Saturday, February 11th, a cold front approaches. In the Bahamas, as a cold front approaches, the wind is very light for about a day or so, often from the southeast, and it then begins to “clock” or “veer” during the course of another day to the south, the southwest, the west, the northwest, sometimes with squalls and then from the north for a while as the front passes with north or northeast winds for a day or so after that. The westerly winds present a challenge in much of the Bahamas because protection from those winds is not readily found. The upside is that the winds from the west usually are of short duration as they clock from southerly to northerly in as little as a few hours….except sometimes they don’t. Saturday, the wind blew at between 15 to 18 knots all day out of the west and we (and about 25 other boats) had elected to stay in the northern end of Big Majors Spot where we would have protection from the northern quadrant winds that blow strongest and longest with the passing of a cold front. During Saturday, the waves caused us to hobby-horse to and fro at anchor and it was very uncomfortable until the wind went to the northwest at about sunset. We heard of two boats dragging their anchors, but the absent crews both returned to their vessels in time to prevent damage. One was within a few feet of the rocks, however, so it was a close call for them. Since we were at the north end of the anchorage, we were spared from the waves once the wind veered from northwest, but one fellow, about a quarter mile farther to the south, left his boat, dinghyed ashore and slept on the “pig beach” Saturday night because of the waves he was experiencing.
On Sunday, the wind blew hard, but we had protection and there was no downside to this. In fact, our little wind generator was whipping its little vanes to a frenzy, pumping a mighty charge into our battery bank better than it had for a long time. That evening, in the lee of a hill on Pirate Beach, we had a cruisers’ bonfire. The cold front had passed through Florida with 49 degree temperatures reported and we experienced 65 degree temperatures on Monday morning. The sun came out and warmed us back up to the high 70s during the day as the wind shifted to the east. Liam and Annie came over in the afternoon so that Liam and Barb could have a musical jam session - Barb on her piano and Liam with his guitar. It was fun even though the musicians were somewhat frustrated at this first session, having few pieces of music in common familiar enough to both of them to play together. Alternating solos are nice too.
On Tuesday, we set sail for Black Point, a long eight miles away to the south. I say ‘long’ because we probably sailed fifteen miles to reach our destination that required us to go south and then to tack back to the northeast. We anchored and were approached by a couple that told us a fellow - George?- on a boat whose name began with a “Z”?- was inquiring about us. All we could think of was Bruce on Zingara, but as I scanned the harbor I didn’t see the boat. We went ashore to buy laundry tokens for the best laundry in the Exumas, Rockside Laundry, and to visit Lorraines Cafe to confirm our reservations for Valentine’s Day dinner that night. As we left the laundry, tokens in hand for the big wash tomorrow, I spotted Bruce. We hadn’t seen him since four years ago. He had been well and had been back and forth to the Bahamas each year from Maine since then. He had a new, larger Zingara and that is why I didn’t spot it in the harbor. That evening, Lorraines served cruisers and locals together at long tables. We all started with a conch salad, I had Surf ‘n Turf with peas ’n rice, corn on the cob and cole slaw. For desert we all had cake - chocolate or carrot cake. The meal was good, but we enjoyed the company just as much. We sat with two young women who are sisters who work at the resort at Staniel Cay, a bother who works at the resort at Fowl Cay and his wife and his sister, who is the postmaster (postmistress?) of the Black Point Post Office. Bruce and his friend, John from another boat joined us to fill out the jolly group at our table. The next day, after laundry, we explored the beaches on the east side of the island and returned to entertain Bruce for sundowners on our boat. John had left to head to Staniel Cay that morning. We discussed strategies for heading south, towards George Town. I shared my plan that was different from the normal route, but it would allow us to move sooner and avoid the rough seas in Exuma Sound. I planned to sail almost straight south from Black Point, across the Galliot Banks, turn and motor sail toward Barracouta Rocks and run east before passing through the cut to the north between Jimmy Cay and False Cay at just before high tide, and employing visual piloting rules in shallow water along the west side of Pigeon Cay. Then the plan was to anchor just off the beach on the west side of Rat Cay to stage a morning departure through the cut into Exuma Sound, but there was a small surge (ocean swell wrapping around the island) so I decided to go back to the northwest, a few miles, to anchor at Lee Stocking Island’s southern anchorage. There is a shallow section along this route and based on the next morning’s falling tide, I determined that it would be best to depart as soon after dawn as possible to retrace our course along Lee Stocking Island and Windsock Cay.
