Rum Deficiency and the Big Flood

November 1 - 7, 2007

Thursday, November 01, 2007 - Cave Cay Marina, Cave Cay, Exumas
By Tom

No such luck, if anything, the wind picked up over night and this morning we had 40 knots sustained out of the due south. The wind is kicking up quite a swell even in our marina, but the boat is safe if not comfortable.

No weather was readable for the second morning in a row. We also haven't been able to get on the internet either, so we're still working off of 24 hour old weather intel. Hopefully the atmosphere will clear up a little and we can catch the 7 pm report from Chris on SSB 8136.

The rain continues coming down in sheets and we're both confined to the boat with the hatches dogged down tight and the boat rocking pretty hard here in the slip. Our activities were confined to book reading and movie watching, most of which was done lying horizontal so as to minimize the effects of the rocking motion.

The last four days have been so bad it makes us wonder what the hell we're doing out here on a forty foot clorox bottle being bounced around a harbour that we are paying 70 bucks a night for the privilege. And to add insult to injury, we are out of rum! Shitty death! Things are getting so bad on board that I've had to switch over to gin martinis as that is the only thing we all the requisite parts for.

And for the record, I prefer mine shaken, not stirred.

Ok, nothing more to report, except we need better weather in a desperate way. Later.

Friday, November 02, 2007 - Big Harbour, Little Farmers Cay, Exumas
By Tom

Well, the weather finally broke over night and we awoke to light north west winds at a whopping 6 knots. We settled up our bill with Cedric, who provided us with a large 11 by 8 glossy photo of Dream Catcher tied up to the dock. See picture of picture at right.

We waited until 11 am to slip the dock lines so that when we arrived back at Farmer's, we'd have a better than half tide so that we can slide over the bar that protects the anchorage. It was a short 3 mile motor up and we had the hook down and the boat to bed by noon.

We launched our dinghy and headed in to town where we scored 10 gallons of fresh water as well as two bottles of rum and three beers. Mmm beer. While in town, we ran into our friend Jeffery who was returning with 7 of his fish traps that he was unable to retrieve before the storm set in.

If you've never seen them, fish traps are large, plastic coated steel mesh boxes about 7 feet by 7 feet by 3 feet and they have an opening on one side that allows fish to swim in to feed on the bait that is suspended in a smaller box at the center of the trap.

Anyway, I gave Jeffery a hand emptying his traps and we ended up with about 150 small pan fish, 8 or 10 good sized Groupers, 1 monster School Master Snapper and 1 lobster. One of Jeffery's buddies was also present and the two of them proceeded to scale and gut all of the fish except one large Nassau, which they filleted for me and Amy as a present. Fish presents rock in my book.

We returned to our boat around 3 pm and stowed our fish in the freezer section. Amy laid down for a nap and I sat in the cockpit with the weasels enjoying the fact that for the first time in 5 days, the boat was absolutely still. Yay! Of course the ferrets were so disoriented by the sudden calm that all day long they seemed to be listing slightly to the left as if to compensate for the violent rocking motion of the past few days. Poor weasels.

Anyhow, Amy woke up around 5 and I grilled 2 steaks and a couple of shrimp for dinner. Afterwards, Amy went up front to read a book and I surfed the internet and worked on our website. Around 8 pm we packed the weasels into their house and retired for the evening.

Tomorrow we hope to raise the spinnaker and head down the backside of Great Exuma. Stay tuned.

Saturday, November 03, 2007 - Rocky Point, Great Exuma, Exuma
By Tom

We were up, fed and underway by 10 am. I'd have liked to have gotten an earlier start, but we had to wait for the tide to come in to clear the bar and leave the anchorage. As it was, bumped bottom twice getting over the bar, but it was in the muddy section, not the rocky one, so we were able to proceed without incident.

Today's destination was Rocky Point, some 35 miles distant. The wind was out of the north at 10-12 knots and since we were heading due south, we threw up the spinnaker and took off. It was a great run down hill the whole day. We averaged 6.5 knots with our best speed being just a tick over 7. We even had a helicopter show up about noon and hover over us for 15 minutes while they took pictures of our boat under sail.

Of course, since it was a D.E.A helicopter, they may have been checking us for drugs, but I like to think they were just impressed with our sail handling abilities.

Anyhow, we had to jibe the spinnaker once, but other than that it was an uneventful day. By 4 pm we were tucked up underneath a couple of unnamed cays right past Rocky Point and called it a day. Dinner was a lobster linguine fiesta and we shared the last of our rum from Farmer's in an after dinner drink. To bed early in anticipation of getting an early start.

