Sailing In The Dark | Bright Lights & Stormy Weather

Those of you who have followed our blog for a while will know I'm a bit of a scaredy-cat. Alligators, sharks, being abducted by aliens, running out of chocolate chip cookies and sailing in the dark all freak me out.

Unfortunately, when you live on a sailboat and you want to get from the Bahamas to Florida or vice versa, inevitably you're going to have to do some night sailing.

You'd think I'd be used to this whole sailing in the dark thing by now. I did a bit when we cruised in New Zealand, I've crossed the Gulf Stream five times now and we've done some night passages in the Bahamas. But each and every time the sun starts to set, I start to get a wee bit worried.

Will a freighter run into us? Will a whale come up alongside our boat and capsize us? Will we run out of cookies before the sun comes up?

When we crossed back to Florida from the Bahamas to sort out our whole dinghy davit saga, things started out okay. The sun was shining, there weren't too many freighters in our path and I had enough snacks to keep going.

I bet you're thinking, this all sounds too good to be true. Hopefully, something exciting happened or this is going to be a very boring blog post to read.

Well, you're in luck. We did have a bit of excitement in the form of stormy weather and bright lights.

First, the weather gods had some fun with us. We started to hear all sorts of warnings about severe storms over our VHF when we were about 28 miles away from Lake Worth (our entry point into Florida).

We really didn't need to hear the warnings because we could see dark skies and a huge bank of lightening crackling across the water. It seriously was huge - a giant horizontal swath of lightening across the horizon.

Did I mention that lightening freaks me out? Especially when I'm on a boat with a giant metal rod sticking out of it. Sailors call it a mast, but we all know what it really is - a lightening attraction device.

We had to divert south to avoid the storm, adding hours to our passage. Good times.

Then the sun went down. Scott told me to go down into the aft cabin and try to take a nap. It's possible he was tired of me hanging out in the cockpit complaining about the lack of cookies on board. Regardless, if someone offers to keep watch while I take a nap, I'm going to say yes.

I settled in down below and had just closed my eyes, when a bright white light shone through the portlights.

This was a seriously bright light. Not moonlight or starlight or the lights from a passing boat. No, this was the kind of light that alien spaceships shine down on you right before they abduct you.

You'd be proud of me. I didn't scream. At least not out loud.

I ran up into the cockpit. After all, if they had abducted Scott, someone had to steer the boat.

Turns out it wasn't aliens. It was the Coast Guard. They sneaked up behind us without any running lights and then turned their giant spotlight on us.

Scott figured it was the Coast Guard. For some reason, he doesn't share my fear of alien abduction. I guess it's true, opposites do attract.

They told us to maintain our current course and speed and asked us the usual questions you'd expect - how many people on board (two), are you US citizens (yes), do you have any weapons on board (no), where are you going (Lake Worth), do you have any cookies (no), what was your last port of call (Mangrove Cay), are you going to clear in with Customs & Border Protection when you get to Lake Worth (yep) etc.

After following us for a while, checking out our details and shining their bright light on us a few more times, they slipped away into the night.

Eventually, we made it to Lake Worth after a very long passage and I added 7.5 hour of night sailing to my log book.
 
Cruising Log | Saturday, 29 April 2017 – Wednesday, 3 May 2017
 
29 APRIL
Woke up to find four charter cats hovering nearby. Think we anchored in their usual spot where they take the punters. Anchor up 9:00 AM. Anchor down at 2:00 PM at Allans-Pensacola Cay. Anchorage bigger than I remembered. Nautical miles = 26. Engine = 45 mins. Spending = Nil.

30 APRIL
Our dinghy, Boo Boo, kept crashing into our boat all night long. Very annoying of her. Anchor up at 9:00 AM. Anchor down at 3:00 PM at Great Sale Cay. Nautical miles = 35. Engine = 1 hour. Spending = Nil.

