Chapter 84: Things Take Longer

Three weeks. That’s how long it’s been since we were connected. Three weeks ago, we spent one night in a marina. Since then, we’ve been at anchor. Of course, two weeks of that was in West Palm Beach, where there was relatively easy access to “stuff”-like a laundromat, grocery store, and fuel dock. For the last week, we’ve been in The Bahamas, where “stuff” is not so easy to come by. So we’re learning. A lot. What we have learned so far:

• The weather forecast is not always right. Last week, we moved from one side of an island to the other side because of a forecasted wind shift so we would have a calm anchorage. And then the wind didn’t shift so we rolled all night. ALL. NIGHT.
• It’s easier to do laundry more often. To do laundry, we usually run the engine so we don’t deplete our batteries. With a (really) small washing machine, the loads can pile up. Better to do one load every other day than wait and have 3-4 loads. It also provides incentive to wear fewer clothes (TMI?)
• FILL UP WITH FUEL WHEN YOU CAN-EVEN IF YOU DON’T “NEED” IT. When we arrived in The Berry Islands, we were right near a fuel dock. But we opted to wait a couple of days before filling the tank. But then the weather changed and we had to move (except not really-see above), so then we were on the opposite side of the island. We had two choices: Motor or sail 3 hours back to the fuel dock, fill up, then motor or sail 3 hours back OR do what we did: 1) rent car, 2) load jerry cans in dinghy, 3) take the dinghy to the beach, 4) load jerry cans in car, 5) drive to fuel dock, 6) fill jerry cans and drive back to beach, 7) load jerry cans in dingy, 8) take dinghy to boat, 9) pour fuel into boat’s tanks, 10) repeat THREE MORE TIMES!! Still, it took less time than moving the boat.
• It’ better to make water daily than wait. Our watermaker produces 17 gallons/hour. Which means we need to run it for 3-4 hours to fill our tank. That’s a long time and it’s noisy. Better to run it an hour a day.

The other learning thing is “don’t run aground”. Now, I know, everyone does it. And that’s true. There’s a saying that there are two kinds of sailors: those who have run aground and those who are lying. But it’s a hassle. We ran aground off Hoffmann Cay while anchoring. Fortunately, we were near the end of low tide, so the tide was going to be coming back in. Thanks to Kim, we remembered to throw out a “kedge” anchor to keep us from drifting further into the shallows as the tide came in. But, again, things take longer. We had to put the dinghy in the water, haul the extra anchor line out of the rope locker, put the anchor in the dinghy, row the dinghy out away from the boat, toss the anchor overboard, and then row back. As the tide came in, we were afloat again, but then, as we brought in the kedge anchor, we swung and grounded again. Repeat the process. Finally, after setting the kedge three times, we were afloat. We then found a deeper spot and re-anchored. All good! Until the next day. Upon returning from a dinghy trip ashore to explore, we found that, with low tide, we were, yet again, aground. Fortunately, this time we just hauled in our main anchor chain and came right off.

So, yeah, we’re learning. Often the hard way. But fortunately not, so far, the catastrophic way. And there are the good moments as well. As I write this, we are on passage from The Berry Islands to Eleuthera Island. We’ve got 15 knots of wind on the beam and are cruising along at 7 knots-it’s a beautiful day for a sail. We need more of this and less of the other. Which, hopefully, will come with time and experience.

And when we arrive at Eleuthera this afternoon, we will drop the hook-in plenty of water!