Island hopping

There is a saying amongst sailors that goes ‘everything on your boat is broken, you just don’t know it yet’. Perhaps that is a bit of an exaggeration but the truth is that much time is spent on boats doing maintenance or repairs in order to keep essential systems running. John and Kim are a lovely couple and we were so sorry to see them have a bad run of luck with issues on their beautiful boat. Their engine was now overheating.

Two days before the stormy weather set in, Jas, Dylan and I had been out in the dinghy. When we got back, we saw Starship reaching out to her dance partner. She was almost touching Prima. Kim and John wanted to move their boat but with their engine overheating they needed some help. Dylan and Jas immediately jumped over to assist. Jas used our dingy to go pull up their anchor. Dylan used Prima’s dinghy to help push their boat. Lea and Mark also arrived in their dinghy to join in on the efforts. John was fortunately still able to use his engine to back down on the anchor once they were content with their new spot. We were all happy to help as that is just what sailors do; we take care of each other. We were not expecting anything in return but could not resist the offer when Kim and John offered to take us all out to Ty’s for dinner as a thank-you. For the following several weeks, Starship, Prima and Mischief Managed were darned near inseparable.

The following day was when the weather was forecasted to start getting interesting but that wasn’t supposed to happen until the evening. We spent the afternoon checking out a cool path that led to a cave on an island. Mark and Lea told us about it and we were curious to go check it out.

The first storm arrived several hours earlier than expected. As we were returning to the boat from the cave excursion, we could hear the thunder eerily rumbling closer and closer to us as we got drenched with rain. We were back on Starship about ten minutes before a huge thunderstorm storm hit with winds peeking at 45 knots (about 90 km/hr).

The storms were supposed to start around eleven o’clock that night so I was glad this big, first one hit during daylight. Once it started to calm, Jas went back in the water to check our anchor. As expected, we were still holding good and strong in the sand. The next storms that came with that system fortunately were not as strong. We later found out that not far away, in George Town, eight boats were struck by lightning that night.

In this lifestyle, storms are a big deal. Fortunately, on this trip we have had few storms but we treat each one very seriously. Going into a marina is not always the answer. We often are not near any marinas and they can be very expensive. Also, depending on the circumstances, being on a dock during a storm could cause damage to the boat. Our storm strategy is to: #1 be in an anchorage that shelters us from the winds as much as possible, #2 ensure the anchor is set very well with lots of chain out and #3 strip the deck down as much as possible. The anchor is obviously the biggest part to focus on. Even with a well set anchor, a big storm can still cause us to drag. That is why we had the engine running in the video I added at the beginning of this blog. We were ready to go forward a bit on our anchor chain if we felt the need to take some of the pressure of our anchor. Taking that precautionary step is always a comfort to me. The ultimate goal in a storm is to not allow our floating home to hit another boat or get blown onto shore.

There is also the risk of the boat hit by lightning. A direct strike could wipe out all our electronics onboard resulting in costly repairs. In an extreme situation, a lightning strike could cause a fire and sink the boat. There are items on the market that you can put on your boat that are supposed to help deflect lightning but they won’t full guarantee you won’t get hit and damaged. It kinda just comes down to luck. Ligntning is lazy and will strike when it finds the easiest path to positive energy in the ground. The shortest mast in an anchorage could be the one hit if the boat is directly over seabed with the highest positive energy. If only there was a way to figure out how to identify areas in an anchorage that have higher positive energy than other areas. That would be such valuable information to have when selecting where to drop the hook!

Two days later, our trio of navy hulled boats pulled anchor and headed for beautiful Rudder’s Cay. Phil and Lau stayed back as their plan was to sail straight to George Town on the ocean side of the Exumas islands. They did not want to leave that day as the waves were big. Our flotilla was taking the shallower, inner banks as we planned to stop at a few different anchorages as we made our way to George Town. Prima’s windless was now working but they were still dealing with their engine overheating. Our plan was for the three of us to travel together and sail as much as possible. If needed, we were all prepared to assist Prima.

With Starship leading the way, we had to navigate very shallow depths. Slowly but surely, we got into water deep enough for us to feel comfortable putting up our sails. Prima had her sails up earlier so that they could cut their engine. It was a beautiful sail! Getting closer to Rudder Cay, the waters got pretty skinny again. It was time to take the sails down and get our engines going. I was up on the bow watching for shallows when Prima radioed saying that they needed assistance. No problem as we have Dylan onboard! After the three of us had a quick discussion to feel out our safety comfort with him, Dylan happily jumped in the dinghy and sped off toward them. As we watched him make his way back to Prima, Jas and I looked at each other with a moment of hesitation realizing we keep forgetting he’s only twelve! If you have met Dylan, you would agree that he’s quite mature for his age. We knew he could handle the task being asked of him. He successfully was able to keep up Prima’s momentum by tying up to them and using the dinghy motor to move them along.

That night we were invited over to Prima for eats and drinks. Kim and Lea adore Dylan and it is very sweet. Kim and Dylan made French fries together. Another day, Lea taught him everything she knows about scoping out the best sea glass beach treasures. They all made him feel included and welcome as we continued to share adventures and meals together.

