February 28, 2008

Last night was one of those nights you really can’t wait to forget. As I said before, the winds had stayed out of the southwest and continued to build for the better part of the day. That was all fine and dandy as long as Veranda was facing the wind, she rode up and over the waves that were building before her and provided a fairly comfortable ride.

Just after midnight (it’s always just after midnight) the wind finally came around. It shifted about 90 degrees from the northwest without abating at all. That was much better for us as we were now facing the land and there was no room for wind driven seas to build.

Now for the bad part. Now that we were facing northwest we were riding with our beam to 3 foot choppy rollers. We were rolling 30 degrees to port then 30 degrees to starboard, one wave after another for over 2 ½ hours. Things inside the boat that had never moved, were trying to take flight. It was like trying to play checkers while falling down a flight of stairs. It sucked.

The wind kept clocking through and finally we were facing northeast. This meant that the waves were passing under Veranda from stern to bow. Much better than side to side, but not great, as every now and then a bigger wave would come up and slam Veranda’s transom before she could rise up and over it. Once the wind was opposing the sea it was eventually able to flatten the surface for us.

Finally, we were riding the waves comfortably, facing northeast with protection in front of us. Christy got about 1-2 hours of sleep while I got at least 5 hours last night. The wind speed was supposed too increase throughout the day but stay from this direction so tonight should be good for sleeping, if there’s God.

Last night is over and today has started nicely, lobster omelets. Ummm. After breakfast we went over to the closest beach and did a little hiking. Once again a trail created by cruisers crosses the island to the western shore. We came upon the foundation of an abandoned house on top of a rocky outcrop with a majestic panoramic view of the Bahama Bank. After that it was back to the boat for a nap before this afternoons “event”.

A couple of the guys that are anchored here have been building a pile of wood for a bonfire. It’s made of huge pieces of driftwood stacked up, Tee Pee style. Its about the size of a Volkswagen, if you did something like this in the states you’d spend weeks seeking permits before they shot you down for one reason or another. They’ve also been cleaning the plastic debris that lines every cay’s windward shore. The plastic includes shoes, bottles, pails, milk crates and even plastic garbage cans. It had all been added to the pile and as everyone arrived they all added their burnable garbage from their boats. A little diesel, a flame and whoosh, up it went. It was impressive as hell and made a great backdrop for the happy hour / yak-a-thon. So in conclusion, the beach is cleaner than it was and a real good time was had by all. Fire fun, free lobster fantastic, big wind so-so, side rollers suck. Life is good.