You Can Do It Too

     Below is a copy of a email I sent out to friends today, their names were removed to protect me.   I thought I would share it with the rest of the world:

Hello (insert your name here!)

     Well, we did it.  Don't ask me how, but we did,  We managed to get up the courage and defied all odds and did it.  We tried to do it last week but the boat said no.  Then, this morning with a little coaxing we managed to do it.  Then part way through the day it happened, we ran aground.  No problem , we did it, we moved the boat.  We actually made it to Lee Stocking/Williams Bay.  It was a beautiful trip despite be grounded for 1.5 hours waiting for the tide to come back in, but we did it.  I guess you have probably figured I was writing this well after happy hour started, but hey, we did it!

     Now that you know that we did it, I hope all is well with you.  We think of you often and think you can do it too!

     Have fun!

     Bob & Sharon

     This was written after being on the hook for 35 days at Plain Bay.  We tied last year's record!

Dirty Laundry

Photo credit - Ken & Cindy, S/V Meant To Be

     The dinghy, the backbone of the cruising world.  Once you drop the hook for the mothership, the dinghy becomes your runabout.  In the above photo, Sharon and I are returning to Big Run after doing laundry at Black Point Settlement.  It's a 15 minute dinghy ride over to Black Point Settlement from Plain Bay.  If we didn't have the dinghy, it would be a 2+ mile walk to town with over 2 weeks of dirty laundry.

The Plain Bay Gang - Part 2

Photo courtesy of Cindy & Ken, S/V Meant To Be

     Christmas dinner at Frank & Peg's home included turkey and all the fixings for the Plain Bay Gang.

The Plain Bay Gang

       We had left Plain Bay about 10 days prior to our return to the bay on the 16th of this month.  During those ten days, we anchored over at Black Point Settlement for a few days before heading north to Pipe Creek to do some snorkeling and fishing.  The anchorage at Pipe Creek is a little exposed to foul weather, especially when the weather comes from the south, west or north, so we were forced to leave after few days because of an approaching "cold" front and seek refuge in between the Majors (Big Majors Cay & Little Majors Cay).  We are not to thrilled with between the Majors as an anchorage because the currents and winds combined can sometimes foul your anchor.  After anchoring that morning, we decided that afternoon to head over to the Big Major anchorage near pig beach.  Pig Beach is for pigs that haven't learned to fly so that they can go swimming!  Well, after watching pasty white women in muumuu dresses and large sun hats get absolutely giddy over swimming pigs, we decided Sunday morning it was time to get back to Plain Bay.  As we rounded Black Point we could see there was one catamaran anchored in the southern section of Plain Bay.  As I glassed the bay I thought the boat looked familiar and just about the time my brain was thinking the boat looked familiar the call came over the VHF "Big Run, Big Run.....where have you been?"  There she was, the boat, and crew we have been searching for - Bill and Mara on S/V Puddlejumper!   I immediately returned their hail and after a few moments Puddlejumper informed us they were 10 minutes away from leaving the anchorage and heading south.  I asked if they could stay for an hour or better yet can they stay for happy hour!  It was a great surprise to see Puddlejumper anchored there.  Back in January 2012 we left Puddlejumper in Plain Bay without getting their email address.  Then in August I posted on the Blog that we were seeking contact information for Puddlejumper.  Many people helped us with the endeavor, but still no contact.  Then in early December our friends on S/V Meant To Be contacted us from Morgan's Buff in Andros, Bahamas that Puddlejumper had dropped anchor just 2 hours after Meant To Be dropped their anchor.  Yes, Puddlejumer stayed in Plain Bay with us for happy hour that evening and over the next four days we had plenty of time to catch up over more happy hours, land excursions and a few games of Euchre.  We learned from Bill and Mara that many friends had contacted them about our inquiry we had posted on this blog.  Bill and Mara had attempted to contact us through the blog's comment section but without success.  Then, when Puddlejumper arrived in Morgan's Bluff, Meant To Be informed Puddlejumper that Big Run was in Plain Bay.  After a few days in Morgan's Bluff, Puddlejumper headed down to Plain Bay only to find an empty anchorage.  Had our departure from Big Major been delayed by 10 minutes we would have missed a glorious 4 day reunion.

