Tag Archives: Chris Parker

Heck of a Storm

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IMG_1492We started back to Maine on Sunday and I had planned our route with much care. We would surely stop at Thunderball Cave where the snorkeling was fabulous but we didn’t have an underwater camera the first time we went. That was a no brainer, then there was Black Point; unparalleled laundry services, the best in the Bahamas without argument. Back to either Wardrick Wells or Cambridge in the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park to do a bit more snorkeling before heading out to Eleuthera. Eleuthera would involve no real pleasure stops just overnight anchorages on the way to the Abacos.

That was before Chris Parker announced the Heck of a Storm, Chris is the weather guru that all the cruisers listen to. It was too, a heck of a storm. It came in suddenly and even though we were expecting high winds we weren’t expecting this. We had, in fact changed our plans based on the info that was available, skipped Black Point which is open to the west and did laundry by hand. We anchored instead at Staniel Cay, between Big and Little Major Islands. In the Exumas there aren’t many places that have good protection from all sides and this storm was predicted to clock around and come from the west first and then swing all the way around to the East.

 

IMG_1489Sure enough we went to town in the early afternoon and just after we finished our ice cream and headed for the dinghy I noticed a rather foreboding looking cloudbank moving rapidly towards us. We grabbed the fuel tanks, filled them as fast as we could and jumped into the dinghy. Unfortunately we were already doomed. We’d dawdled too long watching the local fisherman feed nurse sharks and now we were in for it.

The winds were 15-20 directly at us as we hurled across the water towards Passages. We couldn’t even begin to stay dry. The waves were pushed towards us by the wind and broke and sprayed over the dinghy. With each boat length of progress we made the four of us got pelted with water, even with my sunglasses on I couldn’t see in front of us due to the buckets of saltwater that were covering my face. I wondered that Boyd could even see to stay on course. But we were making progress and it appeared to be in the general direction of the boat, until, about half way across the bay the dinghy engine stopped.

Yep, just like that, no more engine. The wind and the waves immediately turned us towards the shore. Ironically we were headed right for the sailboat that was ship wrecked in the bay before we arrived. Boyd tried valiantly to restart the dinghy outboard while Paul grabbed for the oars. Boyd being unsuccessful, Paul began to heave on the oars with all his might, to no avail. We just washed closer to the shore.

I was hoping that we could at least make it to the big catamaran anchored about 100 yards away but it quickly became apparent that there was no way to direct the boat with that much current and wind. Fortunately the owners of the catamaran saw our plight and jumped in their dinghy. They came and grabbed our painter and hauled us to their boat where Boyd was able to get the engine started.

By this time the wind had increased, we were all soaked to the bone and it had started to rain, hard, it felt like little bb’s in the wind. The couple on the cat, named Dances with Dolphins generously offered to let us stay and Nicole and I gratefully accepted. The guys however had to go on, to get back to Passages, in case the anchor dragged someone needed to be aboard to keep her from going aground.

Boyd and Paul returned to Passages with no further engine malfunctions, closed up against the wind, started the engine and stood ready for about an hour until the storm subsided some and the rain stopped. At that point Boyd came back and retrieved Nicole and I. The owners Dances with Dolphins were awful nice, in addition to rescuing us they gave Nicole and I clean dry towels to dry off with, jackets to warm up in and they even made a big bowl of popcorn as a snack.

Nicole played fetch endlessly with their little dog named Bailey and overall it was a nice enough time, considering it was a heck of a storm. Several other boats dragged in the storm but no one ran aground in our anchorage and the boat that was “outside” when the storm came in eventually made it in to safe harbor some time the next morning. I bet they have an even more interesting story to tell about their experience in the “heck of a storm”.

Magic Beans is Dragging

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The hail heard on the VHF is one no boater wants to hear, Magic Beans is dragging”. Nearly everyone, if they are on board of their vessel, pop their heads out of the companionway hatch to see if they can spot the affected boat. A high percentage of the anchorage who are near enough to spot the boat jump into their dinghies.

There is no coast guard here. Even in the states the Coast Guard, good as they may be, don’t respond this fast. Within seconds the first dinghy arrives with crew who jump aboard the boat that is dragging it’s anchor, yes today it really was a boat called Magic Beans. Within a couple of minutes (at the most) they are joined by a couple more dinghies and in less than 5 minutes the boat is surrounded by dinghies of all sizes and there are more captains than any boat should have.

Even though the boat is relatively close and we can easily see the action we don’t move to leave our boat. We are prepared instead to move our boat should it become necessary. Besides if any more people climb on this little sailboat it might just swamp.

It’s windy today, Chris Parker (the weather guru that nearly every cruiser in the Bahamas listens to has called it a Compression Zone. This term makes the cruisers shutter and put out more scope. It’s an area that is centered between to weather systems, the area between gets squeezed and the wind produced it often very high. That is, in fact. the case today and tomorrow and for the next couple of days we will get wind. It’s supposed to range between 25 and 35 knots, which is quite windy.

Magic Beans dragged anchor and at least a dozen dinghies responded in less than 5 minutes with crew and lines and pushed the offending boat away from the other boats who were still securely anchored but weren’t safe now that there was a boat dragging through the anchorage. In no time they secured the boat and either using engines or dinghy power had the boat turned around and headed back for it’s original spot.

The anchor hauled up and reset someone on the new “crew” donned a mask and snorkel and dove overboard to check the set of the anchor and make certain that the new anchor spot was better than the old one.

Once the boat was re-anchored and all involved were satisfied that the job was done right the crowd of dinghies and make shift crew dispersed and disappeared back into their own boats. All was quite again in the anchorage.