Anxious Moments and Stormy Sails

March 3, 2002
Although I think I had held it together pretty well up to now, I found myself becoming much more anxious when we got back to the boat. My heart beat faster and I was a little nauseated. Saturday March 2nd, I persuaded Bob that the weather was too bad to leave, so we finally left Sunday and went to Chub Cay. We left about 8, as Nick waved goodbye.

Nick waving

leaving the dock

Fisherman on left and Osprey on right over Coral Harbor canal

We went out past the Bahamas Navy base. Nick and Caroline’s place is in canals in Coral Harbor, which is on the southwest side of New Providence Island. There is a range to aid in getting in.

Range as we are leaving to go out the harbor

Going out Coral Harbor entrance

And there is also a large unfinished concrete structure can be seen for a long ways off to use as a landmark.

Large concrete structure - entrance Coral Harbor

Large concrete structure from the channel

The wind was 15-20 knots from the SE, and the seas were about 4 feet, so we surfed north pretty quickly to Chub Cay, arriving at 2:45 pm, after 41.5 nm. I checked in - they didn't have a splitter and we are on the outer pier where there is only 50 amp. Mostly they save this space for the big motor yachts who would be using 50 amp. After the first night, another cruiser lent us a splitter for a couple of nights. There were a lot of boats here that have been pinned in by the weather.

Someone posted a notice on the board that we'd meet up at the end of the pier in the Tiki Bar -bring your own drinks and munchies to share at 4 pm. So we did that. This was a story that was shared

Nick’s BASRA story, annotated with information from a cruiser at Chub who knew the people is as follows:

A gentleman about 70 years old and his wife who have cruised together for over 20 years were coming from the Exumas to Nassau.

He was on deck, she and her sister were in the cabin. He had the jib and staysail up, the engine on and the autopilot engaged headed for a waypoint at Porgy Rocks. It was a fine day. He put his hand on the lifeline, and it broke under his weight, pitching him into the water. He was not wearing a PFD. He shouted, but no one heard him.

His wife came up from the cabin and found he was gone. She couldn’t remember how to pull in the sails, or turn off the autopilot or engine, and her sister knew nothing about sailing. She or her sister called for help on the SSB, which happened to be tuned to David’s Jones Caribbean weather service, and David Jones was still on frequency. She could not tell him where she was, only that the autopilot said they were 29 miles from the waypoint. David Jones contacted BASRA.

BASRA was able to find the boat, and put someone on it to get it back to harbor. They were also able to find the husband who had been swimming for 5 hours when they found him.

The rest of the story is that the reason the wife had her sister with her was that she had Alzheimers. She got off the boat and flew home after this incident.

I got a shower in the showers here. (the ladies room has only a screen on the upper half of the door, and the weather was too cold for screens - the men have a solid door), and Bob got a shower on the boat. There are only the two toilet/showers on the transient side (one for each sex). and they aren’t very nice. There’s no place to sit except the toilet, and no place to put or hang your stuff while you are taking a shower. Plus you can see right in the door of the ladies. Unless you are at the member’s docks or on a face dock, which we were, there are no finger piers to get off the boat so people either have to climb over the bow or the stern to get off.

SV RosalieAnn at the dock

There is an internet connection, for which they charge $3/min, and you call long distance to the states. The dive shop wasn't operative unless you have your own equipment, and they currently have only 2 flat boats with guides for the flats or bottom fishing- no ocean trolling.

We went over to the restaurant - we ate in the non-members section. I asked for rigatoni, and after about 20 minutes, they came back and said they didn't have any pasta, and could I pick something else. So I had grouper. (They had gone over and opened up the store, but there wasn’t any there either.) There was a guy at the next table with a little girl (4th grade, but wearing lipstick). He flew in with his own plane - it was her spring break, and they were from Atlanta. Bob had cracked conch. The bill was $40-$50 and we were drinking water.

Members side of the marina

About 2 in the morning, Bob threw his dinner up. Apparently he had a reaction to the conch, as I had no problem. And one of the guys here said that some people have allergic reactions to conch, like to strawberries (which Bob also can't eat). He's been fine since.