1 MAY
Anchor up at 8:00 AM. Anchor down at 12:00 PM at Mangrove Cay. Put Boo Boo up on deck for the Gulf Stream Crossing. She’s a heavy girl and a real pain to maneuver into place, but we got her there in the end. Sure makes you appreciate having functional dinghy davits. Nautical miles = 22. Engine = 1 hour. Spending = Nil.

2-3 MAY
Anchor up at 8:30 AM. Very lumpy once we got past Memory Rock, but settled down later. Saw a few freighters during the day. About 28 nautical miles from Lake Worth started seen dark clouds to north and west. Storm warnings for hail, tornados, gusts up to 70 MPH onshore. Continued on course for a while, then saw a bank of extensive lightening stretching out over the water. Diverted south and then gradually back west once saw storm breaking up. Lots of freighters at night. Some seemed to come very close to us. Coast Guard encounter about 7 nautical miles from Lake Worth. Anchor down in Lake Worth at 3:15 AM. Cracked open a couple of beers (yes, beer at 3:15 AM), called Customs & Border Protection to clear in and then off to sleep. Moved over to North Lake Work later that afternoon. Ordered new dinghy davit from Kato Marine and arranged for slip at Indiantown Marina. Nautical miles = 90. Engine = 11 hours. Spending = Nil. Crossing time = 18 hours 45 mins. Night sailing = 7.5 hours.

Have you ever been stopped by the Coast Guard or other law enforcement officer? What was your experience like? Have you ever been abducted by aliens? What was that like?


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Fixing Things In Exotic Places | The Never-Ending Dinghy Davit Saga

There’s a saying that fixing things in exotic places is what cruising on a sailboat is all about. Being in exotic places is somehow supposed to make up for the fact that stuff on your boat always breaks.

Remember how our dinghy davit broke while we were cruising in the Bahamas? Remember how we were stuck in Marsh Harbour waiting to see if we could get it repaired?

No? Can't say that I blame you. I've been trying to forget about our never-ending dinghy davit saga too.

Here’s a little picture to remind you. This is the thing we needed welded.

So, here’s what I want to know – is Marsh Harbour considered an exotic place?
  
After hanging about there for a week, it sure didn't feel exotic. Just another town that happens to be in the Bahamas.

The roads weren't all that exotic. Sure, they drive on the left-hand side of the road, but we're used to that having lived in Scotland and New Zealand. It seemed normal.

The ice cream bars were delicious, but nothing out of the ordinary.

The local boatyard and marina looked like...well, like a boatyard and marina you might find in Florida.

Upcoming elections meant that there were signs everywhere. Similar to the political signs you might find in during election season back in the States.

Trying to get a quote on the welding work we needed done took forever. That definitely didn't feel exotic. Just like back home, trying to chase up people and have them get back to you.

It kind of reminded me of our expat days. When we first moved to Scotland and then to New Zealand, we'd be in awe of everything. It was all so exotic, different, fascinating, new etc. at the beginning. Then after a while, it all became routine.

That's what sitting and waiting in Marsh Harbour for a week started to become - nothing exciting, just routine. Get up, send some emails, binge watch some shows, eat some food and go snorkeling. Okay, that last part's pretty cool - being able to snorkel off of a beach at Marsh Habour. You might even say exotic.

For those of you on the edge of your seat wanting to know what happened with the dinghy davit, we did find a welder in the end, but then the base sheared off, more damage was found on the davit and it didn't make sense to repair it. More details below in the Cruising Log.

 
Cruising Log | Wednesday, 26 April 2017 – Friday, 28 April 2017

26 APRIL
More emails about the davit situation. Went snorkeling at Mermaid Reef. Made bread. Had Carl from Northern Star over for sundowners. Nautical miles = Nil. Engine hours = Nil. Spending = Nil.

