Good Looking Boat

Photo credit - Perry & Karen, M/V Morse Code III

     Weather!  You can never have enough sources for weather information.  What was thought to be a good weather day for motoring, well, as you can see in the above photo, turned ugly very quickly.  We were very fortunate that day because the ominous skies only brought heavy rain and brief strong winds.  This photo, which we just received, was actually taken September 7, 2011 on the Chesapeake Bay, south of Poplar Island as Big Run was heading south to Knapps Narrows.  Perry & Karen on M/V Morse Code III took this photo of Big Run and submitted the photo in a photo contest and won a prize.  Congratulations!  I always knew we had a good looking boat!

Grin & Bear It

     Just as forecasted, the cold front arrived but not with all the gusto as predicted.  However my predictions were more accurate than the weather gurus.  My prediction was for the arrival of many boats seeking a safe harbor in Thompson Bay, many coming from the Jumentos & Ragged Islands.  We are now anchored with 30 other boats nicely spaced apart from each other, except for one boat.  Yes, you're right, the boat in question anchored right next to Big Run yesterday.  So close (125') that we can hear their conversations when they're in the cockpit.  Of all the open water to our east and a larger open area further to the west, this last minute arrival, just 3 hours before the blow started, anchored right next to us.  Considering the forecast I would have been happier had they anchored somewhere else.  Getting back to the weather, the gurus missed the call on Wednesday and Friday, which were to be calm days - 8 knots or less.  Instead, each day, we had southerly winds in excess of 18 knots and all the associated fetch of the open water to the south of us.  All the boats in Thompson Bay were "hobby-horsing" for hours. For all the landlubbers, hobby-horsing is when the bow & stern rise and fall.  One rises as the other falls, just like the plastic horse we all rode as kids that was mounted on a frame with springs - Yeeeeeee  Haw!  Giddyup!

     There is a window of opportunity for us to head north to the Exumas this week on Tuesday or Wednesday.  Oh, how we miss the Exumas especially Plain Bay.  Although we may have one day of discomfort because of the winds after we arrive back in the Exumas.  Until then, we'll stay anchored in the Salt Pond/Thompson Bay area where we'll just have to grin & bear it

Safe Harbor

     Round two (strong cold front) appears to be in the making somewhere to the north and/or west of us.  According to the weather gurus, the next cold front to drop in on the Bahamas is 7 maybe 8 days away according to yesterday's predictions.  Realizing the time frame and the vast enormity of variables, for example mother nature changing her mind, the predictions are for a sustained influence (days) of weather from the W, NW and N.  In the above weather map, to the trained eye, is the bad boy that will be effecting the changes this weekend in the south Bahamas.  They, the weather gurus, are predicting light/strong winds for many days but the exact number of days has yet to be determined.  About the only thing that really catches our attention is the direction of the wind, anything from the S clocking through to N and the wind speeds.  So, once again, as with the previous blow, we'll be making the necessary preparations and moving the boat about 2 miles to the north into Thompson Bay.  After the previous blow last weekend, we had moved the boat back down to Salt Pond because yours truly was not happy with our anchor set in the west side of Thompson Bay when the winds shifted back to the east, and we were faced with a lot of fetch out of the east.  As we move the boat to Thompson Bay we will be looking to anchor in the eastern section of the bay where the bottom has a little more bite.  Our moving of the boat today may sound a little premature of a blow 6 days from now, but you would be surprised how many boats will come to Thompson Bay because of the protection it offers.  On the west side of Long Island, Thompson Bay may be the only safe harbor.