      As the week progressed, S/V Meant To Be arrived at the anchorage and the homeowners at Plain Bay also returned to the islands. Thursday evening we all went to town for burgers and rum punch at DeShaMon Restaurant in Black Point Settlement.  As there was ten of us for the dinner party,  the restaurant sent a pick up truck to shuttle us into town which is 2.2 miles from Plain Bay anchorage.   In the photo below is part of the Plain Bay Gang.

The Plain Bay Gang at DeShaMon Restaurant.

    

Trying To Escape

    Last night was a typical night.  We went over to S/V Eleanor M last night for another social hour(s).  What we did not expect was the surprise that was laying in store for us this morning.  You have to get up early to catch the weather reports, and we also had laundry to do today.  I was up at 6 a.m., and Sharon was up shortly thereafter.  During my morning routine, I noticed a "new" sailboat in Black Point Harbour.  The odd thing was its location and its orientation to the wind.  The sailboat was on the north side of the harbour laying in an east west fashion.  All the rest of the boats on the hook were on the south side of the harbour facing SSE because of the breeze.  Upon further investigation with the binoculars, it appeared the vessel was on the rocks, in a state of disrepair and not a soul to be seen.   After the weather report and breakfast, we went into town and discovered the story behind the mystery vessel.  The story goes like this.  The boat was sailed from Haiti with 103 immigrants on board trying to find a better life.  Sometime during the night,  many individuals were dropped off at Bitter Guana Cay, an uninhabited island lying to the north of Black Point Harbour.  Then, the sailboat with many people still onboard was sailed south to Black Point Harbour and scuttled on the rocks so that the remaining passengers could escape to land.  As we did our morning errands in town, we witnessed the local police boat hauling (Haitian) people to Regatta Point at the edge of town.  This was the processing station for the illegal immigrants as they are going to be taken by boat up to Nassau and then returned to Haiti and the life they were trying to escape.

103 people on this boat gives you idea of how desperate they are for a better life.

I Can Handle That!

     It has been a little over four weeks since our arrival here in the Bahamas.  I would have to admit that the weather has been, let's just say a little different than previous years.  The wind, or the lack thereof, helped us to cross over to Nassau in an overnight run.  Prior to Thursday of this past week, the sustained winds had been limiting our activities.  We did manage to squeeze in a few walks and did go snorkeling on the lee side of the island when the winds shifted to a north-northeasterly fresh breeze.  However, the event that did shock everyone was this past Thursday when during the overnight hours the skies opened up and dropped 3 1/2 inches of rain on everyone.  This was a widespread rainmaker that covered the majority of the central Bahamas.  Back in Pennsylvania that much rain overnight would have caused some minor flooding and delayed school openings.  But things are starting to moderate in the next week's forecast.  As a matter of fact, boats are now making the crossing from Florida to many different locations in the Bahamas.  One boat in particular is heading our way, S/V Meant To Be.  Yes, our favorite catamaran couple, Ken, Cindy and Miko their dog, are coming to the Exumas to drop in and continue what we started back in October in their hometown of Brunswick, GA. So let me see if I have this right.  There will be dinner parties, check.  Happy hours, check.  Sundowners, check, and a few social hours, check!  Who cares (or not!) what Mother Nature throws at us when you have friends dropping in to say hello.  I can handle that!  

Better Off Left Alone

     Update on the photo uploading issue mentioned in my previous blog entry.  It appears that deep in the bowels of the Google sacred castle, there is a dungeon filled with computer gurus who have decided to reinvent the wheel.  They figured a round wheel can and will be perfected.  The google version of the wheel is shaped like a triangle, and the sudden thud heard around the world was the wheel set into motion and landing on one of its flat sides.  Actually, the noise was from Google falling flat on its face!  Many of Google's blooogers are experiencing the same SNAFU that I have experienced and some have tried to circumvent the issue by taking drastic measures only to be regretting their actions.  Some bloggers claim to have email & Facebook addresses for the powers that be, but it's one of those cases where the lights are on but nobody's home!

