was successfully removed, but we weren’t yet using it again. We now needed to re-assemble it and anchor on our primary anchor and chain. This required a little planning because we had the rope part of our rode spliced to the chain that had been loaned to us by another cruiser. That chain was already attached to our primary anchor. Also, the bridle plate was configured into a new longer bridle to compensate for the shorter, borrowed chain. We needed to get the rope spliced to our chain, the chain shackled to the primary anchor, the bridle reconfigured with its standard 15ft 3-strand nylon lines, and the anchor hauled and then re-deployed. We needed to do all this preferably without spending too much time motoring around in the harbor in the process and without getting all of the line and chain tangled.
So, we developed a plan.
While still anchored on our borrowed chain, Dave would remove the end of the rope rode from its fitting in the anchor locker. He would then splice this onto the end of our chain. At this point, our ground tackle would consist of a Delta anchor, 91 ft of borrowed chain, 200 ft of rope and then 130 ft of chain. A little odd, but it wouldn’t stay that way long. At this point, Cathy would start the engine. We would then ease up on the anchor so that Dave could retrieve the anchor bridle. He would then re-work the bridle to its original configuration. At this point, we would pull the anchor up. Cathy would then motor downwind (the winds and seas were still up in the harbor at this point), so that Dave could remove the anchor from the existing chain and re-shackle it to the other end of our chain, and stow our chain in the locker to position it to be redeployed. We would move back over to Volleyball Beach and anchor off Marianna. Once anchored, Dave could remove the borrowed chain from the now reverse end of the rope rode, stow the rope back in the anchor locker and re-attach it to the fitting in the anchor locker. We would finally be back on our own anchor and in a position to return the chain to the generous donor.
Amazingly, we managed to pull it off without losing an anchor, chain or other ground tackle hardware in the process. With Fred’s help, we returned the chain the next day and were grateful to put the whole incident behind us for now and enjoy Georgetown – if we could just get off the boat.
Doing Georgetown
It’s all about the wind. For over a week, it churned up the waters in Elizabeth Harbor off Georgetown, causing us (along with the many other cruisers in the harbor) to hunker down on the boat. It took something significant to draw us out, since we were guaranteed to get pretty soaked along with anything we took along in the dinghy with us. In addition to the high winds, the temperatures hovered in the sixties to low 70’s. Hatches were kept closed. Enclosures sealed. This isn’t exactly the weather everyone envisions when they think of the sunny Bahamas.
We managed to brave the elements one night to head across the harbor for games on Marianna. Later in the week, after re-anchoring closer to Stocking Island, we suited up in our foul weather gear and headed up to Honeymoon Beach for a cookout one evening with Eleanor M and several other boats in the harbor. And then a week after arriving, we finally made it into Georgetown proper, buying some coconut bread from Mom’s Bakery van, seeing the Exuma Market, the Straw Market and the Peace and Plenty. We managed to get to the Batelco office to buy more phone cards, since only a few phone calls home had depleted our initial investment. (We still can’t figure out how much it costs a minute to make these calls.) Later we headed over to St. Francis Resort and Marina on Stocking Island for lunch – and some internet. (Having been long over a week since pulling our mail, it was a relief to finally catch up with it.)
It’s all about the wind. For over a week, it churned up the waters in Elizabeth Harbor off Georgetown, causing us (along with the many other cruisers in the harbor) to hunker down on the boat. It took something significant to draw us out, since we were guaranteed to get pretty soaked along with anything we took along in the dinghy with us. In addition to the high winds, the temperatures hovered in the sixties to low 70’s. Hatches were kept closed. Enclosures sealed. This isn’t exactly the weather everyone envisions when they think of the sunny Bahamas.
We managed to brave the elements one night to head across the harbor for games on Marianna. Later in the week, after re-anchoring closer to Stocking Island, we suited up in our foul weather gear and headed up to Honeymoon Beach for a cookout one evening with Eleanor M and several other boats in the harbor. And then a week after arriving, we finally made it into Georgetown proper, buying some coconut bread from Mom’s Bakery van, seeing the Exuma Market, the Straw Market and the Peace and Plenty. We managed to get to the Batelco office to buy more phone cards, since only a few phone calls home had depleted our initial investment. (We still can’t figure out how much it costs a minute to make these calls.) Later we headed over to St. Francis Resort and Marina on Stocking Island for lunch – and some internet. (Having been long over a week since pulling our mail, it was a relief to finally catch up with it.)
Although we made it into Beach Church on Sunday, it wasn’t until Monday afternoon that we finally visited the famous Volleyball Beach in the afternoon when folks were actually playing volleyball. On Tuesday, Pat served as our guide on a long walk exploring the beach on the Exuma Sound side of Stocking Island and up to the high point of Monument Hill. Wednesday night, as the winds began to die, we actually traveled over to Marianna in our dinghy (instead of hitching a ride with Fred) to play games with the folks on Pride and Tradition. We stayed pretty dry and enjoyed the evening of Dominoes and conversation.
Dave is half-way through his effort to bail out our dinghy, which completely filled with water on a run into town. It’s not a trip for the faint of heart.