Salt Water Shower With A Rain Chaser

S/V Seas The Day under sail on the White Cay Bank

     Typically, when a cold front swings into the Bahamas from the United States it brings high winds and creates havoc in the anchorages.  Since our arrival in the Bahamas back in early November, the cold fronts have been mild.  When I say mild, the winds have been clocking around from the E to the S and continue clocking to the W and then to N and never present any concern because of the low wind speeds.  Yesterday, that came to an abrupt ending as a very large cold front entered the southern Bahamas and our location in Salt Pond, Long Island.  This cold front had been anticipated by the weather gurus for the previous week, and all the cruisers have been taking whatever action they felt was necessary.  This cold front was the "gentle" nudge we needed to motivate us to depart from our "winter residence" (read anchorage) in Plain Bay and Black Point Settlement.  So, with a near perfect weather window for a trawler, we left Black Point Settlement after a 2 day layover for laundry and a dinner out at DeShaMons Restaurant.  However, on the eve of our departure we had dinner at DeShaMons, where we had a chance encounter and met some wonderful cruisers on S/V Seas The Day, Mark & Jan and their dog Daisy, a Golden Doodle.  Unknown to us when we departed on Wednesday morning, it would be the start of a new adventure with the crew of S/V Seas The Day.  Mark and Jan had never taken the back route through the Pimlico Cays and have never been to Long Island.  So, Big Run was able to not only get herself through the back route without going aground again; Big Run was also able to bring another boat through the skinny water safely.  After a one night layover in Williams Bay just south of Lee Stocking, Big Run and Seas The Day made the 10 hour run to Salt Pond on Thursday.  It was a glorious cruise down the Exuma Sound, White Cay Bank and the Great Bahama Bank.

     Friday was a day for doing land things like a walk over to the east side of Long Island for a view of the Atlantic Ocean.  We also did some reprovisioning of the boat at the local hardware store that is also a grocery store - only in the Bahamas. On the island there is also a lumber company that doubles as a butcher shop.

     On Saturday, the wind as predicted started clocking from the SSE to the S.  After moving the boat early Saturday morning from Salt Pond to Thompson Bay, a distance of 2 miles, the winds starting building in from SW.   But as this point in time, it was not enough to curtail activities as we went to yet another grocery store for more reprovisioning.  Saturday evening was spent onboard S/V Seas The Day for another round of "The Meixcan Train Game", a great domino based game.  Then, almost right on cue, it happened.  The winds jumped from 10 knots to 25 knots gusting to 30 knots as a squall ushered in the cold front.  Needless to say, our return in the dinghy that night to Big Run was the equivalent of a salt water shower with a rain chaser!

Big Run and crew.  Photo credit Mark & Jan - S/V Seas The Day

    

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.

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!

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. 

Tired Of Waiting

      "If you're waiting on me you're wasting time".  This is something I have told Sharon on a few occasions.  I'm always ready.  For the last 5 days I have been waiting on a woman, not Sharon but Sandy.  For the last 5 days we have been wasting time in a marina in West Palm Beach, Florida.  It all started last Saturday or Sunday when a yet to be named unorganized cluster of storm cells reared their ugly heads into a tropical depression well south of Jamaica.  At this point in time we were moving south on the ICW through Florida.  On Monday, as the predictions started leaning on a northerly track, we called the marina that we had previously booked for Wednesday night for other reasons, plan A.  The marina said they had a slip for us if we decided to come in on Tuesday.  Our original plan, Plan A, was to stay at the marina Wednesday night, go to the U.S. Customs & Immigrations Office on Thursday morning for our Local Boaters Option (LBO) interview and leave late Thursday morning for points south, Miami.  The LBO is a program designed to reduce the amount of hoops we, as boaters, experience when we return to the U.S. from foreign waters.  More on that next Spring when we return from the Bahamas; back to Plan B.  Late Tuesday afternoon we arrived at the marina, after the office staff had left but a few dock workers stayed on to catch our lines.  On Wednesday, Sharon went to the office to do an official check in when she was informed that if the winds from the storm exceeded 45 MPH sustained, the marina GM would shut down the marina and all boats would have to leave.  Now think about that decision, the storm is approaching, the winds would be at 45 MPH sustained, probably gusting to 60 and I would have to leave the marina when the GM orders us out.  In your dreams!  Fortunately for the GM, the winds never reached 45 sustained or I would have had to break the GM's little stone cold heart and stay nicely tied up to a rock solid concrete dock.  Friday was a day mainly spent in the pilothouse watching the events of the storm unfold around us.  One boat broke free from its mooring and drifted towards the marina but was snagged by a anchor line that the owner of a large catamaran had deployed to keep his boat from pounding the dock because of the northerly winds.  That was the highlight of the day as the owner of the drifting boat and the marina's dockmaster went diving to free the boat from the anchor line.  The boat was freed from the anchor line and was never seen again.   Rain squall after rain squall came through the area, the winds reached 40 MPH sustained with gust to 55 MPH. The eye of the storm passed 190 miles to the east of us on Friday.  Today, Saturday, Hurricane Sandy is on her way north, but I find myself still having to wait as her winds continue to buffer us from the west.  This is our third hurricane while on the boat.  There was Hurricane Earl in 2010, Hurricane Irene in 2011 and now, Hurricane Sandy in 2012.  For Hurricane Irene we were on the hook and the other two hurricanes were rode out in marinas.