March 4, 2002
Each morning I was checking in with Carolyn at Coral Harbour and give her the weather where we were. I also noted what the weather was in other areas and this way along with the official weather forecast I could predict what weather we were likely to have in the following days. We got the weather Monday morning, and a front was coming through with high winds, so we will stay here at least until Weds or Thurs. We saw winds up to 45 knots in the marina last night. However, there are no waves in here, so it's calm in that respect.

My weather report to BASRA was as follows:

“0650 at Chub Cay 5/8ths cloud cover Sierra Charlie, Alpha Sierra, Charlie Charlie, unlimited visibility, wind 180 degrees (A north wind is 0 degrees, east is 90 degrees, a south wind is 180 degrees etc.) 8-10 knots barometric pressure 1021 and steady. Water temperature 77 deg F, air temperature 74.7 deg F, no rain and one boat anchored.”

A large number of boats here took off for Nassau ahead of the front. Today it is overcast and cold (for here). We did hook up the cable TV last night.

RosalieAnn on the face dock from the member side

Tuesday, March 5, 2002 - Bob's 66th Birthday

My weather report 0653 at Chub Cay, 8/8ths cloud cover November Sierra (We used the phonetic alphabet and abbreviations for the types of clouds so November Sierra is NS or Nimbostratus), wind 30 degrees 12 to 21 knots, water temperature 73 degrees, air temperature 66.2 degrees, barometer up to 1026 and steady on the tap, a trace of rain and 5 or 6 boats anchored. Sometimes when you tap the barometer the needle will jump to a new location. Steady on the tap means that it does not do that.

A catamaran came in called DOS GATOS. They have one cat - they said the name referred to themselves as the ‘two cats’. The weather was so bad crossing the banks that they said the tramps became unlaced. (The tramps are the fabric between the two hulls of a catamaran which help to keep the hulls parallel) I got Bob a Chub Cay T-shirt in the shop (it had sting rays on the back) for his birthday. I also got a nice basket for Beth, and a few other souvenirs. The little shop doesn’t have anything except regular bread - no local bread. They said they wouldn’t bake any until all the bread was gone. We ate at the restaurant again, but no conch this time.

Tuesday night, Herb of the SSB weather SouthboundII was on at the end of Peter Jennings news. Since we got the cable set up, we could get that channel, and one other cruiser on the dock could also hook a TV up. We each had one other couple come and watch on our boat. The folks who came to our boat have a boat named WaterMusic, and he is Bob and she is Ann. They were quite surprised at the size of our cockpit, and also the size of the bunk in the aft cabin. We taped it, so we can play it again. I had gone up to get email that evening, and got back midway through the news. I talked to the 3 boats that came in after us, and they were all from RI.

Wednesday March 6, 2002

My weather report: 0653 at Chub Cay Marina, 8/8 cloud cover Sierra Tango (stratus clouds) visibility 1 mile in rain, wind 060 degrees at 15 knots with squalls, water temperature 70 degrees F, air temperature 65 degrees F., barometer 1025 and steady, raining. The Bahamas forecast for the NW and Central Bahamas was a weakening cold front is stationary across the Bahamas, NE-E wind 20-25 knots, seas 6-9 feet.

On Tuesday I mentioned that we might leave Wednesday instead of waiting for better weather on Friday. (My thinking was that the front would go through and winds would be from the SE.) Speaking of this out loud was a great mistake. I should have known that he was getting antsy. On Weds morning we were having squalls, so I thought we were safe, but about 9, he decided that the weather had improved and we could go after all. Besides which our friends on WaterMusic were leaving the marina and going to anchor off the point, and they wanted their splitter back.

Bob walked out to the point, and said it didn't look to bad out there.

So we left about 9:30 am, and motored out of the channel. There was a great deal more wind and waves out in the channel than he saw from the point, but, it wasn't bad because it was an east wind, and we were going west. So we made it onto the banks and to the Northwest Channel shoal very quickly, and then turned north.