Sunday, November 04, 2007 - Volley Ball Beach, George Town, Exumas
By Tom

I was up an weighing anchor by 5:45 this morning. The sun was just starting to lighten the southern sky as we set the main sail and the full genoa and set off for Hog Cay cut at the south end of Little Exuma some 40 miles away.

After two hours we reached Jewfish Cut, which for those interested is a much, much easier pass than Greene Turtle cut which we used last time we were here. We sailed through Jewfish at 9 knots and came up hard on the wind for the twenty five mile ride down to Hog Cay.

Four hours later we were off Hog Cay cut. It was only 1:45 pm, so we decided to head through the cut and just sail back to G'town today rather than wait until tomorrow. I'd like to tell you this decision was made due to weather or some other really nautical sounding wisdom, but mostly it was because we are out of rum. Sad, but true.

We rolled in the head sail and fired up the motors long enough to safely get through the cut, but once we were on the other side, it was back to sail power. The wind was blowing a solid 18 - 20 knots just aft of the beam, so we went with 50% of the head sail and the full main as we headed north back to Georgetown. The boat behaved well in the 5 to 8 foot seas, but I had trouble keeping her under 8 knots. At least it was a quick ride up.

We rounded North Channel rock at 2:45 and were soon inside the protection of Elizabeth Harbour. An hour later we had sailed up to Volleyball Beach and we dropped the hook from under sail in 12 feet of water. Normally we would have gotten into a shallower spot, but Bo on Free Spirit was in our normal anchoring spot. Damn it Bo! Just kidding.

As a general rule, anchoring is always first come, first served. As an aside, you may be refused anchoring rights if you have no shirt or shoes. Did I say that out loud? It must be the rum deficiency.

Anyhow, we got the boat put to bed and launched the dinghy. We headed into St. Francis for some grub and a beer. The usual suspects were loitering around and when word got out of our return, poker players began swarming. By 6 pm we had 8 players and an impromptu game was born.

For the record, Amy was 2nd and Charlie was the big wiener. We were back on the boat around 9 pm and to sleep by 9:01. The ship's log showed us covering 51 miles today at an average speed of 6.8 knots. Top speed was recorded at 12.5 and that was close hauled with full sail in a 24 knot gust surfing down the face of a solid 5 footer

Tuesday, November 06, 2007 - Hamburger Beach Anchorage, George Town, Exumas
By Tom

We slept in this morning and no one was awake before 8 am. The weasels and I got online and caught up on web work and then shared some peanut butter crackers. Amy joined us around 9 and the day began.

First up on our list was to hit town and get some supplies. The wind was up over 20 knots, so we opted to move the big boat to Hamburger Beach and then I took the dinghy, the trash and the water jugs into town. The ride over wasn't bad, but the ride back sucked.

Town life was way down due to all the flooding from the hurricane. Most businesses were open, but no freighters had been able to reach town since last Thursday due to the extreme conditions. To say the least, pickings were slim at the market.

While I was unable to procure veggies, rest assured I was able to get plenty of rum, beer and whiskey. The crew (at least me and the weasels) are happy once again. While in town, I talked to several Bahamians who confirmed that the flooding currently going on is the worst in the history of the Bahamas. Literally, entire roads have been buried under 6 or 7 and even 8 feet of standing water.

The flooding is so bad that the airport had to shut down. It's currently impossible to get from the south end of the island to the north side without air support. The Four Seasons resort was evacuated because of flooding and the guests (who pay $600 a night) were delivered to the airport in the back of a dump truck, because it was the only vehicle on the island able to ford the standing water. You absolutely cannot believe how much water there is here.

Anyhow, back on the boat Amy helped me store the provisions and then we set about doing boat chores. For me this meant fixing the crack in our co-pilot seat in the cockpit. To do this, I ground down the broken area with some sand paper and then laid up four layers of fiberglass. I set chair aside to dry and then tackled the pivot mechanism on our dinghy outboard.

Ever since Farmer's last week, I have been unable to lift the motor out of the water when not in use. To correct this, I used a hammer and lots of Lithium grease. Needless to say, I showed the outboard my power and we can now raise our motor again.

Back on the boat, Amy was cleaning and organizing all of our food cabinets. By two o'clock we were both done working and retired to the cockpit for a rum drink. A little later, Amy took her drink forward to our cabin and promptly fell asleep. I was left with the weasels and the three of us decided to watch Mission Impossible 3.