     The eye of Hurricane Sandy passed just to the south and east of our cruising grounds in the Bahamas, the Exumas.  We did hear from Frank and Peg, who have a home at our favorite Bahamian anchorage,  They are doing well and everybody is okay.  They did experience 105 MPH winds and their home was not damaged.  Now, if we can get rid of Sandy I'm ready to get back on track.  I'm tired of waiting.

I Hope They're Wrong

     The latest cold front to swing down from the United States is predicted to be a very strong and lasting "blow" here in the Bahamas.  On Sunday, the winds are predicted to be from the south at 17 mph at 7am.  By 7 pm the winds are to taper off to 8 mph from the west.  But then the fun starts.  At 10 pm Sunday evening, the winds are to have clocked around to the NE and jumped up to 24 mph sustained and build on through Monday evening to 29 mph sustained.  Tuesday predictions are for the lower 30's (mph) sustained and to continue at 30+ mph as the winds clock to the east.  Then on Thursday the winds are to drop back into the upper 20's.  The current predictions go out to next Saturday where the winds will be in the lower 20's and still from the east.  It appears, by the predictions, that the cold front will stall and become a trough.  The only good thing about the current weather predictions is that those predictions for beyond 3 days from now can be thrown out the window because they really don't know what is going to happen.  Well, at least I hope they're wrong.

Let Us In

     Some of the best news we had in a long time came yesterday in a phone call.  We had received a letter from our insurance agent for the boat about a month ago, and Sharon did a follow up email last week.  When Sharon didn't hear from the agent on Tuesday this week, she called and spoke with an agent we had worked with before.  Yesterday, the agent called back to inform us that we could not get the November 1/Cape Hatteras restriction changed to October 1st.  This restriction prohibits us from being south of Cape Hatteras before before November 1st due to hurricane season which expires on November 1st.  The good news is that we have changed the location from Cape Hatteras, NC to St. Marys in southern GA. Any further south and we would be in Florida. So on November 1st we plan to be knocking on Florida's front door.  Let Us In!

The Coast Of Africa

     On Sunday morning, in what was to have been the trailing effects of Hurricane Irene as she moved up the coast towards New England, we were battered with some of the strongest gusts of the storm.  As the day progressed the winds began to calm down, and we ventured out of the boat to check for damage.  Although we never did feel the brunt of the storm, and slept through what was thought to be the time frame of peak sustained winds, the boat was free of damage.  [Insert big sigh of relief.]  By Sunday afternoon, Sharon and I began to reassemble the boat.  Sunday evening was very calm with no wind, and the water was dead flat calm.  You never would have thought that just 12 hours prior we were experiencing some very stout winds from the NW.  The only immediate tell tale sign of the storm for us was that the water was littered with leaves and small branches.  However, on Monday the waters turned chocolate brown with silt from the rain runoff.  Our little world was intact, but the outside world was dealing with massive power outages, 100 year floods, downed trees and other hurricane damage. From all reports, it appears New England suffered the most damage from Hurricane Irene, because of the extensive flooding, although when she arrived in New England, Hurricane Irene had been downgraded to a tropical depression.  Now, the National Weather Service is tracking yet another "storm", Katia,  just off the coast of Africa.  

