Drag Queens

Great Sale Cay
N 26 59.15 W 078 13.01

Weather dominates the news today. Sunday night at Allen's Pensacola, we were sheltered from NE wind but we got surprised by strong SW winds around 25 knots. It got very rough and a couple of boats dragged their anchors. I sat up on anchor watch. The winds finally settled after midnight, but I got very little sleep.

We left Allen's Pensacola at 0700 and the winds were calm. We watched a beautiful sunrise as we motored eastward. Soon however, we ran in to light rain. After noon we were approaching Great Sale Cay and I could see a dramatic cold front just sitting there about 15 miles north of us. It wasn't moving. It really got my attention though when I spotted a waterspout descending from that frontal boundary.

We scrambled to get in to the anchorage ASAP, and set out two anchors. There are about 20 other boats in here with us. The winds swung to the north and started increasing. By around 2100 the winds were up to 25 knots. Then it started gusting to 30-35 knots and the trouble started. We heard on the radio a call from one of the other boats. Their anchor broke loose and dragged. Then, just as Libby and I were about to go to bed, a strong gust came along and we broke loose. I just happened
to be looking at the GPS when it happened so I noticed it immediately. Tarwathie was drifting leward at about 1 knot. There were several boats about 300 feet behind us.

We scrambled up on deck, started the engine and prepared to retrieve the anchors and try to reset them. However, when I got to the foredeck, I could see that both anchors were set and holding. I went back to the GPS to check, and yes indeed, our drift had stopped. At least the Danforth anchor had reset by itself. We stood down.

Then we heard another panic call on the radio. "All vessels in Great Sale, turn on your spreader lights. I dragged and I am adrift and I need the light to see where you are." That really woke up everyone, and soon all the vessels around had all their lights on. A half hour later he called again that now everything was OK. I sat up most of the rest of the night on anchor watch.

In the Bahamas, the bottom sand is tricky for anchoring. It is hard to get the anchor to bite. It tends to skip across the bottom. After it did bite, and you set it in, it doesn't go very deep. Therefore, in a strong gust, the anchor is likely to break loose abruptly, lifting all the sand on top of it, and start skipping across the bottom again. That means that whenever strong winds are blowing, someone needs to be on anchor watch.