Here, we had a horrible sail. Winds 25 knots from the NE which meant we couldn't get in to the Great Harbor Cay Marina because it was directly into the wind, and the wind would blow us back almost faster than we could motor into it. Plus, it was going to take us hours, and hours (more than 48 hours) to get there because we were going so slowly.

We kept going north. At about 4, I talked to Herb the weather guy, and he said basically What are you doing out there? In any case, we could not get to the east, so decided to just to go Lucaya, which was north.

The waves were more than we had experienced before. We actually got water over the lee rail into the aft cabin. Water over the side - rocking and rolling, and - it was dark and you couldn't see the waves coming. Plus it was only about a month since Bob's heart attack. I spent the night lying next to the mast on the cabin sole pretending that I was somewhere else.

But we made such good time, that we got to Lucaya about 3 am. We didn't want to enter at night. The entrance to Lucaya has a kind of barrel with a bell and a little red light on it to mark the entrance. It is called the

Bell Channel Marker (photo in the daytime)

It is on the charts. Unfortunately, there are also big cruise ship moorings in the area that are NOT on the charts so it makes it hazardous to be in that area after dark. The narrow entrance channel is flanked by two stone jetties with a tiny unlighted pole on the end of each one. Difficult to see even in the daytime, and you can't see the entrance until you are right in front of it.

Sailboat coming out from Lucaya on the right

The channel is so narrow that the big booze cruise boat, the Bahama Mama can't pass anyone in the channel. So we went downwind toward Freeport until 4:30 (we could see the lights on shore - Freeport is never dark) and then turned around and came back Freeport itself is not a place that a small recreational boat can go into - it is just for big cargo ships, oil tankers etc. As soon as it was light, we went in and tied up at the Lucaya Village fuel dock at 6:45, got about 33 gallons of fuel, and then they quickly put us into a slip at Lucaya Marina Village. The slip was really a little too short for us. Marina Village is on the right as you come in through the breakwater. It was $1/ft, plus a mandatory charge of $5/day for water, 25 cent/kwh for electricity, and $3/day for cable. They have 6 showers, a laundry, pay phones, a heated pool, and a free shuttle to Port Lucaya marina where all the night life and restaurants are. Fuel was about $1.49/gal.

Map of the marina areas

Bob skinned his knee on the concrete dock, and because of the blood thinners he's taking, I thought he would bleed to death. Blood all over everywhere - pants, sock, shoe etc. (That's probably why they got us into a slip so fast.) He could not keep a bandage on his knee (on a sailboat you flex your knees quite a bit) I finally was reduced to making a large pressure bandage out of paper towels, and strapping it on with silver electrical tape.

The topping lift frayed and one end got stuck in the windmill, but the windmill wasn't running, and it came right out. Everything on deck was soaked with salt water. The CQR anchor came adrift and made a scar bouncing on the trailboards in the waves.

Scarred trailboards

Bob said he saw it reflected in the running light on the bow, but he wasn't going out on the deck to find out what it was. It wasn't until it got light that we could see what it was. In the picture, the yellow electrical cord is next to the scar. That cord attaches the boat to the dockside electricity. The little black cord is for the TV cable. Everything loose in the cabin came adrift, including a speaker which was held in by velcro. But it was all easily taken care of. Bob washed the boat, and did several loads of laundry (to wash the salt water out of the aft cabin rugs), and then I made him take a nap. Even though he had no sleep the previous night, he was surprised that he slept

When we were taking the water taxi over to Port Lucaya

Fake lighthouse from in the harbour

water taxi

Concrete pier under the marina office which is where you get the water taxi

Gas dock and marina office from water taxi

to eat at a restaurant in the marketplace he said he was tired. He was surprised about that too. So we had dinner at the Fat Man's Nephew,

Fat Man's Nephew Restaurant from across the harbor

which is upstairs over another restaurant. We were both groggy from being up for 36 hours. We were early for dinner and could sit at the railing and look out at the harbor and marina. The service was a little slow, and the food was ordinary. I can't remember what we had to eat. However it was quite reasonably cheap- $32.50 for two including tip.

