Swimming in Marsh Harbor is not recommended.

Marsh Harbor is not a good place to swim - too many boats discharging effluent.  I did take a little dip at the dock on Friday.  The wind was pushing our boat too far away from the dock for Maryanne to get off the boat.  The wind was strong - but so am I.  I put my feet on one of the dock lines and pushed it down to get the boat in.  Unfortunately, I wasn't wearing my tight rope walking shoes.  My foot slipped and then instantly I found myself swimming in Marsh Harbor under the dock.  It happened so fast I was swimming before I realized I was in the water!  So...my BaTelCo wireless card is not waterproof.  No more posts via BaTelCo.

The docks pose many problems.  I landed at the dock at the Conch Inn on the downwind side with strong cross winds.  As scary as the landing was - it went smoothly with help from the dock hands.  The dockmaster when he returned later was unhappy with the berth that we had taken and told us that we would have to move.  The wind was blowing 30 mph so I let him know that moving would be difficult in the extreme.  He reluctantly agreed to make some adjustments while I stayed put.  The next day he announced that we would have to switch berths.  He left but gave us two dock hands to help out.  The wind was again gusting over 30 knots sideways.  When the boat backs the stern tends to walk to the left - in the same direction the wind was pushing us.  To complicate matters, as we left the dock there were 2 pilings we had to thread 20 feet behind us.  The situation was really close to impossible.  To make everything really bad our stern line slipped off the cleat just as we were beginning to back out of the slip. Our stern swung 45 degrees off the dock toward another boat and a piling.  A dock hand was able to throw the line back to me and pull me in for our next attempt to leave.  We backed out smoothly thanks to an amazing performance by a cruiser who pushed our boat into the wind as we pulled away from the dock.  With his dinghy acting as a side thruster or tug boat we were able to back in a straight line.

Our departure on Sunday was less smooth.  As we backed out of our slip into strong wind another boat came off their dock blocking the path behind us.  We pulled back into the slip and managed to barely hang on until the boat passed.  Again we backed out of the slip but didn't get far enough into the wind to make our turn going forward.  With the boat at right angles to the slip our stern began drifting into the bow anchor of a sailboat next to us while our bow pulpit looked like it would hit a piling in front of us. Chad was able to push hard against the bow pulpit of the boat with the threatening anchor while I tried to power the side of the bow to slide past the piling.  Nicole pushed against the piling and somehow we managed to escape with only a splinter in Nicole's hand to show for it.

We have a new definition for docking:
Good docking is when no one is bleeding after the attempt.
Great docking is when you can still use the boat afterwards. 
 So far we are doing somewhere between great and good docking.

Hopetown, Abacos

Hopetown Lighthouse from our mooring.
Kerosene flame lit by lighthouse keeper each night

The first harbor we visited after successfully anchoring by Linyard Cay in the Sea of Abacos was Hopetown.  Hopetown is a village of charming little homes of all different pastel shades overlooking the harbor.  The entrance was challenging.  We were warned not to attempt to enter until half tide or more.  To enter the harbor you have to aim for a beach about a half mile away and then follow the beach to the left.  Depths are about 6 feet with nearby patches of 4 feet.  The harbor is one of the prettiest we have seen in the Bahamas.  

Cemetery restoration project in Hopetown

We took a walk up a street closed to vehicular traffic to an historic cemetery that is being restored.  If it mattered to me where I was to be buried I would choose this cemetery.  It has one of the best views I have ever seen.

The perfect way to end a dead end road.
We saw this on our tandem bike ride through Hopetown.

This is a fun building in Hopetown -
a good place for ice cream but not for lunch

We spent two days in Hopetown - met some really nice people - a couple aboard Katahdin - from Cape Elizabeth, Me.  We also enjoyed spending time  with Richard and Ward from Bagheera - a trawler that we met on our crossing to Rock Sound, Eleuthera.  Ward gave us a ride to a restaurant in Spanish Wells on his rented Golf Cart. 

A park on the Atlantic Ocean in Hopetown.

Entrance to Hopetown

In the next Blog: Mishap in Marsh Harbor

Eleuthera and beyond

We departed Warderick Wells in the Exumas Saturday morning as soon as we had enough light to see the channel out of the park.  We were a little apprehensive about getting through the cut but only a little - the tide and wind seemed to be right.  It was a little bouncy but the wind was perfect for a fast passage into the ocean and 35 miles across to Rock Sound in Eleuthera.  Once we hit the banks next to Eleuthera we had to pay attention to the channels through the shallow sand and coral for 10 miles.  We only had to dodge a few coral heads.  Our Furuno Navnet 3D Chartplotter gives us a clear picture of where to steer the boat through the channels.  If we had to do it all without the electronics we would have an incredibly difficult job.

