March 4, 2008

We’ve decided its time to start heading north. We’ve run out of bread although our friend Bev on Scandia did us a great favor and baked us a loaf. We have no fresh fruit or vegetables and we are running low on gasoline for the dinghy’s outboard engine.

So at 0700 we weighed anchor and were underway. Getting up this morning was no problem as the wind had shifted on us and made the anchorage rather uncomfortable around 0300. I lay in bed until 0500 and then got up and read for an hour waiting for daybreak.

At 0600 I took the dogs to shore, stowed the dinghy and checked the engine room stuff. By 0700 we had the anchor up and were under full sail. The wind was between ten and fifteen knots over the starboard quarter. At this point of sail with the full mainsail up it blankets the genoa so it can be a bit of a pain in the ass. After about 4 miles a sailboat pulled out 400 yards in front of us from Buenavista Cay.

We were moving along at a little better than 5 knots. I was forced to reef the genoa as we were unable to keep the entire sail full with the winds present direction. The boat in front of us was a smaller boat and we were gaining on him until he went wing and wing on us. Wing and wing wasn’t really possible for us, but he had a whisker pole which he used to present as much sail as possible to the wind. The Boat Pole of Speed wasn’t an option as the wind was very gusty and we were dealing with a large rolling following sea. We will have a whisker pole the next time we come to the Bahamas.

Anywho, our course for the day was a thirty couple mile gradual dogleg to the right. Every 5 to 8 miles we had to adjust course 10 degrees or so to starboard. With every adjustment we were able to present just that much more sail to the wind. A couple of tenths of a knot here and there and we were slowly reeling in the smaller boat.

We came abreast of him several times only to have the wind peter out. In light air his smaller boat walked away from us, building his lead once again. Finally, after the course had come far enough to starboard, we were able to put up all sail. We slowly gained on him and watched as he trimmed this and that in an effort to stay ahead of us.

We were right back on his tail when the wind started to build. While he got overpowered, Veranda relished the fresh breeze and started banging along at better than 7 knots for several miles. It did make the day go very quickly even though it took 25 miles to catch the little bastard.

Our destination for the night was Flamingo Cay. We stayed here for several days on our way south and enjoyed it, so we’re going to hit it again. This time we were going to anchor in the north anchorage where Garry’s plane lies. With the wind predicted to be from the south this anchorage should give us the most protection for the few days we’ll be here.


So we dropped the hook around 1300 hours and after lunch we decide to go snorkeling. My toes were killing me so I decide to try wearing socks inside my fins to protect my raw tootsies. My hand was also raw from all the spear fishing. The skin between my thumb and forefinger is gone from the firing band; nothing I can do about that though.

Fives minutes after entering the water I shot at a good sized Hogfish and missed. Not even close. I missed him by so much that he just lazily swam away, laughing. So I reload, stalked him and shot too soon as I was afraid he’d be skittish and flee, so I missed him again. Then he darted away, but decided to hide behind a nearby coral head. So I reloaded, dove to the bottom and made my approach along the bottom from his blind side. I swam up to the coral head just as he slowly swam out from behind it, it was perfect. He was 3 feet away and didn’t see me, I aimed, I fired and I missed again. Then he bolted into a cave and stayed hidden. Shit, shit, shit.

I was at the surface cursing myself when Christy swam up. I told her my tale of woe. She listened to me and said “I just found a hole with 2 fat lobsters inside”. It wasn’t the answer I was looking for, but it’ll do. I followed her to the spot and sure enough there were 2 big lobsters sitting in this little cave. When I shot the first one, the second lobster bolted deep into the recesses of his lair never to be seen again. When I pulled the speared lobster from his hole we were awed by the size of him. He was bigger than the dogs and weighed in at 5 pounds.

We ended the day with cocktails and conversation over on Meermin. They’ll be leaving tomorrow and headed north for Long Island before going to Georgetown the following day. We’re sorry to see them go but we just heard that our friends on Packet Inn, Poco Loco and Kokomo are all due to arrive here tomorrow morning.

After getting home from the Meermins I still had to take dogs ashore. This is where it got very interesting. There’s a neat phenomenon called phosphorescence. On occasion, phosphorescence will occur behind your boat, in your wake, as you sail at night. It actually appears as a weird glow in the darkness of the water as your boat passes through.

I’ve heard that it has something to do with plankton in the water and static electricity. I dunno, it could all be bullshit that they tell neophyte cruisers to make them look like buffoons. Anyway, I didn’t want to strike the propeller on the bottom so as I got closer to shore I had to raise the prop up a bit. When I turned around and looked at the engine, the water behind the dinghy was alive with sparks shooting from the back of the boat just under the water. They were not vague sparks either, they were bright, vivid pronounced sparks. It kind of looked like Fourth of July sparklers.

So I was thinking “Wow, that was neat” as I landed the dink. Then as the dogs ran off to take care of business there were actually faint sparks flaring up from their feet as they ran across the beach through the dark. It was just getting cooler by the minute.

After waiting for the dogs for a while I decide that I gotta go too. So, when in Rome, and guess what?, that’s right……sparks! My stream of pee was actually making sparks as it hit the beach. It was a new experience for me, and one that I’ll always treasure.

After I took the dogs back to the boat I made Christy get into the dink so I could take her for a ride. She got to see the phosphorescence in the water as well, but it’s just too bad that she didn’t have to pee. So all in all not to shabby a day.