Major Cay to Staniel Cay - Single Again

About 10:30, we weighed anchor to do 5 miles to Staniel Cay.  The winds were strong from the south, and the bay had many shallow and deep areas. With the winds, I wanted a Goldilocks anchorage.  

Ronald from Subduction was anchored and trying to guide us to a good anchorage somewhat beside him.  It was a great anchorage. 

I dinghied Natalia to Staniel YC, where we had our goodbyes, and she left for the Airport.  

I walked around town and bought some fresh vegetables, butter and a dozen eggs.  $39.  Walked about 6 km. 

Had a BBQ pork chop at an outside stand.  For $18, there was food for 2-3 meals. 

I came back to the boat and chatted with Ronald, and his boat was a project boat without a motor.  He was anchored too close to the channel and was at the mercy of the current.  I was going to help him at Slack Tide. 

Ronald had successfully moved the boat and canoed by at 16:40, stating that the current had subsided, and he had successfully moved the ship by himself. 

Captain Ron is a young German captain who has a 32-foot project sailboat, single-handed without an engine.  He originally sailed a 27-foot boat from Europe to Mexico, where it got stolen at gunpoint.  He had a 32-foot project boat and sailed from Mexico, lost his mast, limped to Cuba, then to Florida, the Abacos, and now he's in the Exumas.  All without a motor.  He had a canoe for a dinghy.  He uses Open Captain for his chart plotter, but his GPS is now not working - probably due to corrosion on the USB connection.  He has paper charts.  This young man's got big ambitions.  Now Bellum looks like a super yacht. 

Compass Cay to Major Cay

This was a short run of about 5 miles.

Stupid mistake.  I was trying to take pictures of the mast head, and I crashed the drone.  Fortunately, she fell on deck.  Broken gimbal. 

Arrived at Major Cay 5-ish, rushed to see the pigs. 

Natalia was eager to prepare the anchor for deployment 15 minutes before arrival.  I said 'not yet,' and her response was a sarcastic 'whatever you say. '  

As previously mentioned, the pigs were aggressive.  I beached the dinghy to avoid what happened 3 years ago when we tried to feed the pigs from a dinghy. 

Lovely sunset from the beach

Pasta supper.  Natalia was fed up with pork.  Lots of dislikes on Bellum provisioning.  We had left Miami 17 days ago and did minimal provisioning in Nassau. 

Allen Cay to Compass Cay

We had a lovely 5-hour sail on the outside in 8 to 12 knots of wind, abeam to close reach. 

4 hours motor sailing and 1 hour sailing 

The red route is the outside path.

We navigated through some precarious foliage to reach Rachel's bath.  Natalia somehow lost on diving fin but found another one. 

We eventually got to Rachel's bath by dinghy.

Highbourne to Allen Cay

After recovery of the Rocna anchor, we made a short hop of 5 miles to Allen Cay. 

Natalia swam to see the Iguanas on the island while I flew the drone.  I swam to the island for a short visit.  The last time I was here was 15 years ago.  

Supper was pork tenderloin with Basmati rice. 

Lost Rocna Anchor - AND halyard and high pressure floor for dingy

About 1830, the boat began emitting strange sounds from its hull.  The anchor rode was wrapped around the keel.  Winds and currents rotated the ship in 22 feet of water. 

We managed to spin the boat around to untangle it, but it kept getting caught.  Eventually, we were taking up the slack, and the 8-plait line broke.  Possible explanation later. 

We swapped the spare bent Rocna with 35 feet of chain and anchored in 13 feet of water, which was more open.  Rocky night. 

Explanation - I figured the only way the line could have broken was if it fell off the bow roller and got caught on a sharp edge.   I was aware of this possibility, but the person at the windlass was not familiar.  

Second realization, the line got cut by chafing on the keel.

She was very new to the process.  When I was swapping the anchor, she was driving the boat while the transmission was in neutral, and she eventually asked for permission to put it in forward.  

In the spirit of Richard Lariviere, I was responsible for letting a crew do what she was not competent to do.  I might have been better off resolving the issue single-handedly. 

Friday night was rock and roll. 

The bulkhead was squeaking.  Chatted on the Mirage Facebook group and with Maurice Gagnon.  Filed an accident report with Aviva on Saturday 

Saturday was Natalia's 55th birthday.  On hand, we had the Bahamas rum cake we purchased in Nassau. 

Saturday or Sunday, we moved back to the original anchor site.

Spent Sunday looking for the anchor.  We discovered we had lost the dinghy's high-pressure floor. 

I tried snagging with the dinghy anchor, but it slipped - it seemed to be a faulty bowline.

We tried free diving, but could not get to that depth. 

I tried using a fishing line to hook it, but that didn't work. 

A nearby boat with an Israeli couple had a Hookah Dive System, a battery-powered portable dive compressor for Tankless Diving, but I couldn't dive that deep.  Mostly anxiety, and I did not compensate enough and popped my ears.  Claire, a free diver, coached me through the Valsalva maneuver, which helped me recover the next morning. 

The Israeli couple tried to fish the chain using their anchor by dragging it on the seabed.  I caught it a couple of times, but eventually dropped it before retrieving it. 

 

Eventually, we found some lobster fishermen who easily dived and recovered the anchor and rode.  There was 50 feet of chain and only 30 feet of line. 

Also found that the main halyard holding the dinghy up had chafed and broken.  Chiheb had warned me about that, and I ignored him. 

Nassau to Highbourne

On Thursday morning, we set off on a dinghy to get gas for the outboard and recover the lost oar that fell underwater at the dinghy dock the night before.  

We departed Nassau harbour at 11 and motor sailed towards Allen Cay.  Along the trip, I decided that the northern winds would not be suitable for anchoring at Allen Cay and proceeded to Highbourne Cay, which provided better protection and was about 5 miles further. 

Nice evening.  

The next morning, we had breakfast and spent most of the day at the beach. 

Nassau with Natalia

Natalia showed up on Tuesday.

Very disorganized - last-minute busy packing, cell, not printing what I asked her.  She bought a data package without telling me.  I figured it out myself.

We met at  McDonald's, where I updated my iPhone on their wifi.

Walked 2 km to the boat.  Had a beer.  Did not have supper.  She was tired, so she slept for 12 hours and snored a lot. 

On Wednesday, we went to the parade. 

Bought shampoo and hair spray

Bought a Rum Cake for her birthday on Jan 11

Bought fishing stuff from Boat Haven

I bought $70 worth of groceries, including $15 worth of grapes and $15 worth of salami.  This was what Natalia wanted.  She didn't pay for it.

I bought $10 worth of Parrot Fish at Potter's Cay for supper, which was very good. 

Had a beer and a drink at Potters Cay and shared a $22 Couch salad. 

We came back to the boats, put the groceries away, and then decided to go to Atlantis.  I tried to get gas, but the marina closed early.  We walked across the Sidney Portier bridge to the Royal at Atlantis, arriving just before sunset.  A fantastic tour of the resort and The Dig. 

We returned at 9:30 and found the dinghy backed to the boat, only to realize the starboard oar was missing.  We then decided to head back to the dinghy dock, where another dinghy informed us that the oar was at the bottom of the water.  We decided to dive tomorrow. 

We pan-fried the Parrot Fish with Plantains and a cucumber and tomato salad.  22,000 steps.  A great day