Rudder Cay is beautiful. The cay is owned by the magician, David Copperfield. There were signs discouraging people from trespassing on the island but we were still able to enjoy a beautiful beach that had a little cave you can walk into at low tide.

At Rudder Cay we had a great day snorkelling and spearing fish. That day, our first stop on our dinghy excursion was to snorkel a statue of a mermaid looking at a grand piano. David Copperfield had an artist create the sculpture and he sunk it in about 13-15 feet of water.

After that we headed to snorkel along side a big rock formation. It was so beautiful. I will always remember snorkelling along the huge rock cliff underwater. As I slowed down and got closer, I could see more and more sea life come alive. There were so many beautiful fish, colourful sea fans and pretty coral. The guys had success spear fishing and Lea got her first kill – a lion fish that Mark cooked up that night!

All of us, except for Mark and Jas, quickly jumped into our dinghies as soon as a big bull shark swam by. Feeling confident with their spears in hand, the two guys carefully continued but immediately ceased spearing fish. Mark returned and Dylan and I could not help getting a bit nervous as we awaited Jason’s return. He was watching three bull sharks by that time and being careful to pay close attention to their behaviour. He was also careful to not turn his back to them. When he saw one swim in front and turn to look at him, he decided it was time to wave us over to pick him up – much to our relief.

It was in Rudder Cay that Prima happily resolved their engine issue and our next destination was Lee Stocking Island. We were delighted to meet up with friends there from back home! Steve and Marianne were anchored close by and invited us over to their boat for dinner. She treated us to a wonderful Mediterranean chicken supper. They too are members of Gimli Yacht Club and we sailed with them on Lake Winnipeg when our boys were younger. It was so wonderful to reconnect and spend the evening catching up and sharing sailing stories. They are close friends to Bill and Brigitte and had buddy boated with them so we talked about Bill for a bit. We continued to keep his spirit with us as we enjoyed our evening together. If you have not yet read my blog about Bill, here is the link: https://svstarship1.ca/2024/03/20/a-sailors-last-sunrise/

At Lee Stocking, Mark suggested we do a hike across the island. Our plan was to be back at the beach by one o’clock to meet up with Steve and Marianne for bocce ball. Long story short, we did not make it to bocce ball. We first did a lovely walk across a well travelled path to a gorgeous beach that seemed to go on forever. The seven of us spent a long time walking the beach looking for beach treasures – sea fans, shells and sea glass. Before we headed back across the island, Kim and John, suggested we all sit down for a bit as they had a ‘proposal’ for us. They told us about a friend of theirs, Howard, who was at the time on his 80 foot power yacht, called Capricho, travelling to the Bahamas from Turks and Caicos. Howard was heading into Emerald Cay Marina which was not very far away from us. Once in the marina, Howard was hosting a dance party on his yacht and we were all invited! Kim and John were still so thankful for the help we all were able to provide to them with their boat issues. They kindly said they wanted to cover a night’s stay at the marina for all of us. Kim also said that she planned to take Lea and I on a spa day to get pedicures the day of the party! Wow!

So, back to my story about the hike. As we made our way back towards the beach, we decided to head right to check out an old airstrip. Using a map on Mark’s phone he saw a path from the runway that we could take back to our dinghies. All started off easy enough until the path started to slowly grow in more and more. We were quite deep into the brush by then. We considered turning back but figured we’d be better to keep forging forward. It took us a long time and was a bit concerning at times as we pushed our way through but we had lots of daylight. We also knew the direction we were walking would get us to the beach eventually. Mark did a great job leading us through and the brush finally dumped us all out on onto our beach! I guess we were a bit on edge by then as just before we got onto the sand Jas, Kim and I had a scare. All of a sudden a brown, knee high ‘beast’ was charging at us! Our stimulated imaginations must’ve thought it was a wild boar coming to kill us as the three of us let out a blood curdling scream and Kim darn near lept into Jason’s arms! Nope, it was the friendliest dog you have ever met. He just looked up at us as if to say ‘What is wrong with you guys?’! It was about five o’clock by then. Yup, we totally missed beach bocci ball with Marianne and Steve!

From Lee Stocking we made one more stop before taking our slips in Emerald Cay marina. We sailed over to Rat Cay. I don’t think that’s a desirable name for such a lovely place!

During our short stay at Rat Cay, Jason had headed over to Mischief Managed to help fix their windless and winches. It was also Easter Sunday and with all our travels, all three of our dinghies were getting very low on gasoline. We decided to take our tanks over to the little town there to fill up on gas and go out for supper. Like all the towns we’ve visited in the Bahamas, the people are all very friendly and welcoming. Once our gas tanks were filled, we found a great, lively place for drinks and dinner. Mark and Lea kindly treated us that night as a thank you for Jason’s help on their boat.

We were all so excited that our next sail was going to take us to Emerald Cay Marina! My next blog will fill you in on our spa afternoon, the yacht dance party and arriving in George Town just in time to celebrate Jason’s 52^nd birthday!