27 APRIL
Walked up to the welder’s. Finally managed to get a quote. Higher than expected, plus can’t fit us in right away. Got ice cream sandwiches at Maxwell’s to console ourselves. Only 81 cents each! Full of chemicals, but oh so delicious. Went to the hardware store, got tip about another welder, the Prop Shop. Got quote on the spot and they’re able to start right away. Things are looking up! More snorkeling at Mermaid Reef. Nautical miles = Nil. Engine hours = Nil. Spending = $5.12

28 APRIL
Took solar panel off. Tried to get davit off, then pin on base sheared off. Discovered more damage on davit. Welding it now out of the question, given the extent of repair of required. Now, not only do we need a new davit, but we also need a new base. Shipping cost prohibitive to the Bahamas, not to mention a pain to get through customs. Made decision to head back to the States and replace davit and base there. Jerry-rigged the davit back on. Put solar panel back up. Stowed outboard in lazarette. Anchor up at 2:00 PM. Sailed through Whale Cay Cut and anchored at No Name Cay at 6:00 PM. Nautical miles = 21. Engine hours = .75. Spending = Nil.

What do you consider to be exotic? Have you ever become jaded and blase about your surroundings? What's the most exotic place you've been to or would like to go to?

Internet connection has been really scarce lately while we've been cruising in the Bahamas, so apologies if it takes a while before we're able to respond to your comments and/or visit your blog.
 
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Wordless Wednesday | Strange Mail

Wordless Wednesday is supposed to be about posting a photo(s) without any words. But, I'm a rule breaker, so here are a few words:

1 - When we were back at Indiantown Marina, we got the strangest letter in the mail.

2 - It was sent anonymously. I think I know who it's from. At least I hope so. It's one thing to get strange mail from people you know and quite another to get it from people you don't.

3 - I can't remember the last time I got something in the mail that wasn't junk or a bill.

   
What words does this picture(s) bring to your mind when you look at it?

For more Wordless Wednesday fun, click here. 

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Morning Coffee | Random Thoughts & Oddities

Paul at Lat43 does these hysterical Morning Tea blog posts which are a brain dump of whatever pops into his head while he's writing them. I decided to steal his idea. Except, I'm drinking coffee while I write this and he drinks tea, so it isn't really stealing, is it?

So, here we go - all of the random nonsense floating through my head while I sip on my morning coffee.

• My legs are always covered with bruises from banging into things on the boat. Scott never bruises, but he always seems to be cutting himself. He’s completely oblivious to the fact that there’s blood running down his arm or leg. “Uh, dude, there’s blood dripping on the floor.” He’ll look down, shrug his shoulders and grab a paper towel to stop the bleeding. Does this happen with other couples – one person bruises and the other bleeds?

 

• We’ve been carrying trash around in our v-berth for three weeks now. It’s starting to smell despite the lavender-scented garbage bags I used. Seriously, who knew you could get scented garbage bags? What will they think of next? By the way, the combination of lavender and rotting trash, not so good.

 

• I finally used the butternut squash that’s been stored in our v-berth for months. It was still good and made a nutritious addition to some chipotle lentil and red pepper soup I was making. The trash could learn a lot from the squash about how to put up with being stored in the v-berth without making a big stink about it. 

 

• The weather has been great while we’ve been cruising in the Exumas. I probably shouldn’t have said that. The weather gods have heard me and are probably hatching up evil plans having to do with high winds and torrential downpours. Quick, find some wood to knock on before I completely jinx us. Come on everyone, all at the same time - knock, knock, knock. Hopefully that will do the trick.

 

• We snorkeled over a sunken plane the other day. I thought the fish swimming around inside it and the coral growing on top of it was pretty neat until Scott told me that there was a shark nearby. To my credit, I didn’t do my usual flapping around and screaming routine. I guess that’s some sort of progress in the whole shark paranoia thing I have going on. Although, in my books, sharks = justifiable paranoia. 

 

• Some friends of ours had a rat swim over and board their boat during a big squall up in the Abacos. That would be my worst nightmare. No, actually, my worst nightmare would be a shark giving a ride on his back to a rat and ferrying him over to our boat. 

 

• I only have two books left to read on board. I need to find a book exchange pronto and trade out some of my paperbacks for new ones. 

