West End, - Grand Bahama.
In the sailing/boating world, the word BOAT is an
acronym for ‘Bring Out Another Thousand’. Well Mel and I have certainly felt
this way since we have been back on Passages, these past two sailing seasons –
2023 and 2024. AND it never seems to stop!
The last time I wrote a blog entry, we were on a
mooring ball, in Manatee Pocket, Stuart, waiting for a weather window to cross
over the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas. I am now writing this blog entry in a
quiet, lovely marina in West End, in the Bahamas. HOWEVER, everything did NOT
go according to plan.
While we were waiting in Manatee Pocket for a
weather window to cross over to the Bahamas, Mel was checking all the
electronics making sure everything was working when he tried the AIS. The AIS
is short for Automatic Identification System. It basically enables other boats,
large and small who have an AIS to see us and for us to see them. Our AIS also had another useful system, the
anchor watch. Whenever we put the anchor down, we would mark where it was, set
a perimeter and, if the anchor dragged, an alarm would go off and we could then
take the necessary action. The anchor had only dragged on a few occasions since
Mel put in the AIS 10 years ago.
Well, the AIS was NOT working, it was basically
dead. It had been fine in Fort Pierce but obviously it had been dying a slow
death. It is an important piece of electronic equipment to have on a boat, as
was made aware when we were crossing over the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas – more
later.
Thankfully, the person who Mel had been dealing
with at a large boat electronic company was efficient and could get a new AIS
to us by Tuesday of the following week, at a fee of course. Thankfully, as
well, Mel had been looking into possibly getting a new AIS, in the future, so
he knew what was available. He thought we had spent SO MUCH on Passages already
that he would wait maybe next season to buy a new one. He was also aware that
it was important for the AIS to have the anchor watch functionality. There are
anchor watch apps for tablets and phones, however they are not as reliable as
an anchor watch on an AIS.
Back to Manatee Pocket and another boat, Sante –
Xavier and Annette – we met them in Fort Pierce City Marina. They had never
sailed to the Bahamas and had only just bought their boat so were keen to tag
along with us.
When living on a boat, one of the first things
you do after waking and making your first pot of coffee or tea in the mornings,
is to check the weather. We had been checking the weather and thought that
Wednesday would be a good day to cross to the Bahamas. We used the computer
programme, PredictWind, we have for passage planning. This compares the various
weather models that are available. We check the wind direction and speed/knots
and the wave height and frequency. Everything looked good to leave the coast of
the USA for the Bahamas by Wednesday afternoon, 4 – 5.00pm and our estimated
time of arrival at West End was 9 – 10.00am the following morning. We had
decided to sail to West End and check into the country and the marina there for
a few days, as we saw that there was some wild weather coming from the west
from late Thursday afternoon/ evening. This sailing window would not give us
enough time to sail across the Little Bahama Bank to a safe anchorage,
protected from the westerlies that would be blowing hard. What we have learnt
since crossing is that we did not give ourselves enough time to reach our
destination as the swing in the weather turned much faster than we anticipated.
It was an ABSOLUTELY AWFUL sail!!!
Passages handled the sail well, but I did NOT! She was surfing down 3 metre
waves at 8.4 knots and the wind was gusting at 36 knots. There were a few other
issues we had noticed with Passages that we had overlooked, in trying
desperately to put in the various new upgrades and equipment. Let’s put it
mildly that we were given a very hard wakeup call of our complacency and
eagerness to get going.
On writing this entry, 4 -5 days after the sail,
I am still shell shocked and a bit nervous about our next sail. We have been
reading the weather incorrectly and not allowing the seas to die down and
flatten or as I have already mentioned, anticipated the speed at which the
weather can clock round from a southerly to a westerly and northerly direction.
To add to this all was the Gulf Stream which can
push you further north than what you intend to be. We felt awful for Xavier and
Annette on Sante, who were relying on us to give them a bit of guidance.
HOWEVER, to be fair, the decision to leave the States and cross over to the
Abaco’s, Bahamas, was a combined effort.
After this sail, our plans for the rest of the
sailing season may change.
While crossing, we were so grateful to have the
AIS, as a boat contacted us to say that we were on a collision course with them.
They couldn’t see our navigational lights and we couldn’t see them on our new
AIS, which is now connected to our main chart plotter. We put on our anchor
light, and they did the same and it was only when they crossed, in front of us,
did they show up on our AIS. Phew! We think they did NOT have their transmit
function of the AIS on, as with some AIS’s you can been seen by others and they
can see you, or you can turn off your AIS and only see others. We have done
this when we have been in areas that have had issues with opportunistic boats,
near Trinidad and sailing out from Guatemala, near Honduras.
So here we are in the Old Bahama Bay Marina in West End, Abaco’s, waiting for a decent weather window, which doesn’t look soon. We thought our days in a marina, were over, however…… Since being here, we have been for long walks along the lovely sandy beaches, the marina has a swimming pool and the use of free bikes. We’ve cycled into the small settlement to get some bread and a few ‘fresh’ vegetables. Mel has been working on some more boat projects and I have been making new covers for our fenders. The next project I’ll be attempting is a bag for the ropes. We’ve seen so many huge luxurious boats with crew, come and go. At the time of writing this, there is a beautiful eggshell blue boat next to us on the opposite side of the dock. It’s four times as long as Passages and the highest point of the boat, is higher than our 54-foot mast. The crew are very friendly which is quite unusual.
The owners of the boat have since arrived and,
well, it’s interesting to see how the other half live. On
the shared boardwalk,
there are gym mats, weights from 2 kgs to over 20 kgs all neatly displayed and
an exercise bench. The crew have taken the owner and guests out on their speed
boat, for a fishing trip. Who knows what the ladies are doing.
We have also hired a car to go into Freeport and to Port Lucaya Marketplace with the couple on Sante, Xavier and Annette and their adorable dog, Jollie. It was sad to see that business is not booming as many shops and stores are closed. In fact, the whole marina at Port Lucaya is literally falling to pieces as there were many signs say, ‘Do Not walk on the board walk’.
So that’s it for now. Here is hoping that the
next time there is a blog entry, we have moved on and are enjoying a bit of
sailing and anchoring in the many beautiful cays in the Abaco’s.
Until next time…. Take care, Keep well.
Best wishes, always
Mel and Caryn
BTW, our location is being updated almost daily –
and sometimes in real-time. This information can be found on the left side of
the blog “Recent Locations”