We anchored in Rock Sound in about 8 feet of water.  The entire harbor is very shallow.  We dinghyed in to Pascal's restaurant where we had a fabulous meal.  Maryanne's vegetable quesadilla has set the bar for all future vegetable quesadillas.  We were concerned enough with the lack of business that we and one other couple who happened to be dining there the next night offered to publicize the restaurant to the other cruisers.
Pascal, the chef/owner, volunteered that he would do a happy hour the next day with free appetizers.  The next morning Maryanne made an announcement on VHF radio to the other cruisers about lunch at Pascals and about the happy hour.  From our boat we could see a good crowd at the restaurant for lunch.  We had a nice gathering at the happy hour where we were able to met a number of interesting people who were anchored in the harbor.

After our first night at the restaurant we decided to take a short walk to the local grocery store just to see how far it was.  When we got there it was closed but I went up to the door to check out the hours.  As I turned to leave one of the several employees who were closing up opened the door and asked if we needed any items.  It was 7:20 - 20 minutes after closing.  I was sure they wanted to go home but we mentioned that there were a couple items we would like to buy before the store closed until Monday.  We were invited in to do some quick shopping.  I couldn't believe they were willing to open up for a couple of strangers well after their store hours!

On Wednesday we left the harbor for Hatchet Bay.  We had a wild ride with very strong winds and some chop.  The entrance to Hatchet Bay, a man made harbor, was different.  The entrance was cut through cliffs and was supposedly 90 feet wide.  It looked a lot narrower.  We aimed at the middle of the channel, watched the cliff walls on either side of us and held our breath as we glided into a perfectly calm pond-like harbor.  Once again, like our experience with Cave Cut, we felt like we were entering a different world.

Jon of Langeline, one of the cruisers we met at Pascal's happy hour was incredibly helpful to us.  He met us in a dinghy at a mooring near his boat and threaded some lines through the mooring for us.  The mooring was  well coated in bird poop but he didn't hesitate to string our lines.  Later we had a good time aboard his boat with his co-skipper, Nancy and with Alan of "Unabated."  Jon and Nancy's boat is an immaculate Tartan 43 in showroom condition.  I wanted to volunteer to toss a little clutter around but I resisted the impulse.  Alan had been sailing his Pearson 424 single-handed from the Caribbean and through the Bahamas.  This is also his first time in the Bahamas.

We sailed with Alan the next day to Current Cut while Jon and Nancy hitchhiked to Governors Harbor for the day.  We arrived at Current Cut well ahead of time.  The current is very strong so we had to wait a coule hours for the tide to change.  We turned off the engine and sailed at 1.5 knots or less for a couple hours until the tide change.  While we drifted toward our destination I replaced a noisy fan in our berth and rewired a quieter fan.  At least I got something done during the wait.

We arrived in Spanish Wells on Thursday and decided to spoil ourselves with a couple nights on a dock at Yacht Haven.  Spanish Wells is a picturesque fishing community that produces at least 50% of the lobsters from the Bahamas.  This town is different than any of the others we have seen.  All of the homes are well kept and painted all different pastel shades.  In all the other communities we have visited many of the homes and buildings looked care worn with some real poverty evident.  This community has enough water so that there are lovely gardens and lawns around most of the homes.

For a little change of pace we decided to take the high speed ferry to Harbor Island - supposedly the hangout of the rich and famous.  The ferry took us across the infamous "Devil's Backbone."  This is an area of shoals that cruisers are advised to cross only with a pilot.  The ferry zoomed across the shoals - at one time close enough to the beach that I could touch it if the windows opened.

A Blue Hole: The water in this pond comes through caves from the ocean.   In
some of the caves above water there is graffiti from the 1700's.  This Blue Hole
is just outside of town in Rock Sound

We rented a golf cart with Alan and toured Harbor Island.  We visited the famous pink sand beach which looked pretty much like any other beach to me but there were a few grains of reddish coral that gave wet sand a slight hint of a pink hue.  Lunch was at Valentines - and was excellent.  As we ate outside in the shade we could see "Happy Destiny," another Tartan 43 arriving with a pilot aboard - pulling his boat behind them.  Cindy and Pete hired "Bandit" as a pilot.  We spoke with him as we finished our lunch.  He explained that for him piloting isn't difficult.  He's been driving boats around here since he was a young kid.  Born in Spanish Wells, he is no young kid now.