 

• I love our wind scoop. It was a gift from some friends. One of the best gifts ever. {For those not in the know, and why should you be, I didn’t know what a wind scoop was until we got into boating, a wind scoop is made out of nylon fabric which you tie up over your hatch and which directs the wind down and into your cabin and keeps you from getting hot, sweaty and cranky at night when you’re trying to sleep.}

 

• We’ve gotten a little blasé about homemade bread. Who would have thought that freshly baked bread would become so routine?

 

• We’re out of crackers. 

 

• If you take a can of chicken salad, doctor it up with minced onion, garlic and curry powder, Scott will eat it. He’s not a big chicken salad fan, so I consider this a victory. It’s good on crackers.

 

• Did I mention that we’re out of crackers?

 

• Someone underestimated how many crackers we would go through.

 

• On the bright side, we have more than enough coffee to last us for the next few months. Coffee is probably more important than crackers.

 

• Speaking of which, it’s time for a coffee refill, so I’ll leave you with one last thought…buy more crackers than you think you’ll need. 
  

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Killing Time In Marsh Harbour, Bahamas

How do you kill time when you’re waiting for something? Do you twiddle your thumbs? Do you stare out the window? Do you binge watch TV? Do you take a lot of long naps? Do you read? Do you make treats?

We did all of the above while we waited in Marsh Harbour in the hopes of getting our broken dinghy davit sorted. Well, except the thumb twiddling. I never did get the point of that. It’s a lot like thumb wrestling, except without the satisfaction of winning something. Or the distraction of getting your thumb squashed.

It’s fair to say that Marsh Harbour isn’t our favorite spot in the Abacos. It’s a great place to stock up on groceries, propane, supplies and, theoretically, get some welding done. But other than that, there aren’t a lot of distractions, especially when the weather is crappy.

So we binge watched some Lost, read some books, stared at other boats and took naps when the excitement of it all got too overwhelming.

Those of you who live on land probably binge watch TV without a care in the world. You press a button on the remote and the TV comes on. Occasionally, you press the pause button and go to the fridge to get a snack. You watch episode after episode without worrying about whether electricity is going to stop flowing from the plug to the TV.

It’s a little different on our sailboat. When we watch TV shows, we have to check out battery monitor periodically to make sure we have enough power to watch the next episode and find out whether Kate chooses Jack or Sawyer.

When the sun is shining and our solar panel is mounted on our dinghy davit, we gets lots of juicy amps flowing freely to our batteries. We get up from time to time to adjust the angle of the panel to follow the sun as it moves from east to west.

Sadly, with our broken dinghy davit, we had to temporarily mount our solar panel on top of our aft cabin.

Two problems with this:

1 - It covered the hatch which meant we couldn’t get air freely flowing into the cabin. Heat makes some of us cranky.

2 - We couldn’t angle the panel to get maximum sun exposure. Less juicy amps flowing in meant making difficult choices – run the fridge or watch Lost.

Then things got worse. The clouds and rain moved in and cut off our supply of sunshine. This was getting serious. Were we going to be stuck with a fridge full of warm beer and rotting meat and never find out why Desmond kept pushing that button?!

Fortunately, our handy Honda generator came to the rescue.

We got it this year for exactly this reason. We knew a day would come when the sun would stop shining. We plugged it in to our shore power and charged our batteries. More Lost! More cold beer! Less chance of dying from eating tainted meat! It’s the little things that count.

****

Cruising Log | Saturday, 22 April 2017 – Tuesday, 25 April 2017
 
22 APRIL
Dropped my breakfast burrito on the floor. Had to settle for a granola bar instead. Did some baking. Limited solar power, so ran generator for a while. Nautical miles = Nil. Engine hours = Nil. Spending = Nil.

23 APRIL
Rained all day. Read and binge watched Lost. Had to run generator again. Made soup and bread. The soup was awful. The bread wasn’t awful. Big squall came through late at night. Gusts around 50 knots. Turned on engine and prepared to take action if we dragged anchor. Nautical miles = Nil. Engine hours = 2.75. Spending = Nil.

