Well it has been a hard week to say the least….We left Fort Pierce on a sunny afternoon on Monday 12/16 with high hopes for a pleasurable sail down the coast of FL, and then a turn east, arriving in the Bahamas about 24 hours later. Unfortunately the boisterous winds that were supposed to moderate in the afternoon, actually built and we bashed into large seas that crashed over our bimini (meaning 9 ft + high waves), drenching us and exhausting us. We agreed that this was really not all that much fun and searched the charts for a good place to get out of the Atlantic Ocean and anchor for the night.
One of the things we love about cruising is the wonderful supportive community. MB is a member of several FB groups revolving around sailing. She posted some questions about a potential inlet asking for information about getting in and best places to anchor since we would be going into a strange inlet in the dark. Within an hour, she had lots of great info which gave us more confidence going in the Lake Worth/ Palm Beach inlet in the dark. We posted a blog post about this trip already so I won’t repeat it here (The Joyless Zen of Zaup).
After a good night’s sleep, we set sail again on Tuesday afternoon planning on heading east to the Bahamas. As we got through the inlet, our engine overheat alarm went off so we quickly shut down the engine. We had had this happen earlier in the trip and chalked it up to not putting enough coolant into the system when we changed the coolant right before we left NC. Anyway, we are a sailboat, so who needs an engine? The wind was brisk and we were moving well so David topped up the coolant and we just sailed on.
Well the wind direction wasn’t exactly as forecast (big surprise) so after crossing the strong northbound Gulf Stream currents, we ended up 35 miles north of our intended waypoint by the time we neared the Bahamas. No problem, we will just start the engine and motor sail south in order to be able to head into the wind. And… nothing happened…the engine wouldn’t start. Hmmm, that was odd, but it was the middle of the night, we were both tired and the wind and seas were not conducive to climbing into the bowels of the boat and trouble shooting. We decided just to tack back and forth until the wind shifted to allow us to head more southerly, but with the currents and seas we had a hard time making much headway south with these tacks. Again, we had the occasional large wave crash on to the bimini and the seawater seeped through the zippers and small openings in the canvas drenching us.
By sunrise, we had really had enough of bashing into the waves and heeling way over and again looked for a place to tuck in. This was complicated by the fact that we had no engine so we had to find a place that we could sail into. We tried a few things to get the engine running, but no luck. There was just one anchorage we could possibly get into that was in reach within the next 18 hours or so we decided to go for it. It involved sailing through a very narrow rock lined cut and then quickly rounding into the wind and dropping the anchor and sails at the same time. When done correctly, this maneuver is a thing of beauty. We were forced to do it many times in previous cruises because of problems with our engine so we felt fairly comfortable executing it. Unfortunately when we dropped the anchor it did not grab and we dragged towards the rock lined shore in the 25 knot wind. Moments before we hit the rocks, David jumped off the boat, stood on the rocks and held the 24,000 lb boat off the rocks! Just at that moment, the anchor finally grabbed and I was able to pull in a bit of the anchor chain to pull the boat forward and away from the rocks. We were as scared as we have ever been while sailing. I got on the radio and asked for help from anyone in the nearby marina, but the voice that responded said that they didn’t have any boats there that they could use to come help. We were in West End on Grand Bahama Island which is one of the islands that were totally destroyed by Hurricane Dorian in the fall. Although the marina looked like it had somewhat recovered, there really were almost no boats in the harbor. They had all been destroyed in the hurricane.
And then our life saver arrived in the form of a 14 or 15 year old shirtless boy in a beat up old wooden skiff, maybe 12 feet long, but with a brand new looking outboard engine. We begged him to tow us away from the rocks, out through the inlet and back out to sea. When we first tossed him a tow line, he looked as if he was just going to try to hang on to it while standing up in his boat and driving it. We have a very heavy boat, especially when compared to this little skiff, so I suggested he tie the line to something. All he could find was a ratty small diameter line that he tied our line to. I immediately thought “We are doomed. That line will snap just as he gets us to the cut where the rocks surround us.”. But the line held and the boy did a masterful job of towing us and controlling his boat, not an easy job in large seas.
Once we got out to sea, I ran below and grabbed a $50 bill to thank him for his trouble. David waved it for him to see so he would know to come along side to get it. Meanwhile, I was trying to get the sails up so we could get moving again and get far away from that cursed place! As the boy came along side, just as David was making the handoff, a wind gust came and blew the bill up and away and into the sea. We could not turn around and help him, but within a couple minutes, we saw the boy triumphantly wave the bill in the air.
And we were off moving south again under sail, no engine. The next possible anchorage was about 100 miles away, a long sail for two tired people and a bored restless puppy, but we had no other choices at this point. We knew a cold front was coming this afternoon (Wed) and had been warned to be in port by mid afternoon due to high winds and squalls expected. That wasn’t an option for us so we just reefed our sails way down and hung on. Luckily the wind had shifted direction so it was behind us making this an easier point of sail. We did get the squalls with short bursts of high gusts where you need to get your sails down quickly so they don’t rip in the wind and lots of driving rain. We also saw sustained wind up to 35 knots which I think is the highest wind we have ever sailed in. It went on all night which is just so wearing. Your ab muscles get sore from trying to hold yourself upright and the noise is deafening and annoying.
We finally arrived at a familiar anchorage, Great Harbor Cay, Bahamas that was easy to sail into around 5:45am. It was pitch dark and the wind was still howling, but luckily there were no other boats anchored nearby so we had some wiggle room to maneuver. The anchor grabbed immediately and even though the wind was still blowing 25 knots close to shore, the land provided some shelter and the seas were almost perfectly calm. After eating “dinner” (it was too rough for food prep the evening before) we dropped into our bed and slept soundly for several hours. We have never been so thankful to find a protected refuge!
Our problems were not yet over, but we will leave that for another blog. We'll also try and get some pictures up. We haven't had good enough wifi or cell to upload pictures.
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