Boat Stuff
Being stuck on the boat for days on end, we were cut off from the services we were used to on shore. Wash was piling up, we were running out of fresh foods, like fruit and bread. Internet wasn’t an option. So, we made use of the time to do things the old fashioned way. Dave risked swamping the dinghy to haul 3 jugs of water from town. We used some of this to wash some of the piles of dirty clothes, using the abundant wind to dry them fast, as we hung them on every inch of lifeline, boom, cockpit seats, etc. Cathy dusted off her bread recipes and made some loaves to let us have sandwiches and toast.
Being stuck on the boat for days on end, we were cut off from the services we were used to on shore. Wash was piling up, we were running out of fresh foods, like fruit and bread. Internet wasn’t an option. So, we made use of the time to do things the old fashioned way. Dave risked swamping the dinghy to haul 3 jugs of water from town. We used some of this to wash some of the piles of dirty clothes, using the abundant wind to dry them fast, as we hung them on every inch of lifeline, boom, cockpit seats, etc. Cathy dusted off her bread recipes and made some loaves to let us have sandwiches and toast.
Sunsaver regulator installed in engine room.
Dave did some projects on the boat, wiring the solar panels into a regulator which would prevent the batteries from getting overcharged in the hope that that this might actually be a problem. He wired the panels more permanently together as well.
Nancy from Finisterre, James from Sunsweet, Dave, Pat and Fred converse on Volleyball Beach.
Despite the difficult beginning of the relationship, we developed a friendship with Graham and Nancy on Finisterre. Dave helped them take advantage of the capabilities of their Garmin chartplotter, wiring in a buzzer like ours that would sound if an alarm went off. Then he showed them how we enabled the anchor drag to help them get a heads up is they started to drag again. Later on the beach, Cathy and Nancy played a few games of Scrabble, something they both love to play. In a strange twist, the afternoon before we left Georgetown, we were all gathered in conversation on Volleyball Beach: Nancy from Finisterre, James from Sunsweet who had loaned us the chain, and Pat and Fred from Marianna.
Maybe that’s making lemonade from the lemons.
Maybe that’s making lemonade from the lemons.
St. Josephs Church overlooks Thompson Bay
Long Island
An interesting fact that we learned just before leaving Georgetown is that it lies just north of the Tropic of Cancer (Lat. 23o30’). So, when we left on Valentine’s Day, we would be crossing this line that we learned about in grade school geography and entering the “tropics”. Cool!
Our next destination was initially uncertain, since we wanted to see whether we could sail to either Conception or Long Island. As it turned out, we couldn’t sail to either, so we motored to Thompson Bay, Long Island, which was a new destination for all of us and a good staging point for either Cat or Conception as a next stop.
An interesting fact that we learned just before leaving Georgetown is that it lies just north of the Tropic of Cancer (Lat. 23o30’). So, when we left on Valentine’s Day, we would be crossing this line that we learned about in grade school geography and entering the “tropics”. Cool!
Our next destination was initially uncertain, since we wanted to see whether we could sail to either Conception or Long Island. As it turned out, we couldn’t sail to either, so we motored to Thompson Bay, Long Island, which was a new destination for all of us and a good staging point for either Cat or Conception as a next stop.
Spanish church ruins near Salt Pond
The huge bay was nearly empty when we arrived, so we had our choice of anchoring spots. The next day we rented a car to see as much of the island as we could squeeze in. We traveled north as far as Simms, which is where the Tropic of Cancer passes through. However, we were disappointed to see that they make very little of this fact. If we hadn’t taken our own GPS, we wouldn’t have known where it was. So, we turned back south to see the sites on the lower island. We made it as far south as Clarencetown, where we saw the 2 famous Father Jerome churches and had some lunch at the marina near the harbor entrance.
By far the highlight of the day was Dean’s Blue Hole, the deepest blue hole (660’) in the world. Although we didn’t explore its depths, the snorkeling at its edge was good, if a little eerie as the bank sloped quickly down into the dark blue deep water. There were some braver individuals doing “free dive” training which was taking them for long minutes deep into the dark blue water before resurfacing. Our only disappointment was the presence of a lot of seaweed, which the locals were telling us is usually not there.
Graham, Val, Fred and Dave on Long Island
The next day, Bonnie Lass arrived, and we joined them for a walk just across to the ocean from Thompson Bay. The winds had shifted to the west overnight and the ocean was calm and inviting once we made it over the hill to the beach. After cooling off in the water, we trekked back to the dinghy, to arrive just ahead of a storm. Like true cruisers, we stayed out on deck in the rare downpour, showering, washing the deck and anything else that needed washing with fresh water. It was great!
More Out Islands to See
We plan to stop at more of the “out islands” in the far Bahamas as we make our way gradually north, so our time in the “tropics” will be brief, but it won’t be getting cold any time soon.
More Out Islands to See
We plan to stop at more of the “out islands” in the far Bahamas as we make our way gradually north, so our time in the “tropics” will be brief, but it won’t be getting cold any time soon.