     Meanwhile, back on the ranch, Mother Nature has flexed her muscle once again here in Paradise.  Today's forecast is to be followed by 5 more days of the same - windy with passing squalls.  Windy is sustained 20 knots and gusting to 25.  Translation:  not a good idea to dinghy ashore unless you like a salt spray shower.  No problem.  Once you get to shore, the passing rain squall will rinse off the salt.  What about the trip back to the boat?  You catch my drift. These next 5 days will not fall into the category of being 315 days.

     As a counter measure to being "trapped" on the boat for an extended period, I have decided to do absolutely nothing today.  Then, when I am totally bored out of my mind tomorrow, I can start a new book or rebuild a few water pumps, or figure out why our VHF radio transmits but does not receive.  The boat list goes on and on and on and.................  Or I can sit and wait out the weather, just like I'm going to wait for Google to return the blogging world to its normal configuration when it was better off left alone.

Plan B

     I was in the process of uploading 5 new photos for the "Big Run Blog" when I received this notification:

"Whoops! You're out of space. You are currently using 100% of your 1 GB quota for photos.

Photos are stored in your Picasa Web Albums account and are included in your 1 GB free quota for photos. Additional storage you purchase is shared between several Google products and is in addition to your free quota."

     I think it's time to develop a Plan B.

M/V Lady Frances

      This is M/V Lady Frances, hailing from Nassau, Bahamas.  She is the backbone of the outter islands and the lifeline to the civilized world.  In the Bahamas she is quite often called the mail boat.  There are many mail boats in the Bahamas.  Most resemble the Lady Francis.  Although called a mail boat, she carries everything and anything.  Remember there are no roads from there to here.  If you're building a house, the mail boat brought the materials.  If you bought a new car, the mail boat brought it.  When the mail boat arrives it's a social event in Black Point Settlement, everybody comes to the government dock.  We always look forward to the mail boat's arrival for she brings fresh produce.

315 Day

     The Bahamas Meteorology Department boasts that the Bahamas are bathed in sunshine for 315+ days a year, and today was one of those days.  So much so that we have started calling those weather perfect days a "315 day".  

       Today was the first day we were able to get the kayaks down and do some paddling.  Until today, it has been too windy to enjoy a good paddle.  Our trip started at 9:30 this morning after a hearty breakfast pizza Sharon made on the grill.  Yea, I get pizza for breakfast.  Our destination was Jack's Bay Cove, just to the south of Plain Bay at White Point.  From Plain Bay it is a 2.5 mile paddle that took us about 1.5 hours to reach the cove.  A slight breeze pushed us down along the west side of Great Guana Cay giving us an opportunity to view all the creatures lurking in the shallow waters along the edge of the cay.  We did see briefly a loggerhead turtle, but mostly small fish.  This was our first visit for this year to the cove.  Compared to previous visits last year, the cove did experience some beach erosion from Hurricane Sandy and it did have a lot of sea grass deposited on the beach.  The return paddle to Plain Bay has us slipping the head breeze by hugging the cliffs where we did find the cave shown in the photos below.  As we crossed Plain Bay back to Big Run, the head wind did not slow us down.  This was truly a 315 day! 

This cave was big enough to  accommodate 20 kayakers!

Reason To Celebrate

     Early Saturday afternoon we arrived at Black Point Settlement in the Bahamas.  We were quite surprised to find an empty harbor.  The lack of boats here in the Exumas is probably due to it being early in the season, Hurricane Sandy and the persistent blow that has been plaguing the Bahamas since this past Tuesday.  If we didn't have the weather window that we did on Monday and Tuesday, Big Run would still be sitting in Miami. 