Amy woke up from her nap around 5 and we decided to go up to St. Francis for the regularly scheduled poker night. We had a pre-poker pizza and then ran herd over an 11 person, 1 table game in which Amy placed third, I was second, and a visiting Brit named Nipple won. I think Nipple was a nickname, but I'm not sure.

We were home by 10 and to bed shortly after as we have more chores on tap for tomorrow.

Wednesday, November 07, 2007 - Hamburger Beach Anchorage, George Town, Exumas
By Tom

I was back up at it by 6 am this morning, mostly because this time change thing really has me confused. It was starting to get light this morning at 4:55 and that's way to early to loose the weasels.

By 9 am I had finished sanding down my fiberglass work on the beach so as to minimize the mess on board. Amy finished up her yoga about the same time and we met up back on the mother ship for a quick dip and then breakfast grilled cheesies.

After breakfast, I remounted the chair and it seems to be much better, but we will need actual sea conditions to test it. Post chair installation, I made another trip into town to get more groceries as well as more water. While in town, I ran into an arriving Eric and Susan fresh from Ohio. They had to make an emergency trip down as their boat tried to sink during the last storm.

We have been watching out for their boat and dinghy, but we were out and about when the storm hit and weren't able to help their boat. Fortunately, Greg and George from Saint Francis came to the rescue and used a high volume pump to remove the 5 plus inches of water from the inside of Elysia.

In spite of the circumstances, it was great to see Eric and Susan again after their 7 month absence. Unfortunately, they will only be hear until next Tuesday, so we won't be able to spend too much time together, but still it's good to see them.

Around noon I was back at the boat and Amy and I put away the newly purchased groceries. Afterwards, I turned my attention to our head. The pump has been acting up and since we had a replacement on board, I thought now was a good time to replace it.

Of course, that was easier said then done. Once I removed the old pump, it became apparent that the base plate that the pump mounts to was shattered beyond repair. Shitty death! Literally.

We don't have the parts on board to effect repairs, so I took the dinghy back into town and got online to order an entire new toilet form West Marine via Reggie's Express in Fort Lauderdale. After three hour, I was successfully able to get my ducks in a row and we now have our parts coming in on tomorrow's flight.

Back on the boat, we joined Eric and Susan on the beach for some two on two volleyball. It was great to be playing again although we were all a little out of practice. After three games we called it a day and returned to our boats to shower off and clean up.

For dinner we made hamburgers on the grill and French fries. We watched the sunset over a few cocktails in the cockpit and then retired for the night after a long day. Tomorrow we hopefully make the trek to the airport and retrieve our new head. Believe me when I say not having a functional head in your house(or sailboat) sucks ass.

Thursday, November 08, 2007 - Volley Ball Beach, George Town, Exumas
By Tom

I got up early this morning and moved the boat down to Volleyball Beach so we could be closer to Eric and Susan and lend a hand getting their boat back together if needed. I had the hook back down and the boat secure by 6:15. For the record, it was light enough to see by 4:47 this morning.

The weasels and Amy joined the land of the living by 7 am. Amy took her kayak for a spin around the harbour and I wrestled with Mila and Milo. Post exercise, I had Amy help me get the outboard up onto the big boat so I could take the carburetor apart yet again. Yesterday it died on me half way across the harbour. I got it to restart after 5 minutes or so, but we can't have that kind of behavior from our outboard. Don't make me get the hammer!

The rebuild and cleanup took 2 hours, but in the end everything seemed to be fine. In the afternoon, Amy and Eric left in Eric's dinghy to go to the airport to get our head. Eric needed 24 quarts of oil for his big boat and since the NAPA store is on the way, they decided to car pool.

Unfortunately, Eric's dinghy died half way across the harbour and they had to get a tow back to our boat from KB (Chat and Chill owner). By the time we got everything sorted out, it was too late to get to the airport, so we postponed the trip until tomorrow morning.

Speaking of the airport, due to the torrential rains that Hurricane Noel brought, the airport can only land planes in the daytime. Supposedly, the tower that has all of the night time lights and equipment shorted out and will take at least a month to fix. Adjust your travel plans accordingly.

Anyhow, Eric and Susan wanted to go to poker night, so we took our dinghy and towed their dinghy over to St. Francis for the 6 o'clock card game. We had 8 players show up and when the dust settled, George from St. Francis was the big winner.

We towed Eric and Susan back home and then returned to our boat and were asleep by 10 pm