Big Majors Spot and Warderick Wells

We did get to spend a second day anchored in high winds near Thunderball Grotto.  We did some more snorkeling and saw even more varieties of fish the second time.  Thunderball has become our favorite snorkeling spot.  After Thunderball near Staniel Cay we  went to Big Majors Spot.  No one seemed to be on the beach - no pigs - no nothing.

We heard a call from Andrea Cay, a megayacht next to us, for anyone who would trade some benadryl for a bottle of wine.  We were all over that but on second thought we declined the wine.  The skipper of Sunrise took some benadryl over to Andrea Cay before they were able to come over to us to pick it up.  Bill, the skipper of Sunrise, said he was concerned when he heard the request.  Since he had some special medical training it was good that he checked out the situation.  (It turned out not to be serious.)  He explained to us that the pigs would come out when we sent ashore.

We set off to the beach and were quickly approached by two extremely enthusiastic swimming pigs.  One of the pigs snorted and repeatedly butted our dinghy with his snout.  These pigs were gourmets.  They rejected the carrots we offered.  They obviously expected something better.  Oh well.  We departed munching on our carrots. They seemed fine to us.

Hey, I  didn't swim out here for some lousy carrots
from a cheap ass sailor!  Give me a break

After our visit with the pigs we had a fast downwind sail to Warderick Wells.  Our autopilot started acting up again.  As we tried to make a U-turn to grab our mooring, the steering seemed balky.  It got stuck and released in time for us to slowly approach the mooring to pick it up in the strong current.  Once again I found the autopilot in the bilge and a box holding the rudder sensor ripped off the bulkhead.  I spent some more time in the engine compartment trying to get a large bolt deeper into the autopilot than I had before.

The next day we headed to Boo Boo Hill to see if Maryanne could summit this time.  She got way ahead of  me and was ready for the final assault when I reached her.  Up, up and away she went - all the way to the top. She found our driftwood sign at the top and spent some time searching for Chad's 2010 Sabbatical sign.  No luck with Sabbatical but she did find Alesto from our friends Lee and Sherry.

Chuck & Maryanne atop Boo Boo Hill

Since we had so much fun snorkeling at Thunderball we decided to try Exuma Land and Sea Park's coral garden again this time.  Last time we saw only one or two fish.  This time as we were climbing into our dinghy next to Symphony's transom we saw two schools of good sized fish.  Some of them hung around as though they were expecting a handout.  We headed out to the dinghy mooring at the coral garden.  We were a little concerned because last time we were unable to climb back into our dinghy.  That time we swam the dinghy to Alesto to climb out of the water on their ladder.  This time there was no catamaran for us to board.  We planned to swim the dinghy to a sand bar to climb back in.  The coral garden surprised us.  There were many more fish than we had seen last time and they were bigger than the fish that we had seen at Thunderball.

When it came time to move the dinghy I decided to try a strategy that Al from Windancer had suggested.  He told me to push myself underwater straight down and then kick my swim fins hard to get as much altitude out of the water as possible.  I tried.  It worked!  I was able to tumble into the dinghy and figured I could tow Maryanne into the sand bar.  I suggested she try the technique.  She was less than enthusiastic about receiving lengthy instructions.  She was getting pretty cold.  She also tried the technique - and with a little help  she, too, was able to scramble into the dinghy.  We now know that we can snorkel from the dinghy and do not need to be able to stand  next to it in order to climb in.

Today Monday, March 26 we are sitting in Rock Sound Harbor with barely a breath of wind at 9:30 p.m.
We arrived here from Warderick Wells on Saturday after a beautiful full day of sailing.  We moved across the harbor yesterday in anticipation of strong winds and squalls from the west.  The squalls arrived this morning and did a great job of washing the salt off of the boat.  Fortunately, the winds were not too bad.  We will probably spend some more time here waiting out strong winds associated with a secondary front due here tomorrow evening.  It's ironic that we are in a sailboat and that most of our delays have been from too much wind!

