Decision time

In our last post we were leaving Nassau.  We got out a little later then I had hoped but we were off and once out of the harbor we were able to sail rather than motor.  That lasted only a couple of hours and the wind died and we started the motor leaving the sails up to catch what wind they could.  We planned to stop at Highborn Cay for the night since we would be able to reach it before sundown but decided to continue on.  If we stopped we would have to just pull anchor in the morning and make a long day of it moving south.  We continued, planning to arrive at Big Majors where all of this started.  We arrived off of Big Majors/Staniel Cay in the dark and anchoring there at night should be no issue.  At this point we decided we would rather continue around Harvey Cay and stop in Blackpoint Settlement.  We tried going there several times but had not made it.  At this time I took over and Cori went below to get some sleep.  The wind started to come up and we shut off the motor to sail, it didn’t matter how fast since we didn’t want to come in in the dark.  As we continued I decided we had had enough of towns and we needed a remote anchorage and empty beaches.  We bypassed Blackpoint and continued further along to anchor in Jacks Bay.  I rolled up the headsail and let the boat just ghost along going less than one knot waiting for sunrise.  Once the sun rose we moved into the anchorage to share it with three boats from Canada.  There are Canadians everywhere down here.

We chose our spot and motored to it and as I dropped the anchor Cori put us in reverse to set the anchor and there was a bad sound came from down below.  Something in the drive train did not like running in reverse.  There was no problem when we backed out of the slip in Nassau but now there was, again.  After a nap we launched the dinghy to go exploring.  We had watched the Canadians snorkeling not too far away so we headed over there after they had moved on and found a coral head.  I dove down with the video camera to check it out.  As I got back in the dinghy we noticed the video camera would not shut off.  We took it back to the boat and I pulled the battery and left our snorkeling gear to go ashore.  There was a small beach in a little cove and we headed there to get some beach time.  This is at a narrow part of the island so we were able to cross over to the sound side to check out the rocks and a small cove and beach there.  For some reason I forgot to bring a camera.  From there we took the dinghy up to another beach and followed a path to the sound side again.  Here we found another little bay carved out of the rocks with a sort of cave cut into it.  There was a party spot under the overhang so this is a popular spot for someone.  There was also a lot of seaglass and a few shells so Cori was in heaven.  Back at the boat since I was already all salty from the snorkeling I dove down to check the prop and shaft to see if there was anything wrong there.  Everything seems normal.  Once back on the boat it looks like our little video camera has died.

The next morning, Thursday, we pulled the anchor and set the sails to go back up to Big Majors.  We made every attempt to sail since we were in no hurry but the wind dropped so low even the spinnaker would not stay full.  Time to motor again.  We pulled into the anchorage and dropped the hook.  I got into the dinghy and went over to Catalyst to see if Scott could come over to check out the noise.  We had met Scott when the transmission had gone out and Vic called him to look into it.  In the evening we had cocktails with Dean and Kim on Dreamcatcher.  We met them while in the marina in Nassau.  We ended the day with a late St. Patrick Day dinner of corned beef, cabbage and potatoes.

Friday morning Scott came over to check things out.  We are all confused but he thinks it may not be terminal and we could continue on.  Decisions about the future need to be made.  Since there was nothing we could do about it we decided to head over to the Staniel Cay anchorage in the dinghy to see Cliff and Adrianna on Will O Wind.  We met them last year in the Abacos.  They were surprised to see us.  After visiting with them we joined them on a hike on a path that brought us along the east side of the island, over the rocks and down to a beach and then back around to the starting point.  Again, I forgot a camera.  Back in the anchorage our friends from Eleuthera, Phillip and Theresa on Sea Ya, had anchored next to us.  We got caught up with them that evening over cocktails.

On Saturday, coming back from town we went by C_Language to introduce ourselves.  It had been suggested to us that we contact Rick to see if he could diagnose our single sideband radio problems.  We can receive clearly but when we broadcast we are told we have a lot of distortion.  He ended up spending most of the day onboard trying to find a fix for it.  Several times we thought we had it but no luck.  In the evening we planned to meet up with everyone at the James Bond Thunderball party at the marina.  Part of the Thunderball movie was filmed here, specifically the grotto scene, and they throw a party to celebrate.  Costumes were encouraged and there were a lot of them, mostly white tuxedos.  I never dreamed anyone would pack a tuxedo when going to the islands.  They also had a casino set up for entertainment.  A good time was had by all and at the end of the evening we got to try to find our boat among all of the others in the anchorage.  We had heard of this problem but this was our first time experiencing it.  All boats look alike in the dark.

Sunday we brought the radio over to Rick to troubleshoot some more and we headed back to redo the hike with a camera this time.  In the afternoon we were back on the boat listening to the Nascar race.  There is a front coming our way and a lot of the boats were moving to more protected anchorage so we moved closer into the corner of the harbor to have protection when the winds come around from the north and northeast.  When the radio was done we went to pick it up and stopped by another Pearson 424 to meet the proud owners of Gambit II, the second 424 we saw here.  There are also two Pearson 422 sailboats which are designed as center cockpits using the same hull as the 424.

During the night the front came through with a lot of rain but not too much wind.  We thought we had made it unscathed but listening to the forecast in the morning learned that the second front was close by and that one would be packing the winds.  Later in the day the wind did kick up into the 20’s but quickly clocked around to the north.  It blew all day but we were in a good spot were the wind couldn’t kick up a lot of waves.  Rick came over to trouble shoot the radio again.  It is still not working right and he is bound and determined to find the cause.  In the evening he joined us for happy hour on Rum Tot, a sistership to his Pearson 422.  We have our own little corner of Pearson 42’s.

We have been going over our options and have decided it is time to head back and find a place to have our drive train checked out.  Just too many things are going on with it and we need it sorted out if we plan to continue this summer.  We had originally planned to be back by mid-April so we are not too far off of our plan.  We just didn’t plan on spending so much time in Nassau.  The rest of the Exumas will have to wait for next year.  Listening to the weather forecasts we think we will be starting back on Wednesday.