Goodnight Irene

     It was last Tuesday, the day of the earthquake on the east coast, that Sharon and I decided to continue our trek north.  We decided to head back to Rock Hall for a couple of reasons, but the most pressing reason was Hurricane Irene.  We arrived at Reed Creek on the Chester River late Wednesday afternoon because we were waiting for favorable tide conditions to transit through Kent Narrows Bridge.  That's one place you definitely want the current on your bow.  After anchoring on Reed Creek and getting a weather update on Hurricane Irene, we decided that our favorite gunkhole on the Langford Creek would make for a better hurricane hole.  When you live on a boat you have three options with respect to hurricanes:  1) go to a marina, 2) have the boat hauled out on to land, or 3) go find a hurricane hole and ride out the storm on the hook,   We chose the latter.  We moved up to Millstone Point on Thursday and spent the entire day on Friday preparing the boat for Category 1 hurricane conditions.  The bimini canvas and frame were removed from the flybridge,  the mast was lowered and the kayaks each recieved additional strapping.  Next we took care of everything on the foredeck and cockpit.  Basically, if we thought it was possible for the wind to pick something up, we stowed it inside the boat.  We even got out the duct tape and closed off some vents and hatches that we thought wind driven rain could use to enter the boat.  Our next task was to set up our 2-anchor design for winds clocking from the NE to the N and then to the NW as Hurricane Irene moved up the east coast.  Our main anchor, a 66 lb. Bruce anchor, was set with 175 feet of chain to a northeasterly direction from the boat's location.  The second anchor, which we will call a storm anchor, is a very large Danforth style anchor.  The Danforth was set to the northwest of the boat with 210 feet of 1" triple braid.  Along with about 100 other small tasks, our hurricane preparations were complete.

      Saturday, the day of Hurricane Irene's arrival, was a day of waiting.  The morning started overcast but very calm.  Gradually, as the morning wore on, the wind started as a very light breeze.  The rain started at 10:30 a.m. as a drizzle, and you could start to see the leaves turning on the trees from the increase in the wind.  By 1:00 p.m., the rain was a little heavier, and the boat was starting to react to the stronger wind.  That afternoon Sharon and I decided to prepare a "ditch bag" with the essentials, a laptop, portable VHF radio, GPS unit, flashlight and other keepsakes.  We also dressed for the occasion with our quick drying kayak clothing.  By 5:00 p.m. the wind was very strong and the rain was much heavier.  For dinner we had some of Sharon's delicious chilli and corn beard.  By 7:00 p.m. the winds were very strong, in the 40-50 mph range with gust to 60 mph.  We hunkered down and maintained a vigil on the anchor and the TV.  The local stations had gone to full time coverage of the hurricane with reports from Baltimore, Annapolis, Easton and Ocean City, MD.  At times we found the field reports very amusing, and we waited with anticipation of one young man's reports from Ocean City, MD.  After a short nap by yours truly at midnight, Sharon and I called it quits at 12:30 a.m. and said "Goodnight Irene"

What's Next?

     The above photo is one that was taken one week ago on Monday.  As we were heading north on the Chesapeake Bay to the Choptank River, we were watching weather radar as storms approached us from the west.  The photo is of a funnel cloud that we watched develop from infancy.  Of the 6 photos I took,  this is the best photo and shows it's early development. Although it never matured into a tornado or a water spout, it did command our attention.

     Today, as Sharon and I were working on the boat we experienced a series of vibrations go through the boat.  Each set of vibrations were stronger than the previous set.  Once again, as with the Great Dismal Swamp smoke, I found myself making a general inspection of the boat and found nothing to cause alarm.  Later in the day, Sharon discovered on the internet that we had experienced our first earthquake.  Apparently a 5.8 magnitude earthquake 100 miles away can create enough of a shock wave in the water to feel it rumble through the boat.

     This next weekend, on Sunday, just in case we get bored, we are expecting to up the excitement a little with the arrival of Hurricane Irene.  Funnel clouds, earthquakes and hurricanes, what's next?

Sizzlin' Hot Summer

        Late afternoon thunderstorm at Breton Bay.

 

     Unofficially, the start of summer is Memorial Day, and ever since that time we have been tortured with high temps and humidity.  Big Run has been very fortunate ( or not! ) to have the severe storms skirt around her location every time a cool front passes through.  It's been one sizzlin' hot summer!