Thunderball

We were very happy to find that the autopilot works fine.  We used it to sail from Black Point on Guana Cay around Harvey Cay to Staniel Cay.  We topped off our fuel and water tanks at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club.  Water is 40 cents a gallon.  The Bahamas would be virtually uninhabitable without RO water.  Reverse Osmosis water is seawater that has been squeezed through a membrane at high pressure.  The membrane allows only water molecules to pass through.  Salt molecules are too big to pass through the membrane.  RO water is very pure but expensive to make.



We sailed through a very narrow passage between two rocky islands to an area on the chart that said: "Good holding."  I hope so because as I write this the wind is howling again through the rigging as a squall passes over us.  I'm seeing a pretty consistent 25 knots, the rain is pounding us, and we are pitching up and down a bit.  Chris Parker says expect 36 hours of this.  We hope to go back to Thunderball Grotto tomorrow but if it gets too rough we will pull up anchor, thread our way back to the channel, and head over to Big Majors Spot, home of the swimming wild pigs.

Entrance to Thunderball Grotto

Today was our absolute best snorkeling experience.  We are anchored not far from Thunderball Grotto (of James Bond fame).  Both Maryanne and I were able to swim into the Grotto and out.  The grotto was impressive with sunlight streaming through a hole in the roof.  Near the entrance it felt like we were swimming in an aquarium with all kinds of fish swimming with us.  We saw beautiful blue fan coral and fish of every hue and color!  The fish hang out at the entrance to the cave because people feed them there.

After our swim we celebrated with supper from the bar menu at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club.  The Yacht Club was a great people watching spot.  Tommy Lee Jones and his brother were spotted there the day after our last visit.  No celebrities were in evidence today but it was fun people watching anyway.

After freeing up the autopilot yesterday I wondered all night if I would be able to put it back together.  I hoped that I had put all the bolts back in their respective holes and had not dropped anything essential into the bilge.  I also wondered if a large bolt had broken off the left side of the autopilot because I could only see a short shaft sticking up from the bottom stringer that supported the autopilot.  The shaft looked like part of a bolt that might have sheered off.  I find myself regretting that mechanical work was not a big part of social work school.  There doesn't seem to be much overlap between social work education and working with tools.  Who knew?

Dealing with first things first I went through a number of contortions to try to unscrew the box that had half ripped off a supporting wall.  It is really hard to use one hand to unscrew and use the other one to support your upper body at the same time.  Working in the lazarette and engine compartment is a little cramped.  If you imagine what it would be like for a mechanic to work on your car engine from under the dashboard you'll get a good image of what it's like to try to fix something down there.  I don't know how many parts of my body I bruised and strained to reattach the box to the wall but I did manage to get some large screws into it.  I tried to put it in as close to the original position as possible - but I really couldn't tell.

Next I tried to see what was going on with the support on the left side of the autopilot.  The shaft that I had seen was part of a very thick bolt that looked like it went into the autopilot.  After taking apart a hinged plate I was able to fasten the bolt through the plate into the autopilot.    I then reattached the other end of the autopilot to the rudder. With Maryanne turning the wheel I was able to guide the plate and bolt back into position to receive a shaft and pin to hold everything in place.  Did I mention that all of these parts were covered with thick black grease - and that the latex gloves I used were too old and broke when I put them on?  Messy.

I had Maryanne turn the wheel with the autopilot attached.  It worked!  We then turned on the autopilot and pushed the 10 degree left button.  An alarm sounded.  The alarm was letting us know that we had no boat speed for the autopilot to function.  The good news is that the autopilot did start turning the rudder.  I think it is working.  We'll test it out for sure when we next move the boat.  Phew!  It was really hot down in that compartment!  The autopilot better work - there aren't many mechanics on this island - and I know for sure that parts are not available down here.  

I heard some poor guy in Georgetown skyping with someone.  He was saying "but I told you to send it UPS - if you sent it through the mail it may not get here for a month if ever!"  He told me it was medication that he was waiting for.  We know several cruisers who are waiting for parts that are being held up in Nassau by Customs.  I know we wouldn't be able to wait for parts even if they were available.

What a day!  We finally got a weather window to get out of Georgetown.  We loved it there and found the well organized community to be friendly, fun and helpful.  We made new friends who we know we will see again.