Early Friday morning, we did just that (uneventfully) and we dropped the anchor at Rat Cay to allow the ebbing tide to slacken some and eat our breakfast before we ran the cut to head to George Town. A sailboat motored by toward the cut a little while later while we ate and after a while, we contacted him on the radio inquiring about the conditions through the cut and in Exuma Sound. He reported benign conditions so we pulled the anchor and got underway soon after breakfast. There was about a two foot ocean swell and wind was on our nose, but it was also only about eight knots with about two foot seas on top of the swell, as expected, so we motored the fifteen miles to Conch Cut and into George Town’s Elizabeth Harbor. Along the way we capitalized on our motor power and the deep, crystal clear water in the Sound to run our water maker for a few hours. As we got toward the cut the ocean swell all but disappeared so the going got very smooth. The anchorages at Hamburger Beach, Monument Beach and Honeymoon Beach were pretty populated so we proceeded to Volleyball Beach and found a “hole” among the anchored boats into which we eased with about fifteen feet of water below us above a good sandy bottom. Another cold front was expected, but not as strong as the one last weekend, so while we had no close protection from the south west and west once again, the fetch (the distance over which the wind could blow and produce waves - more distance = bigger waves) was only about one to three miles here and if the westerly component of the wind was short lived we would be fine. As it turned out, the front pretty much fizzled out before it reached as far south as George Town so it was a “non event.”
It should be apparent that weather is an important concern for cruisers and that is why we went to George Town at all. Our weather guru, Chris Parker, is coming to George Town to hold seminars next week about weather topics. I want to meet him and learn from him.
Meanwhile, George Town itself has some attractions of its own. We have to dinghy about a mile and a half across the harbor to get there, but there is a pretty good grocery store that stocks many items that appeal to the cruisers from mainland North America. There are several “take aways”, cafes and restaurants. There are some marine parts stores and hardware stores and goods not in stock can flown in or carried by ship from Nassau and the U.S. regularly. There is a laundry, two banks, liquor stores and several churches. There is Internet for a fee or at cafes for free. Places that provide electricity generally charge for plugging in. If you just use battery power there usually is no fee, but it would be good if one bought a soft drink or a beer or better yet, a snack or a meal in return for the WiFi service provided.
The George Town Horticultural Society was having a fair north of town and they provided a bus ($5 round trip) to the site where we bought fresh vegetables, admired the decorative plants and talked with the local growers. It was too early for lunch,but by the time we returned to Town we were ready for a bite and got some pretty tasty grilled chicken and curly fries (save me statin drugs!) at the Bikini Bottom take away.
As we dinghyed across the harbor we both noticed a sudden increase in motor speed with a sudden decrease in dinghy speed. The used prop I had bought in Marathon as a back-up was not as good a deal as I thought. It was “spun”- that is, the rubber bushing between the prop and the prop shaft was now slipping, just like the original prop I had replaced in the Berry Islands. We could move, but not very fast. Our mighty 5 HP, 2 stroke Tohatsu was not so mighty. Now we had a new mission: find a good replacement propellor, preferably a new one. I couldn’t get a new one in Marathon before we left so I thought my chances were slim here, but it was worth a try. Inquiries in Town yielded no good news. One could be shipped here but it would cost almost double the cost of one bought in the States.
On Sunday, I announced my needs on the air during the daily “Cruisers’ Net” and one fellow radioed back that he would loan me his prop from his back-up motor until I could secure a replacement. How nice! Cruisers are “cheap” when acquiring things, but generous with what they have. Later in the day, a call came over the radio that an 8 HP, 2 stoke engine was available and while I had my hands full with a project, I asked Barb to respond to the call and find out more about it. We now have that engine. The need for a replacement prop is not so dire, but the need remains should we want to use the mighty Tohatsu in the future. Now, however, we have an even more mighty Nissan! Long live the Nissan! Later in the day with the crisis behind us, we were visited by the crew of Rachel E, Gary and Bunny, a couple we had met in Big Majors Spot.
On Monday, we went across the harbor, faster then ever before, propelled by our repowered dinghy to dispose of trash, inquire further about a replacement prop (to no avail), get some gasoline, groceries, lunch and get on the internet to check e-mail and take care financial concerns. Lunch and Internet at Pets Place Cafe.
Tomorrow, for me, the Chris Parker Seminars begin.
No comments:
Post a Comment