UNEXSCO dock (blue) from the Fat Man's Nephew

and took the water taxi back to the boat

Port Lucaya Marina at dusk

where we both went right to sleep.

Friday March 8
I insisted that we stay here a day to rest.

Boathouse being built on north side of marina

Bob filled the water tanks, and we got the jitney bus in to the Winn-Dixie on Seahorse Rd (The one not all the way in Freeport) because Bob didn't want to pay the higher prices at the grocery in the Marketplace

Bob at the bus stop on the way toward Freeport

Jitney buses (actually they are vans) provide low cost transportation around the island and are a good way to get a little exposure to the Bahamian culture. It costs about $1 to ride them and is a whole lot cheaper than taxis. You stand at the bus stop (remember they drive on the left), and the bus will stop. You can go into Freeport to the Winn Dixie or to the International Marketplace. If you go to the Winn Dixie n Freeport, there is a terminal in front of the PO to get a ride back to Lucaya. After we got back, we went over to Port Lucaya (using the free shuttle)

Boat leaving entrance channel

and walked around to the Marketplace (we had to walk in front of condos and beside a pink fence covered with Bougainvillea

Walk along marina in front of condo

Bougainvillea on a fence hiding oil tanks

Bahama Mama leaving the dock

where I did the internet stuff in Port Lucaya at the internet cafe. You can do email, either with your computer or theirs for $10/day or $30/wk. You can log on for 4 min for $5, and $2 for additional 5 minutes. I didn't think we would leave before Sunday or Monday so I paid for two days of internet.

Flyer from internet cafe

But Bob thought he saw a weather window with the wind from the south coming up for Sunday. So we left Lucaya
Saturday morning March 9

Exiting the marina in the early morning

Lucaya's fake lighthouse

and sailed along the south shore of Grand Bahama Island

Xanadu Hotel

A very wide picture of Freeport harbor area

to West End - 31.8 nm.

Entrance to harbor from the channel

Entrance sign

The entrance to the Old Bahama Bay marina is not like it is on the charts. It used to be that to get into the old Jack Tar marina, you had to go around the end, passing a commercial entrance. Now the old entrance is blocked off, and you come in the commercial entrance and make a right angle turn into the marina basin

We ate dinner at the Dockside Grille Old Bahama Bay which is the only game in town unless they open the hamburger bar on the beach. It was a very nice restaurant overlooking the marina with linen napkins. Very expensive - one of the most expensive meals we had on our trip. Cost $59.00 including tip for two of us, drinking water and iced tea and ordering cheaper things on the menu. I can't remember what we ate. Their website says :
"The Dockside Grille offers breakfast, lunch and dinner menus that feature international cuisine, including a variety of Bahamas and Caribbean dishes. The Dockside Grille also provides an extensive wine list with reserve cellar vintages. "

March 10, 2002 - Sunday.

RosalieAnn at the West End dock at Old Bahama Bay

It was supposed to be nice to go Sunday, but it wasn't. The wind was still from the north. So we stayed there another day. The boat next to us that did leave Sunday had their jib blown out. A boat that I think was a bareboat came into the slip beside us - between us and a big power boat. They tied off without speaking to the harbor master. I think it was three couples - older men with trophy wives. One of the ladies was wearing a captains hat with gold braid, a black bra top, and grey striped harem pants.

CAROLINA and the entrance to the marina

Then later, CAROLINA came in and the harbor master (not being able to see the slip because of the big power boat) told them to go in next to us. I got on the radio and told him that there was already a boat in that slip. So they put CAROLINA on the end of our dock. Bob came to help with the lines and so did some other people. I came and watched.

Marina docks with ketch Carolina coming alongside

Carol of CAROLINA later told me that she appreciated that I was the only one on the dock (of the 4 or 5 people there) who wasn't telling her what to do. I had to laugh at the idea of me telling anyone else how to dock their boat.