Conch Cut leading out into Exuma Sound from the harbor had less than ideal conditions.  If wind is blowing into the cut you want the current to be flowing with the wind.  If the current is flowing out of the cut into the wind you can get some very steep nasty seas.  Today despite Chris Parker's assurances that there would be less wind today than yesterday we had 20 knot winds with gusts to 25.  We did hobby horse in steep 5 foot seas leaving the cut.  We had been forewarned by a boat that went out a half hour before us that the seas were rough but "not a problem for a good boat."  We felt good about our Caliber 40 and she handled the incoming waves well.  There were significant wind driven waves on top of some rollers for about 30 miles.  With the wind blowing as hard as it was we barreled along at 7 knots under sail - about one knot faster than we could go under power.  On the VHF radio we heard more than one skipper commenting on the rough conditions.  Finally, we came within sight of Cave Cay Cut.  It was difficult to make out the cut as we approached but our chart plotter led us  in the right direction until we could make out the entrance to the Cut.  The water changed color from a deep indigo to a lighter blue as we approached.  The channel was narrow but not difficult to follow.   We emerged from the cut between Cave Cay and Musha Cay (owned by David Copperfield) into another world..  The water  was flat and brilliant turquoise.  We had doused our mainsail outside the cut and now were comfortably cruising at 7 knots with only half of the jib unfurled.  We were feeling pretty accomplished.  

Approaching Black Point we had an unhappy sequence of events.  Maryanne noticed that a halyard was swinging free in the breeze.  I looked up to identify it and lost my "Around Long Island Race" hat.  It clung to the rail and our plastic enclosure for a few seconds before flying overboard.  I told Maryanne to keep her eye on the hat while I went forward to secure the errant halyard.  I got back to the cockpit as quickly as I could and tried to turn the wheel hard to starboard to make a U-turn.  The wheel wouldn't move.  A half second later I realized I had to disengage the autopilot to make the turn.  I disengaged the pilot and headed back for the hat.  Maryanne had lost sight of it but we retraced our track on the GPS chart plotter to search for it.  No luck.  I turned the wheel to head back to Black Point.  The wheel would only turn a quarter turn.  I tried the other direction.  Again it wouldn't turn far enough back to change our direction.  I tried again several times making sure that the autopilot was disengaged.  Again - the wheel was stuck.

Maryanne used the VHF to call a boat that had been sailing behind us.  She informed them that we had no steering.  They asked if we needed help.  Maryanne replied that we weren't sure and that we would anchor to try to figure out the problem.  Immediately, a boat anchored in Black Point Harbor called to let us know that they had a 15 horsepower engine on their dinghy and could pull us in if we needed help.  Another boat chimed in that their dinghy was up on their davits but they, too, would put it in the water if we needed help.  We let them know that we were anchoring and would see if we could fix the problem.  It was 5:10.  Windstar IV, the first boat, reminded us that we had limited daylight.  The anchor set quickly in about 20 feet of water.  This was one time that we were very happy that the Exuma Banks are so shallow.

I pulled out all the paraphernalia that is stored in our lazarette.  Out came 3 large fenders, a milk crate full of lines and a dinghy anchor - more crates, large jugs of oil, a cart and just plain stuff.  I removed a board that separates the engine compartment from the lazarette - held in place by 4 deadbolts.  Wishing that I hadn't grown so much in 9th grade, I bent my 6'5" frame into as small a shape as I could and put my head under the cockpit sole.  I could see that the autopilot arm had broken free and was getting caught in the bottom of the compartment.  I couldn't see where the left side of the arm had been attached.  As I moved a life preserver I could see a small object disappear deeper into the compartment.  I searched and found a little plastic and metal pin.  Maryanne sent down a pair of needle nose pliers to me to help me remove a cotter pin from the linkage holding the autopilot to the rudder.  I was able to free the cotter pin and bolt.   After I removed the bolt I found another linkage that was holding the autopilot arm and motor to the rudder post.  A few quick turns with the vice grips freed up that linkage.  As I freed up the second linkage I could see that a box that it had been attached to had ripped off the wall.  

I asked Maryanne to turn the wheel.  She said it felt very stiff but turned all the way both right and left.  Phew!  When I was able to get out of the lazarette we called the boats that had offered assistance to let them know that we were OK and getting under way.

When I pulled up the anchor I realized that the reason the wheel was so stiff was because the lock was partially tightened on it.  Maryanne released the lock, I pulled up the anchor and we were on our way by 5:45.  Tomorrow I get to see if I can repair the autopilot.  Just another day in Paradise!  And despite all of this we are still having a good time.  It is very reassuring to know that the cruising community is comprised of individuals who are so ready to lend a hand to fellow cruisers in need.