Nassau

We are in Nassau, we didn’t plan to be here this year but circumstances dictated the visit.  We are having transmission problems.

On Friday we were anchored at Big Majors with a lot of other boats working on a plan of action.  All symptoms lead to a faulty transmission.  It would run in forward if the engine was running and would not shift into neutral and if shifted to reverse it would kill the engine.  There was nothing for us to do about this problem so we made a run to Staniel Cay in the dinghy.  We were going to the fuel dock when the transmission acted up and I still wanted to top off the fuel tank.  We carry two five gallon jerry jugs with us so we poured that into the tank and took them to town to be refilled.  Now I knew we had enough fuel in case we had to motor all the way.  We also needed to go to the phone company to buy more data for Cori’s phone.  We also checked out the grocery store, closed over lunch and dropped off a bag of garbage.  Back to the boat we got things ready for the trip.  In the afternoon we got a call from Selah that they were on their way with our laundry.  We did a little exploring with the dinghy and in the evening joined Selah on Willamia for drinks and snacks.  At sunset Les, Allison and Cori blew their conchs, the first conch trio we have heard.

Saturday morning we were ready to head out for Nassau.  To add to our headaches when I tried to use the windlass to pull up a little anchor chain to adjust the snubber on Thursday it stopped working.  Now we were sitting without a windlass and no neutral gear.  To pull the anchor we drive the boat up to the anchor as the windlass pulls in the chain.  Without being able to shift into neutral we would overrun the anchor and pull more chain out.  Pulling the anchor by hand was the only option and it required that we motor up to the anchor and kill the engine as I pulled in the chain.  Bo and Allison came over with their dinghy to see if they could help and it was good they did.  What we attempted to do was to pull the chain until it went tight and attach the snubber to keep it from pulling out more chain.  It didn’t work as well as I had hoped and all of the chain I pulled in was pulled back out before we got the snubber hooked.   On the second try we got it right and the motion of the boat broke the anchor free.  From there we started the motor again and I pulled the anchor the rest of the way in as we started out of the anchorage.  Our plan was to go back up to Shroud Cay and pick up a park service mooring for the night and continue to Nassau on Sunday.  The wind was on the nose so we ended up motoring for the day.  We were not sure how picking up the mooring would go.  Normally we maneuver up to the ball slowly and when within reach pick up the pennant line and tie one or two of our docklines to it.  Usually it takes us a couple of tries.  This time went better than when everything is working in our favor.  We pulled up to the ball and killed the engine just before reaching it.  The boats momentum carried us up to it and when it was alongside Cori was able to hook it with the boathook.  We then got a line through it and got it cleated off.  While we were doing this a neighboring boat was coming over in their dinghy to give us a hand after being alerted that we had engine problems.  He gave us a hand getting the second line on it and we were good for the night.  The winds were still blowing in the 20’s as they had all day so the seas were built up.  We were secure for the night but the waves and wind caused us to roll violently, almost enough to throw me out of bed a couple of times.  Anything sitting out got moved or knocked down during the night.

By morning on Sunday the wind had shifted to the northeast which would be a little better for sailing but it was still blowing from 15-20 knots.  At sunrise we dropped the mooring, no anchor to pull today, and headed out for Nassau.  Of course not everything was going to go well; I got my heading wrong and aimed us for a shallow area.  As I caught the depth sounder showing less and less depth we went aground.  Not a good felling when you can’t back off.  I made a sharp turn and hit the throttle pushing through the sand until we got back to deeper water.  We were lucky that it was sand and not rocks and the tide was coming up so we would have gotten off eventually.  After changing our course we tried to sail.  The wind was still too close to the nose to sail efficiently, 2.5 knots is not efficient, we started the motor again and motor-sailed.  We had one course change planned for when we got to the Yellow Bank waypoint and that put us at a better angle to the wind, still blowing in the 20’a.  The Yellow Bank is an area of large coral heads near the surface so it was necessary to keep a good look out.  Vic had given us the coordinates of where to make our turn and where we would see the fewest heads and get through them the fastest.  Once through we turned off the motor and had an exciting sail for the rest of the afternoon, 6-8 knots which is about as fast as this old boat will go.  The seas had been building all day so we were dealing with 4-5 foot seas, just under the 6-7 that had been forecast.  We had water coming over the bow all day with some splashing into the cockpit.  Where was salt water everywhere.  The pounding we were taking shifted everything below deck also.  The v-berth was a complete mess and anything loose on the starboard side was on the floor.  We were planning on going to the Nassau Harbor Marina but they wanted us to wait to come in on Monday.  We proceeded to Rose Island, a couple of miles from the harbor and anchored for the night.  The wind continued to blow but we were somewhat protected but the seas were still causing us to roll.

Monday morning was still blowing 15-20 from the east and when we called the marina to enquire about coming in they were not too sure about it.  We thought it over and decided to wait until Tuesday to go in since the winds were supposed to drop.  The marina agreed with us.  We spent the day rolling with the waves as the wind clocked around giving us even less protection with some real ugly rocks behind us.  We had another night rolling and getting up several times to check to be sure we are not dragging our anchor.  We had a couple of rain showers go through helping to clean the salt off everything.

Tuesday morning at 7:30 we got a call from the marina telling us they were ready for us.  We pulled anchor again, it went better this time, and started into Nassau Harbor.  The winds were still around 15 knots but out of the south.  We called and got permission to enter the harbor and made our way to the marina.  The plan was to line up and come straight into the dock and the dockhands stopping us with the lines we would throw them.  Killing the engine to drop our speed in time was important.  Well I would like to say everything went as planned but it didn’t.  We were still going too fast when we got to the dock and one of the dockhands dropped his line before he could get it around a pole.  Our plan on stopping before hitting anything was gone.  All we had in front of us was a concrete dock which was effective in stopping us.  Had the tide been lower we would have run our headsail furling gear and forestay into it, if it had been higher we would have some fiberglass repair.  It actually lined up with our Rockna anchor on the bowsprit.  We actually broke off some of the concrete as the anchor went under it.  It appears that the roll bar on the anchor is bent back a little and the bowsprit is bent down a little.  Not much damage considering the impact.  Once in we called the mechanic Vic told us about to report we had arrived.  He sent a man over and after a couple of tests he agreed that the transmission was the problem.  He removed it and took it to the shop.  Later in the afternoon they called us to report what they found.  The transmission was toast, possibly not in good enough condition to use as a core trade-in for a rebuilt unit.  Working the numbers it was evident that our only option was a new one.  We got directions to the shop and walked there to place the order (make a down payment).  They placed the order and it will be shipped from Ft. Lauderdale in about a week.  Day one in Nassau was done, but we slept well not rocking anymore.

Wednesday was a project day.  On the way here we made a list of projects that need to be done since we will be sitting for so long.  We were able to check off several but it looks like several more have been added to the list.