We didn't want to eat in the (expensive) restaurant again and couldn't find the little hamburger place on the beach that was supposed to be open, so we ate on the boat.

The bareboat next to us had in-the-mast furling which was whistling in the north wind. We were waiting for the wind to shift around to the south so we would be comfortable cross the Gulf Stream. I said to Bob that if the whistling stopped, we'd know the wind had shifted and we'd be good to go.

March 11, 2002 - Monday

Foliage at Old Bahama Bay

We checked with the weather and the wind tomorrow was going to be from the south. We decided that if we left really early in the morning that we could get to Ft. Pierce. Bob from CAROLINA was supposed to help with our lines, and the little catamaran on the other side of us was leaving too. CAROLINA was going to Lake Worth because they thought it was shorter. Well it IS shorter, but you have to go somewhat against the Gulf stream that will be carrying you north - past it. Bucking the Gulf Stream is not something I want to do.

March 12, 2002

We left Tues am abut 6:15 right after the little catamaran (without Bob's help as he wasn't up yet),. it rained until 10 am, and then we were dodging showers with the wind getting stronger and stronger - a steady 20-25 knots, with waves of 6-8 feet. We had the main and jib up and were motor-sailing Finally when Bob said the GPS had us doing 12 knots, I strongly suggested we reef something (hull speed is about 7+ knots - anything faster than that is faster than the boat is meant to go). The waves were under the stern quarter and the foam from them breaking under the boat made the depth alarm go off about every 2 minutes. We finally got out the instruction book and figured out how to turn it off, as we were in 600 to 900 ft of water and not about to run aground.

This was another scarey passage , and I spend some of it lying on the cabin sole again. CAROLINA (which is a faster boat) left after us and went to Lake Worth

We arrived in Ft. Pierce after doing 92 nm in 13 hours at about 6:15, and were tied up at the fuel dock and logged in with customs before 7.

They left us on the fuel dock the first night because we got in at dusk, and the dockmaster felt it would be too hard with the wind and current to get to the transient slips at night (He was RIGHT). There is no current at the fixed fuel dock. Plus it was pretty dark by that time and the fuel dock guy would have had to walk all the way around the marina to do it - he was just going off duty when we got in.

Marina in Ft. Pierce at sunset

We went to the local restaurant-the Original Tiki . There was also The Tiki Bar and Grill (or Mana Tiki) which was a few steps farther from the marina, and that was steps we just were too tired to take.

Mana Tiki

Bob walking by Original Tiki on another visit

So we ate at the Original Tiki and fell into bed, but Bob had trouble sleeping because of the trains. (No trains in the Bahamas). I think Bob couldn't sleep because he was overtired.

Wednesday-March 13- Recovery Day

The next day, they put us over on the transient dock

There was so much current at the transient docks, that there were local fish which hid from the pelicans by swimming hard against the current between the boats and the dock.

We helped the power boater from across the dock to get into the dock - he'd gone out fishing, and even a power boat has a problem in this current.

Municipal Marina - exotic bird

We spend the day recovering and visiting folks on other boats like ours.

Mabel Reid

Wind Walker

There are 10 showers as they have built a new bathhouse/laundry room on the north side. There is an email connection on the south side.

CAROLINA who left West End at the same time as we did bound for Lake Worth came in later in the afternoon. They apparently had a terrible time crossing the Gulf Stream, and also a bad time coming up from Lake Worth. Armed with information from Carol (of CAROLINA) we walked up in town. The marina information says it is right in the center of town close to restaurants, but we got lost, and walked through an industrial section before we found anything.

Square near restaurant with inset from menu

We did have a nice dinner. We ate by the window and watched the gallery across the alley which was having a wine and cheese art showing. There was an artist outside on the sidewalk doing a painting.

We left the next morning at slack tide because we'd watched other people being carried helplessly down the fairway by the current, almost hitting other boats. Even with slack tide and a plan, we still had a little trouble getting out because of the current. We had to use the max rpms of the engine. From here we went to Melbourne