Oh, The Beauty

Vero Beach Panera
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I wish that I could take credit for this splendid photo. In reality, I bought it on a post card and scanned it in to my computer. Nevertheless, it was take in the Bahamas.

Bahamas Follow Up

Vero Beach Panera
No LL

So. We're in Vero Beach again, and liking it. We are rafted up with the Westsail Zaftra with our friends Don and Gloria, and with Eagles Wings with our friends Walt and Pat who we met in the Bahamas. In addition, so far we bumped in to Reg and Teri on Blue Topaz, and Stephan and Lori on Twin Spirits. It's like old home week here for us.

I have a number of things to order and receive by mail, so we'll be stuck here for a few weeks, but I promise; we won't stay here for months this time (I think:)

I blogged about this scandalous piece of cruiser's gossip before, but now I learned some new details so I'll repeat the story. About 10 days ago we were anchored in White Sound on Green Turtle Cay. A number of other boats anchored in there were waiting to pass through The Whale. The Whale is a short passage that takes you part way out to sea in one of the cuts between barrier islands. Shallow waters prevent sailboats from using any other route between Green Turtle and the rest of the Abacos.

These barrier islands face the open Atlantic Ocean with no additional obstacles between here and Europe and Africa. When big Atlantic Swells come rolling in from the east and then meet the barrier reefs, and especially the gaps or cuts between reefs, they become very violent. Couple that with the action of wind and of the strong tidal ebb and flows, and it makes for a very dangerous combination of elements. Bahamians call it The Rage. On that day, everybody who listened to VHF radio had to know that The Rage was on. Friends told us that on that day they went to the southern tip of Green Turtle Cay were they could look out over The Whale. They said that there was so much white spray in the air, that it just looked like a big white cloud hanging over the passage.

On that day, we saw a big, beautiful 45 foot charter catamaran leave White Sound. On board was three couples on vacation, plus a paid professional captain. That vessel very foolishly tried to go through The Whale ignoring The Rage. A few hours later, the boat returned. We heard that the boat had been “trashed.” Yesterday, I also learned the new fact, that all six vacationers were injured and are in the hospital.

My oh my, how could a professional captain have made such a blunder? I expect that the consequences for that captain and for the charter company will be very severe.

More Bahamas follow up. We learned that the peak season in the Bahamas is actually May and June. In those months, the weather is so placid that even the Gulf Stream is tamed and anybody with a 14 foot or larger motor boat can cross over to the Bahamas from Florida. They reportedly do so by the thousands. In addition to all the other appeals, The Bahamas are also about 10 degrees cooler than Florida in the summer and much more comfortable.

Still more about the Bahamas. We learned that a big fraction of the cruising community that goes to the Bahamas in winter, live a life style that resembles that in Vero Beach or Marathon. In Marsh Harbor, Abacos, members of the Royal Marsh Harbor Yacht Club have negotiated a rate of $0.60/foot for a slip if you pay in advance for 90 days or more. That's very cheap. Tarwathie could stay at a slip there for only $576/month. Down in Georgetown, Exumas, there is another cruisers culture that locks people in to staying in one place for the whole winter season.

(no subject)

Fort Pierce, FL USA
N 27 27.362 W 080 18.396

Libby and I both had the same reaction after we dropped anchor tonight. The Bahamas were great but we're glad to be back.

The passage over here from Great Sale Cay was smooth and uneventful. The wind let us down. For a large part of the past 36 hours, we had to motor instead of sail.

Last night we cheated. We arrived at the edge of the Bahama Bank at 0430. We didn't want to sail in the ocean until dawn, so we anchored right there for an hour's sleep. It felt really strange anchoring way out there with nothing but water around us. We were also close to what must be a very big underwater cliff. At the edge of the bank, the depth goes from 20 feet to 1500 feet in almost one step. It would look like the Grand Canyon if one could see it.

Out in the middle of the Gulf Stream today it was really beautiful. We had partly sunny skies, 6 foot swells that were pretty gentle, and the water temperature in the Gulf Stream was 81F (27C). The color of the Gulf Stream is impossibly blue. So blue that I can't describe it. I tried taking some pictures but the water will probably look black in the pictures. We were entertained by the flying fish and by dolphins. I saw one flying fish that flew and flew and flew for what must have been 100
meters. Wow. I didn't know they could go that far. We also had a visit from a pod of three dolphins who escorted us part of the say, swimming in our bow wave.

Our friends Leon and Kim on Gypsy caught up to us last night and sailed along with us all the way here.

The roughest part of the trip was entering the inlet here at Fort Pierce. The tide was going out and meeting the ocean swells trying to roll in. Those conditions create an area several hundred yards deep where the waves are very big and totally confused. Small boats would likely capsize or swamp in those conditions. Even Tarwathie was hard to handle. Libby was at the helm and it took all her strength to wrestle with the tiller. Libby is getting pretty salty though. She knows what to expect
and doesn't blink an eye navigating such obstacles now.

West Sailing

At Sea
N 27 01 W 078 24

Well, we decided to leave Great Sale and head for Fort Pierce Florida. Most of the other boats in the anchorage are going to wait another day before leaving to avoid the 7 foot swells in the Gulf Stream. We decided that the swells don't bother us and that we had enough waiting around. So here we are. It is about 1800 on Wednesday right now. We have partly cloudy skys, temperature 75F (24C). Winds are on the starboard stern quarter at 15 knots. We are still on the banks, with water depth only
4 meters. There are almost no waves out here on the banks. At about 0300 tomorrow we'll leave the banks and around 0600 we should find the 7 foot swells, again on the starboard stern quarter. We'll have to turn the boat another 20 degrees to port when we're in the middle of the gulf stream, so the seas should be following. That shouldn't be bad. We should be in Fort Pierce sometime after noon tomorrow.

We just experienced another first. We're used to meeting up with cruising friends in the anchorages and ashore. Just now, we met up with Gypsy while at sea. Gypsy, with Leon and Kim on board, is an acquaintance from Marsh Harbor. I've written about them before in the blog. Anyhow, they too are en route to Fort Pierce, so we'll cross together.

By the way, we learned more about the boats dragging on Monday night. It seems that one of the sailboats near us had their anchor break loose in the middle of the night. They drifted backward (away from us) just missing the boat behind them. Then, before crashing on the rocks it plowed in to another sailboat.

The crew on the other boat were awake standing anchor watch and they saw it coming, but they were unable to get out of the way in time. It had a center cockpit, and the female crew member was standing at the wheel. The bowsprit of the dragging boat hit them from the side, and protruded right in to the cockpit just in front of the wheel. The poor woman must have been terrorized and in fear for her life at that moment. Anyhow, one of the boats cut their anchor loose to help separate the two boats.
Yesterday, the two skippers were said to be negotiating a financial settlement for the damage.

Wow what a story. The lesson to us is that we need to redouble our determination to stand anchor watch when conditions are dangerous.

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.