Bahamas, 28 Feb - 13 Mar 2009

Log of the Pequod

 

28 Feb 09 –

Left Key West, Florida, at midday.  In the morning, pulled in one anchor, stowed the folding kayak, and started the engine.  Battery was well charged after a week-and-a-half of living on solar panels, so green energy works.  Pulled up the second anchor at 1220 WT, motored out of the Key West anchorage, and then sailed south through the main ship channel.  Set a course for Elbow Cay on the western edge of the Cay Sal Bank, Bahamas, with an approach waypoint of 2353 8030.  The Cay Sal Banks are Bahamian territory, but there are no inhabitants, so the Bahamian Defense Force rarely patrols the waters.  Positions enroute were:  1637WT 2420 8139; 2007WT 2410 8118, 220WT 2406 8107.  Kept radio contact with Captain Ray O’Quinn and crew on the S/V Wind Dancer every two hours on the even hours.  They were about 18 miles behind me.  Caught a few short naps, but had to hand steer most of the way.  Sailed a close reach to close-hauled most of the way.  * The position notation I am using is my own shorthand method.  The first four numbers show the hours and minutes in 24-hour notation, followed by two letters, in this case WT means Watch Time for whatever time is on my watch.  The second group of four numbers shows the latitude in degrees and minutes and the third group of four numbers shows the longitude in degrees and minutes.  I skipped the N and S, E and W latitude and longitude designators, since I am traveling slowly and the quadrant of the globe is easy to figure out from the rest of the text.

 

1 Mar 09 –

Position enroute:  0405WT 2358 8047.  Sighted land at 0640WT just west of an abandoned lighthouse on Elbow Cay.  Surveyed the entire outside of Elbow Cay and then sailed through a 200-yard wide, 17-foot-deep cut on the south end to go inside the banks and survey the eastern side.  Sailed back through the cut and anchored just northwest of the lighthouse in 24 feet of clear water with a sandy bottom at 1130WT.  While waiting for Wind Dancer, I dove down to make sure the anchor was well set, then knocked a few barnacles off the boat and the propeller, but will save a thorough scrubbing for later with SCUBA gear.  Winds were forecast to shift to the northeast, so I moved to the southeast side of Elbow Cay to anchor for the night.  Moved just in time because a strong cold front came through at 6:00pm with wind gusts of more than 40 mph.  The second anchor spot was at 2357 8026.

 

2 Mar 09 –

Lazy from the previous all-night sail.  Kept napping until about 1000WT, when Mark from Wind Dancer dinghied over and woke me up.  All four of us, Ray O’Quinn, Ken Sasser, Mark, and I went ashore and explored the lighthouse and the island.  A very crude homemade raft was ashore, where it was probably left after carrying Cuban escapees.  A working Firefly 3 SOLAS strobe, manufactured in 01/07, was in the base of the old lighthouse, so people had been there within the last two years.  Found a cistern with several hundred gallons of fresh water, along with, stone house walls, and rock-fenced animal pens.  Surface of the island was very rocky.  Waves were beating hard on the NW side, but the SE side was peaceful.  At 2:00 pm, we snorkeled for supper.  I speared a foot-long fish from the mackerel family and Mark speared a Spanish lobster.  A 5-foot shark was shadowing me about 25 feet away, so I climbed in the dinghy.  Plus the 71-degree water chills you pretty fast.  Ray cooked the fish and lobster, along with some steak, and we had a great supper.

 

3 Mar 09 –

Worked on the boat in the morning to get things ready for sailing on to Anguilla Cay, Cay Sal Banks, Bahamas.  Ray and Ken stopped by in the afternoon and said they were leaving soon.  I wanted to leave in the morning and cross the shallow banks in the daylight, but went ahead and followed them.  Was sailing by 3:14 pm.  Enroute positions:  1810WT 2350 8014, 2119WT 2343 8000.  Was frustrated because Wind Dancer slowly pulled away from me the whole trip, but found out later they were using the motor.  The wind clocked around progressively from North to East, so the last part of the trip was tacking directly into an east wind.  Should have followed my own course set for the clocking wind instead of following their straight-line motorsailing course.

