We arrived at the Old Bahama Yacht Club on Wednesday and the place was next to empty. Thursday, the winds and ocean conditions were not favourable and by 3pm the entire marina was full to capacity. No slips were empty.
The seas were so turbulent that two separate May Days were heard here yesterday.
Peter and I took bikes to the point of entrance and noticed 3 boats rather close together on the horizon. We stayed, watched and took pictures...eventually discovering we were witnessing the end-state of a beautiful sailing vessel being towed into the small harbour entrance here.
We met the owner, an elderly gentleman who has been wintering at the Grand Bahama Yacht Club since November. He had a family of guests on board for a weeks vacation that was just coming to an end.
The vessel was questionably out in the wee hours of the night, attempting to find refuge from the high winds.
The captain was unable to secure a safe anchorage at Great Sale Cay as the winds were out of the west and this location offers no protection from the west.
He decided to head to the Old Bahama Yacht Club but enroute, the engine suddenly died.
The headsail was raised, but the winds were blowing so hard, that it was next to impossible to control the boat, which was now quite close to reefs surrounding the most shallow cay out here - Wood Cay.
Suddenly they noticed another vessel at anchor - it's 2:00am. The captain of the anchored vessel was on deck checking things due to the high winds and noticed the vessel heading straight for theirs.
They called the captain on VHF to warn him, and as the captain attempted to veer away from the anchored vessel, the crew new disaster was iminent.
His vessel crashed into the reefs at Wood Cay.
Given the trauma and loss experienced by those aboard and especially the captain, I will close this update with the very good news that gratefully and miraculously, no one was physically injured, they were rescued and are safely ashore.
The pictures show salvage operations underway. They were unable to do the salvage until late in the day due to the high seas.
*It is now March 23RD and I’m writing this while under way in the hopes I can catch up (in brief?) the past month of blog news.
Obviously, little to no wifi has been available, or we’ve been without power on the one pc we have that will allow me to post to our blog.
FYI – written in date order from oldest to current
FEBRUARY 18 (Remember Bill Cosby?)
• Something wrong with the outboard so Peter starts dismantling it at the stern…’KERPLOP!’ First part goes overboard into 10’ of water….tide is going out and the part is gently rolling towards the ocean….Peter dons his mask and dives…fighting the salt water that keeps pushing him back to the surface
• While Peter is diving for his part, I notice a commotion 3 boats down….seems they have returned from a fishing trip, have cleaned their catch and have tossed the guts into the water….there is a feeding frenzy of SHARKS everywhere! I look at Peter who is just surfacing and I recall the words of Bill Cosby…..’Why should I tell him?’ lol
FEBRUARY 19 (HUGE decision made today!)
• Still at Rum Island….desolate, poverty-stricken
• Picked up our order of coconut bread ….only took one week to get it….the baker had no gas to bake and had to wait for the weekly mailboat to deliver a supply from Nassau…worth the wait….DELISH!
• Found a machete in the middle of the dirt and rock road on the way back to the boat….Peter is so excited…now he can learn to crack a coconut (should I be nervous?)
• Ed and Deb departed for the Turks and Caicos
• We are located just north of 22 degrees North….weather below that is consistently much stronger winds and higher waves….very serious ocean conditions to cope with….
• Pelican Rose (which had at first seemed HUGE to us but has grown tiny in this big Atlantic Ocean!) is just not cut out for ‘big’ ocean stuff…nor am I…Peter could cope but is just not interested in getting beaten up daily by even tougher ocean conditions…..
• We jointly decide to return northbound, try the Abacos islands enroute to Florida and haul the boat out into storage by April at Indiantown Marina
• It’s the right decision for all ‘three’ of us
February 20 (held hostage at Rum Island)
• Departed Rum
• Two hours out, rollers start the attack on our beam just past Sandy Point (no more lee protection) so it’s back to Rum Island (I’m hearing that song by the Eagles…’you can check out any time you want but you can never leave’
FEBRUARY 21
• School is in today and we get lessons on:
o how to blow a conch horn (a regular event as the sun goes down….everyone hoping for the famous ‘green flash’)
o kiting (the kind you ride out into the water…we do a ‘land’ lesson….Peter is a natural….mine crashes into the ocean, confirming I am physically challenged)
o cracking open a conch…and eating it raw (I did try some….yeuck!)
FEBRUARY 22 (are we ever going to get out of Rum Island?)
• Yep! Almost two weeks later, we depart Rum Island….arrived Hawksnest Marina 2:15pm (outrageously expensive)
• Laundry (oh joy….it’s been two weeks without access to laundry), loads of no-seeums, refreshing swim in the freshwater pool, showers….we are luxuriating in heaven for sure!
FEBRUARY 23 (two ships NOT passing in the night…or day!)
• Depart Hawksnest to Davis Harbour Marina
• Enroute – seas are completely and totally FLAT…yippie!