     One of the first things we did when we got to Black Point was to launch the dinghy and dinghy over to the government dock so we could go for a walk.  We decided to walk over to the east side of the island and check the beach to see the effects that Hurricane Sandy had on the beaches.  As we walked through the town we noticed that the homes had weathered the hurricane very well.  A few missing shingles but no extensive damage for an area that experienced 105 MPH winds.  The beaches were actually in very good condition also with little or no beach erosion.  Despite the blowing winds and spray from the surf, we did a little beachcoming.  Sharon was on the hunt for sea glass, and I was looking for small pieces of drift wood  and fishing buoy floats.  I found one nice float to add to the S/V Meant To Be collection and we both managed to find  about two handfuls of nicely  "polished" sea glass.

     On the bright side of all these winds is that our wind generator is producing electricity very nicely, thank you very much. Before retiring each night I check the battery charge state.  Last night it was minus 60 amp hours.  This morning when I checked the batteries it was minus 67 amp hours.  In 9 hours we had a deficit of 7 amp hours.  Thanks to the new refrigeration system and some stout winds we have reason to celebrate.

The Bahamians love to express themselves with brilliant colors.  (Black Point Settlement)

    

Stay

    Our first year in the Bahamas, we were given 30 days on our cruising permit at the Bimini Immigrations Office and spent the last 10 days of that initial permit trying to get an extension, which we did receive while in Georgetown.  Last year, our second trip to the Bahamas I sweet-talked the young lady at the Bimini Immigrations Office into giving us 120 days.  We also needed to get an extension for that permit because our transmission died  when we were attempting to cross the Tongue Of The Ocean while heading back to the United States.  This year, our first time checking in at Nassau, the officials, one customs agent and one immigration agent, came to the boat at the marina and granted us 180 days.  They don't want us to leave; we may have to stay!

Diesel Engine

       Last Thursday, as Sharon and I studied the latest weather forecast we noticed a weather window of opportunity for Monday and Tuesday to cross over to the Bahamas.  All of our sources confirmed the same prediction, low winds.  Low winds translate into a good sea state for Big Run.  Usually, we don't give any credence to weather predictions over 2 days out, but we still had to prepare.  Thursday afternoon I started  doing maintenance work when I noticed our water maker was throwing a hissy fit.  After a few phone calls to the local watermaker dealer and Rick (M/V Broulee), we decided to head north back to West Palm Beach area where a very reputable watermaker dealer is located.  Well, there goes the crossing opportunity out the window.  As we traveled north I worked the phones and was able to get a different dealer in Ft. Lauderdale to look at the watermaker on Saturday.  What was thought to be catastrophic failure may have been operator error.  Chalk that one up to the learning curve.  We did manage to salvage the trip to Ft. Lauderdale by buying diesel fuel from Peterson's Fuel Barge for $.50 a gallon cheaper than the marinas' advertised price in Miami

      Back in Miami on Sunday and all was a go for a crossing Monday morning for the weather window got even better.  Monday morning the anchor was hauled by 6:10 a.m. Last year we hauled the anchor by 4 a.m.  But this year was going to be different.  Last year we traveled to Bimini and checked in.  This year our plans was to do an overnight crossing to Nassau.  Travel time was estimated to be 26 hours.

Inbound freighter as we exit government cut in Miami.

      Just after exiting government cut in Miami, the Coast Guard announced they were closing government cut due to inbound cruise ships, a common practice by the USCG and without warning.  We cleared that obstacle by 5 minutes.  One hour into our journey we found ourselves in the grip of the Gulf Stream.  The Gulf Stream is a northbound flow of water in the Florida Straits.  When you have any winds with a northerly component, the Gulf Stream can get a little bumpy but today it was very manageable.  So, between a strong drift north by the current and the northwest breeze, our first 20 miles were a little bit of a challenge.  Six hours into the crossing both the current and sea state started to relax its grip on Big Run.  By 2 p.m., we had crossed the Florida Straits and were just south of Bimini on the The Great Bahama Bank.  For the next 9 hours we experienced almost dead flat calm conditions, barely a ripple on the water as we crossed the bank.  In the photo below you'll notice a near "lost horizon" condition, where the horizon between the water and sky merge to the point of being invisible.