24 APRIL
Contacted welder and Kato Marine regarding broken dinghy davit. Watched a guy get his bitch wings on while someone anchored next to them. Nautical miles = Nil. Engine hours = Nil. Spending = Nil.

25 APRIL
Figured out way to put solar panel back up on broken davit. So nice to be able to get lots of juicy amps from the sun. More emails about davit. Checked out an Asian market run by a guy names Johnny Cash. Went to Maxwell’s. Tried to make Bahamian mac n’cheese. Failed experiment. Very disappointing. Got an email from a blog follower anchored next to us. Made plans to meet up. Nautical miles = Nil. Engine hours = Nil. Spending = $18.04 (ground beef, carrots, cheese, tonic water, milk)

Do you ever worry about having enough power for your needs? What’s the last show you binge watched? Do you like thumb wrestling?

Internet connection has been really scarce lately while we've been cruising in the Bahamas, so apologies if it takes a while before we're able to respond to your comments and/or visit your blog.
 

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Simon The Time Traveling Cat Plays Monopoly | IWSG

The Insecure Writer's Support Group (IWSG) is a place to share and encourage, where writers can express their doubts and concerns without appearing foolish or weak. It's a great place to mingle with like minded people each month during IWSG day.

Every month there's an optional question which may prompt folks to share advice, insights, a personal experience or story. Some folks answer the question in their IWSG blog post or let it inspire them if they're struggling with what to say.

This month's question is:

"Did you ever say 'I quit'? If so, what happened to make you come back to writing?"

Check out how people have answered this month's question, as well as the other insecurities and writing topics they may have shared by visiting the IWSG sign-up list here. If you want to see how I answered the question, have a look below.

****

Simon the Time Traveling Cat batted at the dice with his large gray paws and pushed them off of the table. He peered down at the floor waiting for me to pick them up.

“Looks like you rolled a seven,” I said as I placed the dice back on the table next to Monopoly board.
Simon growled. “Lady, you’re blind as a bat. I rolled an eight.”

“Simon, it was not a eight,” I said firmly. “You’re trying to cheat again. Go on, move the wheelbarrow seven places.”

“How’d I get stuck with this stupid wheelbarrow anyway,” Simon said. “You knew I wanted the top hat, but no, you had to go and grab it first.”

“It’s not my problem you were busy lapping up milk while I was setting up the board,” I said as I watched Simon nudge the wheelbarrow down the board towards Park Place and Boardwalk. I just happened to own both properties, complete with three hotels each.

Simon’s tail started to swish back and forth furiously as he realized the wheelbarrow was about to land on Boardwalk.

I rubbed my hands together. “Excellent. That’ll be…”

Before I could finish, Simon shoved the hotels onto the floor and then lay in the middle of the board glaring at me.

“There’s no way, I’m paying you another dime, lady” he hissed. “I quit!”

“Hey, calm down Simon. It’s just a game. Nobody likes a quitter.”

Simon stared at me coldly. “Go get me some more milk, lady. And make it full-fat. No more of that stupid skim milk crap you keep trying to make me drink.”

As I rummaged through the fridge, Simon furiously sharpened his claws on the board, scattering Monopoly money around the room in the process.

“Sorry, Simon, two percent is the best I can do,” I said carefully placing a saucer in front of him. “Are you sure you want to quit? Why don’t we set the board up again and play?”

“You’re the quitter, lady, not me.” Simon sniffed at the milk with disdain. “You’re constantly quitting working on that book of yours.”

“I’m not quitting writing it,” I said. “I just take breaks from time to time when I get writer’s block.”
Simon started to shove the saucer towards the edge of the table. I grabbed it before it could land on the floor with the rest of the Monopoly pieces.

“Is that what we’re calling it - taking a break?” he snarled. “Face it, you’re a quitter.”

“Am not.”

“Are too.”

“No, I’m not!”

“Well then, prove it. Open up that stupid laptop of yours and start writing again.” Simon turned his back to me and started washing behind his ears.