 

4 Mar 09 –

Arrived Anguilla Cay at 0730WT and anchored at 2334 7935, about midway on the west side.  Straightened up the boat and took a nap.  Woke up at 11:24 am as Ray, Ken, and Mark stopped by from exploring the island.  They found a huge loggerhead turtle skull that was larger than a cow skull.  We dove in the afternoon to catch some fish.  Saw many smaller fish and a beautiful reef, but did not spear anything.  One barracuda kept a close watch to snatch anything I speared.  They will attack you if you shoot at them and miss, and he was a big guy, so I left him alone.  Empty handed, we grilled a barracuda that Mark had caught the night before on the passage over.  Sitting around after the meal, I realized we four men were really predators sitting around enjoying life after eating a lesser predator.  Am not sure modern society appreciates how we are actually wired up.  Then, we pooled our brains to fix Ray’s dive compressor so we could use air tanks to dive deeper for better food.

 

 

5 Mar 09 –

About 8:00 am a small Coast Guard jet flew over real close, probably looking for drug smugglers.  About 9:30 am Ray pulled his anchor and headed south looking for a new beach.  I followed, but eventually we anchored right back in our original spot.  In the afternoon I rowed ashore and found a great spot for a bonfire that was sheltered from the wind and offered a good view of the sunset.  Built a stone fire ring, collected firewood, and built a bench from a driftwood plank.  Lit the fire about 5:00 pm while Ray, Ken, and Mark came ashore with hot dogs.  We spent the evening by the fire, eating hot dogs, telling stories, and watching the sunset.  Rowing back to Pequod in the dark was a challenge, with the wind carrying me much farther offshore than expected.  Was almost swept out to sea in the dark in a little rubber boat, with only a belly full of hot dogs.  Desperation adds a certain flavor to life.

 

6 Mar 09 –

A southerly swell and 30-knot gusts made last night rough.  Tightened up the rigging supporting my mast, because several times last night the mast was pumping in resonance and trying to tear the whole boat apart.  Ray has several pole spears missing elastic bands, so I made some out of surgical tubing.  Spent a couple hours studying the Bahamas charts and guidebook.  Still planning to leave early Sunday morning and head for the Ragged Islands in the southern Bahamas.  Took a nap.  Ate a spaghetti supper on Wind Dancer.  Plain marinara sauce laced with chopped polish sausage over undercooked fettuccine noodles was a real treat.

 

7 Mar 09 –

Should I cross the Atlantic in June to the Mediterranean, or spend another year in the Caribbean?  Deflated and packed the dinghy.  Ate a supper of beef stew thickened with instant garlic mashed potatoes.  Got my pole spear back from Wind Dancer, just in case we separate on this trip.  Not looking forward to tacking across the southern Bahamas bank directly into an east wind for a whole week.  The other option is to head north to Bimini, around the north end of Andros Island, clear in at Nassau, sail down the Tongue of the Ocean, then cross the banks to the Exumas and catch back up with Wind Dancer.

 

8 Mar 09 –

Is it Daylight Savings Time change today?  We pulled up anchors and moved south along the islands to see what the open-ocean conditions were in the Santarem and Nicholas channels.  Still some big swells and an east wind.  We anchored at 1230WT 2330 7932.  I was listening to the HF offshore weather forecast on a shortwave radio and did not hear Wind Dancer leave again in the afternoon.  I thought they had abandoned me, so I prepared to leave on my own course.  Thought about turning around and heading to Belize, but decided to continue to the Bahamas, by the northern route.  But, Wind Dancer returned just before I pulled up the anchor.  They had simply sailed south to check the open-ocean conditions again.  We all ate our fill of Ken’s homemade chili.  Will all head out for the Bahamas tomorrow morning, with Ray motoring straight east, while I sail northeast to the northern Bahamas.

 

9 Mar 09 –

Pulled up the anchor and was sailing south by 8:23 am.  Could have saved some distance by heading north around Anguilla Cays, but would have lost several miles of easting that I was not sure I could make up with the east wind and the strong northerly current.  Tacked east to clear the southern tip at 9:30 am and finally cleared the southern tip at 10:14 am.  Could have sailed 3 miles farther south and officially crossed into the Tropics, but decided to save it for later.  Positions enroute: 10321WT 2330 7929, 1232 WT 2338 7925, 1435WT 2346 7921, 1630WT 2354 7920, 1733WT 2359 7919, 1915WT 2406 7917, 2038WT 2412 7917.

