Storms of winter return

When we first arrived here in the Bahamas North America was engulfed in an active winter weather pattern with strong north winds. Then after a severe cold front came through the weather changed to a typical spring trade wind pattern with winds from the east. Then a few weeks ago the weather switched to a summer pattern with winds from the southwest. Last week the weather switched back to winter.

The severe weather of mid-week has moved on and today – Friday – was a very nice but cool day. We did some provisioning in Marsh Harbor for next week and some boat chores in prep for our eventual crossing back to the US and then on up to the Chesapeake.

The weather has become a big issue. Rather than being able to cross sometime next week, the tropical depression that I mentioned before is getting more attention and will probably dominate the weather all week. We’re hoping we may be able to move more north and west on Wednesday but probably won’t be able to cross until perhaps the weekend. So we are returning to Man O War Cay to ride out the weather since it is very well protected. The island people are very friendly and I will write more about it as we spend time there.

Our trip to Marsh Harbor was one that we want to forget but probably won’t.  We were in a slip in Man O War Cay and I had taken off the dock lines and set up the lines for aiding us in getting out of the slip. But, as we backed out of the slip we realized I had forgotten one of the spring lines. Well that screwed up everything because as we waited for the dock attendant to get it off we off course blew around in the 20 kts of wind coming across the marina. It took some doing but we finally got out. I had worn down the batteries with the bow thruster so I couldn't use that as I needed so we had to work it out and we did.

The next struggle came as I was slowly approaching the narrow exit channel that we had successfully negotiated at low tide to come in. While following the GPS tracking we got blown out of the channel and aground with tide running out. I tried to back off but couldn't. I called one of the local boatyards but there crew that could help was out.

So after some effort a small power boat came in. Ironically it was the people from the boatyard I had just called. They worked and we were able to move a little bit. Then a fishing boat came in and they offered to help. With them pulling and the small boat pushing we were able to get off the shoal and out of the channel. I will have to dive on the bottom someplace to see if there as any damage. As a minimum I’m sure we lost paint but I suspect there are some gouges in the keel that I will have to fill in the not too distant future. This is the first time we’ve been aground with this boat.  Anyway, thanks to those guys that helped us get off before low tide. We suspect that had we stayed there through low tide the damage could have been worse. If we had a differently designed boat it could have been very bad but the design of the IP with the full keel will take a beating. The keel is lead encapsulated in concrete encapsulated in fiberglass. 

  

The next challenge was getting into the slip in Marsh Harbor. The marina was fully exposed to the full brunt of the 15-25 kt winds and seas currently blowing. After we found where we were going I approached the slip on the leeward side of the dock slowly but with the wind, the narrow fairway and a boat in the slip in front of us protruding into the fairway I opted for a slip on the windward side where I could back in. There were 2 challenges with that as I discovered. The area around the slip was shallow and our shallow water alarms kept going off and with the wind blowing me toward the boats in their slips I had to turn so far out that the wind and waves moved us out of position too much. So we went back to the original slip and we got right into it weaving our way through the tight fairway and the protruding bow. Getting out tomorrow should be a bit easier as the wind should blow our stern down and using lines we can keep the bow up so we can motor right out into the wind. I can supplement with the bow thruster. Then back to Man O War to ride out the storms.

The storms that are forecasted to form next week are supposed to produce near-gale force winds here for sustained periods plus heavy periods of rain. We had 40+ winds last week in 2 squalls and probably several inches of rain. Waves offshore are projected to be 4-6 meters up to 5-8 meters from the northeast. That doesn't make for a good crossing.

So we’re looking for alternate routes and timing to minimize the challenges.

We had a beautiful sunset as we enjoyed the happy hour at Snappas right next door to the marina. We also purchased conch salads from a guy outside the marina and 4 conch to grill for dinner sometime next week. By Monday the weather will probably be getting bad and we’ll be forced to stay in the boat for a couple days. At least we’ll have TV and internet so we’ll have lots to do.