There’s nothing worse than knowing a cat might be right about something. They get so smug about that sort of thing. But was it possible that taking a break was the same thing as quitting?

I sighed and opened up my laptop. I suppose I might as well try to do some writing since Monopoly was out of the question.

Before I could open up the file, Simon landed with a plop on the keyboard.

“Haven’t you forgotten something, lady?” he asked as he rolled onto his back. “You need to go to the store and get some full-fat milk, pronto. Then you can get back to your writing. That is if you don’t quit again by the time you get back.”

****

Have you ever quit working on something? Did it start out as just taking a break, but then you never ended up going back to it? What’s your favorite board game?

Internet connection has been really scarce lately while we've been cruising in the Bahamas, so apologies if it takes a while before I'm able to respond to your comments and/or visit your blog.
 
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May In Numbers

Clockwise from upper left: (1) Tickety Boo back at Indiantown Marina for repairs; (2) Our new water pump; (3) Our friends on Wind Spirit, anchored at Peck Lake; (4) Anchored at Ginn sur Mer in the Abacos waiting out weather; (5) Relaxing over sundowners; (6) Tickety Boo anchored in the Berry Islands.

It's time for our monthly recap by the numbers. We crossed back from the Bahamas at the beginning of the month in order to replace our broken dinghy davit. We ended up spending a lot longer than we hoped back at Indiantown Marina when we discovered that our water pump needed to be replaced. It took a bit of time to source the part, have it delivered and install it. We left Indiantown on May 20th and crossed back to the Bahamas on May 22nd. We hopped our way down from the Abacos, to the Berry Islands, over to the Nassau area and then to the Exuma Islands, where we plan on spending most of June.

Here's some tidbits about how the month went by the numbers:

• 12 – Number of nights we spent in a slip at Indiantown Marina fixing things and waiting for parts to arrive.

• $144.45 – Cost of a new water pump for our Thornycroft diesel engine (including shipping and handling). We had to order this from a tractor supply business. Our engine is based on the Mitsubishi K4D block, which is also used in tractors.

• 5 – Number of tostadas we had during Taco Tuesday at JR’s Saloon in Indiantown. We were joined by the crews of Radio Waves, Wind Spirit and Blue Wing. Fun and yummy.

• $16.41 – Our average cost per night during May, which we calculate based upon how much we spend on marina slips or mooring balls (anchoring is free). This is up dramatically from April (we anchored every night so our average cost was $0.00) because of the time we spent at Indiantown Marina. Let’s hope we can get it back down during June.

• 496 – Number of nautical miles covered during May.

• 4 – Number of areas of the Bahamas we cruised in – Abacos, Berry Islands, Nassau area and the Exuma Islands.

• 1 – Number of buddy boats we had.

• 2 – Number of days we had a buddy boat. Unfortunately, the crew of Wind Spirit had to delay their crossing to the Bahamas, so we parted ways in Lake Worth.

• 6 – Number of days we spent without getting off of our boat after we left Indiantown to head back to the Bahamas. We finally dropped the dinghy and put the outboard motor on at Hoffman’s Cay in the Berry Island.

• 2 - Number of times we swam at the Blue Hole on Hoffman's Cay. We liked it so much the first time, we went back again the next day. 

• 14 – Number of sharks hanging out at Highbourne Cay Marina. I asked the fuel dock attendant what kind they were and he told me that I had to jump in, tickle them under their chins until they opened their mouths and then I’d be able to tell by their teeth. Needless to say, I didn’t follow his suggestion. 

• $4.38 - Cost per gallon of diesel fuel at Highbourne Cay Marina. We bought 20 gallons. That seemed pricey to me. There was a big boat ahead of us taking on 400 gallons of fuel. I can't even begin to imagine spending that much on fuel.

 In case you missed them, here are some of our favorite posts from last month:

Good Luck, Bad Luck, Coulda-Been-Worse Luck
Cost of Cruising in the Bahamas & Florida
Tickety Boo, Tickety Boo, Barracuda Bob


How did last month go for you? What are you looking forward to this month?

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