 

10 Mar 09 –

Positions enroute:  0024WT 2427 7919, 0249WT 2435 7912 and just came onto the Great Bahama Bank, 0549WT 2445 7907, 0825WT 2455 7859, 1828WT 2523 7849 winds light, 2015WT 2518 7841.  During the night the wind shifted perfectly to allow sailing right around a shoal, then shifted back to send me to the next waypoint.  All day, sailed generally northeast.  Also spent the whole day deciding where to make landfall.  First thought, Morgan’s Bluff on Andros, but it does not have many services and I might be trapped by unfavorable wind in the Tongue of the Ocean.  Next, Chub Cay in the southern Berry Islands, but it is an expensive private development for sportfishermen and is not a real Bahamian settlement.  Then Spanish Wells or Rock Sound on Eleuthera, but they are far away and the wind is not right.  Might stop in Great Harbor Cay and Bullocks Harbor to clear in, rest, wait for the right wind, and then sail to Eleuthera.

 

11 Mar 09 –

Positions enroute:  0004WT 2520 7834, 0317WT 2533 7826, 0644WT 2541 7815, 0827WT 2544 7810, 0925WT 2546 7807.  Dropped the anchor at 1530WT 2545 7753 in Bullocks Harbor on the northwestern end of the Berry Islands, Bahamas.  Sighted land about 10:30 am.  The wind was right on the nose, but the land seemed closer than it really was, so I tacked three hours before finally starting the engine and motoring the last ten miles.  Sometimes the engine does not answer the throttle and simply idles.  Probably the governor races have developed grooves.  A whiff of ether revs it up and seems to shake things loose enough to get it working right.  Decided not to clear in right away, since clearing in at Bullocks Harbor requires tying up at the marina and waiting for both Customs and Immigration officers to drive from the local airport when they are not busy.  Island time said it was too late in the day.  Have been living on the boat for a month now without a marina, so why do I need one tonight?  Tomorrow will be a treat.  Anchored, inflated the dinghy, bathed in the ocean while jumping in to check the anchor and scrubbing the slime off the boat hull.  Rowed ashore about 5:30 pm in clean clothes and ate supper at a local restaurant called Couli Mae’s, which had a fence made of stacked-up conch shells.  Ate the fried snapper with plantains, steamed rice, and a drink, for $26.50.  A plain meal with a fancy price.  During supper, the sun was setting and I saw the famed “Green Flash” of the tropics.  Then walked around and located a grocery store and a phone booth.  Today’s walking and rowing has been work, but the aerobic exercise feels good after being on the boat for so long.

 

12 Mar 09 –

Woke to the sound of roosters crowing onshore.  At 8:30 am, called the Great Harbor Cay Marina on VHF 68 for a slip and headed into the harbor.  Spent the morning tying up the boat, clearing in, and meeting my new neighbors.  All the boaters seem to be desperate to meet each other.  Ate a hamburger with a couple of boaters at a nearby hut that turns out to be the island’s hottest nightspot, the Rocky Hill Bar.  It has a pool that shows very little use, probably because the water at the beach is much clearer.  Walked a couple miles to a tiny grocery store with prices double what you expect in the U.S.  Was given a ride on the way home.  It seems that the few people with cars offer rides when they can.  Went to the hut again and ate supper. About 15 customers were there because the other club on the island was already shut down at 6:30 pm.  The big talk was of a rumored WiFi hotspot left by some tourist.  Two people actually borrowed money from the bartender to pay personal expenses.  Since there are no ATMs or banks on the island, you actually have to go to Nassau to physically get cash, or borrow from someone.  By 9:00 pm the place was closed.  Internet basically does not exist.  Two pay phones work on the entire island, one at the marina and one at the airport.  Probably a few hundred permanent blacks, a hundred part-time whites, with a few tourists drifting by, all living in slow-motion chaos.  Three times now, little boys have accosted me with, “White man, give me dollar.”  The adults hide it well with smiles, but the kids learn it somewhere.

 

13 Mar 09 –

A new 130-foot yacht in the harbor belongs to the golfer Jack Nicholaus.  He is too busy designing golf courses to travel with his yacht, so he flies in for a day or two once the yacht arrives.  Maybe he should sell the boat so he does not have to work so hard.  Then buy a smaller, affordable boat that he can spend more time on.  But that philosophy did not make him a golfing legend.  Now he is trapped on a treadmill and time is running out.  Walked a mile to the Beach Club by the little airport.  Ate bacon and eggs, with French toast.  Have decided that the days are not long enough to allow eating three meals a day in the local restaurants.  Things happen at a slow pace.  Then walked 2 miles to the phone company and bought phone cards.  Back at the marina, the boat next to me left, so I was finally able to plug in to one of the few working electrical outlets.  Which allowed me to charge the computer and type this log.  Maybe tomorrow I will find a way to connect to the Internet and post this.