• As usual, we witness no other boats out in the ocean…weird…and then over the VHF I think I hear a familiar voice and call s/v ‘One Day’
• Sure enough, just before our entrance to Davis….friends Tony & Linda whom we met in North Channel many years back…then again met Tony about a year ago in Baltimore Harbour…
• Fenders out, raft up our vessels and they come aboard for a too brief visit…wonderful to see them again!
FEBRUARY 24 – MARCH 1 (the BIG BAD FERRY BOAT)
• Departed Davis – arrived Hatchet Bay and take a mooring ball
• Departed Hatchet Feb 25 and returned an hour later….Mother Nature again at work….I wish she’d take a vacation or sick leave…. We end up stuck here for a week
• Rented a car for the day at $75 and did the island including the famous Glass Window
• While ashore an unexpected disaster occurs….a huge car ferry comes through the entrance to Hatchet at 12knots…we are the boat on a mooring ball right near the entrance….when we return to our boat hours later it looks like it has been trashed by someone….according to another boater - the huge ferry waves hit us directly on the beam which sent everything across the salon….broken bottles, 2 gallons of fresh drinking water are being soaked up by the carpet and our new marine binoculars have fallen to the floor and broken in half
MARCH 2 – MARCH 6 (held hostage….yet again)
• Departed Hatchet Bay – arrived Spanish Wells and took a marina slip….the weather keeps us here for a week
• New friends at the marina: Jerry & Linda aboard Monks Vineyard a 36’ Monk Trawler, Mike and Jana aboard Second Star a 36’ Krogen
• New friends Pat and Tutti aboard s/v Keltic Kat (30’ Nonsuch) took the last mooring ball
• Peter learns how to crack a coconut with his machete
• New mommy manatee with baby came to our swim platform and Peter patted mom on the head then she drank for 45 minutes from a fresh water hose offered by the boat next to us
MARCH 7 - 8
• Departed Spanish Wells – arrived at Little Harbour and anchored at Lynyard
• Drinks aboard Second Star and the sharing of the fish: Mike caught THREE mahi mahi today while cruising along!
• Partied ashore at Little Harbour, Pete’s Pub….killer drinks called ‘blasters’….not a pretty sight
MARCH 9 – 12 (hostages of Mother Nature yet again)
• Lynyard to Hopetown – tough trip getting through the cut….beam rollers….I stayed down below and did some screaming while laying flat on my stomach on the sofa…cannot handle this stuff and am petrified that the boat will roll over when it happens….and it can
• Very shallow water….1-2’ under the keel most times….unnerving
• Stuck here four days with high winds….were lucky to get the last mooring ball when we arrived as everyone was making a run for it to get secure before the forecast high winds arrived
• Hopetown was the first place we have both enjoyed….rented a golf cart…..people and boats abound….no feeling of being remote or desolate……home made key lime pie at the local grocery ($15 and worth every penny), homes are pristine and painted in pale shades of pinks, blues, greens, yellows
MARCH 13 – 16
• Departed Hopetown – arrived Marsh Harbour
• PROVISIONING! SHOPPING! OMG! Rows and rows of fresh produce, assorted breads and pastries…..name it and they had it AND…the prices were actually very good….some items were cheaper than Florida! Through-out all of the Bahamas, cookies, chips, crackers, paper products…..have been more than double the price back home
MARCH 17
• departed Marsh Harbour and enjoyed a crystal clear cruise of the ocean floor going to Great Guana Cay. Starfish, mantas, sea cucumbers, dolphin…..like boating in a pool
• have officially travelled 1004 miles since departing Georgia
• fuel costs to date: $2988.00, averaging 4.37 gallons per hour
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| PAT TUTTI PETER |
MARCH 18
• departed Great Guana Cay to Green Turtle Cay
• had to go out into the ocean to do this trip (arg!) at a location named Whale Cay (a VERY treacherous passage if the weather has been poor)
• stressful trip…..very bouncy and rolling the boat….why is it always on the beam? I gripped the rails the entire time
• met another Mainship (43’) about to start this passage as we arrived on the north side…..he was already being tossed and waves crashing over his entire bow….ended up aborting as it was impossible to continue
• safely at anchor one nite (love our Rocna!) then headed into the Bluff House Marina for the next two nites due to 25mph winds
MARCH 22 – 23
• NEWEST GRANDCHILD BORN TODAY....ADDISON JUNE ALLEN....CONGRATS MOMMY, DADDY AND CARTER...YOU HAVE A BABY SISTER!!!
• departed Green Turtle Cay at first light on the 22nd, flat seas all the way, anchored out at Great Sale Cay (where the tides ruffled up the totally calm anchorage all night…argh!)
• departed Great Sale and have arrived at West End, Old Bahama Yacht Club….one last leg ahead from there to Lake Worth Florida! No flat seas today, bit bouncy, but we arrived alive and went for a dip in the delish pool! Lovely!
• ‘hoping’ we can do the BIG crossing tomorrow over to Lake Worth