Traveling the The Great Bahama Bank, twenty miles from anywhere, a weary traveler takes a rest on our pulpit.

     By 11 p.m. we arrived at the Northwest Channel, the upper reach of the Tongue Of The Ocean. This was our next crucial point in time. The Tongue Of The Ocean has been our second arch nemesis, next to the Albermarle Sound in North Carolina.  As we entered the deep water of the Northwest Channel, we found that the water had been tamed by the lack of winds.  Again, dead flat calm conditions.   We felt like we were in a dream, perfect conditions for Big Run. No hobby horsing by the bow of the boat, no pitching side to side as the boat was rolled by beam seas.  What a ride!  Conditions were so good we had to throttle back so as not to arrive at the Nassau marina before they opened.  This was the ultimate crossing.  As a matter of fact, from the time we entered the Great Bahama Bank to the entrance to Nassau Harbour, the only way you could tell the boat was moving was by the low rumbling sound of Big Run's diesel engine.

Sunrise on The Tongue Of The Ocean.  Note the inbound cruise ship on the left heading for Nassau Harbour on the right.

The old and the new.  Lighthouse at Nassau Harbor entrance overshadowed by Atlantis looming in the background.

A Crowning Moment

      Enough is enough.  It's time to get out of dodge, or in this case, West Palm Beach, Florida.  By this time on Sunday, Sharon and I had enough of marina life.  But there was one problem.  The weather in central Florida is still being influenced by Hurricane Sandy, and the cold front that kept Sandy out of Florida.  Since late Saturday, the winds have been pounding Big Run on the port beam with 20-25 MPH winds sustained.  We had to secure Big Run in the slip with two more lines, for a total of 12 lines.  With the winds on the port beam, it was going to be difficult to back Big Run out of the slip.  If we were to attempt to release from the dock in a haphazard fashion, the winds would have slammed Big Run into the pilings on the starboard side.  Sunday was spent preparing to leave the marina on Monday morning when we anticipated light winds early in the morning just before sunrise.  Another challenge caused by Sandy was the extreme high tides.  Sunday morning the water was over the docks.  Monday morning's high tide was predicted for 9 a.m.  Early Sunday afternoon, during low tide, we managed to get off the boat.  Sharon went to the office to pay the bill while I disconnected the utilities - electric, water and cable.  We also had to reconfigure all the dock lines.  The bow lines, which had been set up for the strong northerly winds on Friday, were changed over to single lines.  The port bow had been secured with triple lines, and the starboard bow was double for the storm.  Once converted, all the lines were set up for quick release from on the boat for Monday morning as we would not be able to get off of the boat due to high tide.  By 3 p.m. all of the preparations were made for Monday morning.

     We were that anxious to get out of the marina, we didn't need an alarm clock Monday morning and were up by 6:30 a.m.  We discussed our plan and set the wheels in motion at 7:00, just barely enough light to see the channel out of the marina back onto the ICW.  Our plan was to remove all dock lines on the starboard side of the boat.  Then, slowly work the boat back an extra 10 feet by pulling on the port stern line and then letting out some slack on the port bow line.  Once we had the boat moved back as far as possible, we had to release the one all important line, the port midship line which keep us tight to the port side pilings.  Once the midship line was release, we had to work quickly.  On cue, I released the bow line, and simultaneously Sharon released the port midship line while maintaining tension on the port stern line.  I quickly went to the pilothouse to put the transmission in reverse.  As designed, the lines released, and Big Run very gracefully backed out of the slip without leaning on or rubbing a piling while the winds were blowing at 20 MPH on the port beam.  As I continued to back Big Run away from the marina, Sharon was responsible to retrieve the dock lines that had released from their dock cleats and pilings and fell into the water.  Although the lines were still attached to the boat, Sharon had to accomplish her mission quickly to keep the lines from fouling the prop.  By 7:10 a.m. we had Big Run turned around and heading out the channel towards the ICW.  Thanks to some creative docking line design we looked like we knew what we were doing.  Too bad nobody was watching.  Definitely a crowning moment.