High ZZ’s Code Flags

Interesting word: shenanigans.   If you are thinking…well, BOORING!… this is just the same title as last year’s blog from there; well you are partially correct.   Webster’s definitions: tricky or questionable practices or conduct, and high-spirited or mischievous activity, are kind of like “Fun and Games”, the title of last year’s Georgetown blog.  But shenanigans seems to encompass much, much more, and is more suited to the things that happened at this year’s Cruisers Regatta.

Coconuts!

Yes, we did play “fun” volleyball this year, but we added beach golf.  Yes, we did participate in the Poker Run.  But so much more happened during our stay in Elizabeth Harbor, some questionable, some mischievous, that a better blog title was in order.  Volleyball was more fun than last year (for Shep).  Yes, “we” only won one game, same record as last year.  But, unlike last year, Deb and Shep were on separate teams; and Shep’s team beat Deb’s team, for a combined record of 1 and 9.  Beach golf was a hoot!  All pitch and no putt (80 yd. longest hole), it consisted of 9 holes, each a par 3, all shots are teed up, and the “hole” is a 10ft diameter, seaweed circle.  For the first time in Shep’s golfing career, he finished a “round” of golf in under par!!!  But he was just out of the sudden death playoff, as four others had 3-under 24’s.

Birdie!

Deb in form

Yes the Poker Run ended, much like last year, wet behind….err…I mean wet and behind.  It was a bit wet, not just from the requisite drink at each draw, as the wind made crisscrossing the harbor to the different bars wet in our soft dinghy.  And we were always behind; the last to arrive at most of the venues, due to our slow dinghy/small outboard.  Our poker hand was about the same as last year: 3,4,6,7,8,J,Q, all different suits.  They did not award a last place trophy, which should appropriately be a nearly empty roll of toilet paper (as in wiping up the rear); at least we could have used that to dry our wet behinds!  Unfortunately, we did not have visitors in Georgetown this year, so were unable to field a team for the coconut challenge.  What’s up with that peeps?  Come visit us while we are cruising…lodging is free!

Avg. G’town Day

But those shenanigans pale in comparison to the ones experienced at night, in the anchorages around the harbor, when the wind pipes up (30+ knots) and the wind direction changes rapidly (90 degree shifts in 5 minutes).  I am always, truly astounded, at the lack of anchoring skills amongst, otherwise, seemingly intelligent boaters.  Our friends Mark and Julie warned us not to anchor at Volleyball Beach, as someone always drags in the night.   But I am here to tell you that, no matter what the anchorage, Volleyball, Honeymoon, Hamburger, Sand Dollar, Monument…someone will drag in every anchorage because of questionable anchoring skills (shenanigans).

Visit to Shep’s Beach

Think 70 feet of rode in 20 feet of water is enough, a 3.5-1 ratio or what mariners call ”scope” in 30+ knots of wind?  Will it hold?   I have heard that scope quoted as what amount of anchor rode was put out.   Seven to 1 or 10 to one scope is recommended by every safe boating guide in the world.   Not so bad if the offending boats only put themselves in peril; but as they drag across the harbor, they bang into other boats and make a twisted mess out of anchor rodes.  Luckily, we dodged all the offending boats, but the cursing and shouting on the radio; can’t dodge that.  Anchoring 100 yards from a leeward shore with 40 kt gusts predicted…Admiral Deb would fire her captain.  Find a good tall bluff to windward and anchor behind that; you will get some sleep at night!   And what about all the boating course admonitions to back down, HARD, on your anchor with the engine to make sure you will stay put?  Most seem to let wind/current do what it will with the engine in neutral, pour a cocktail, and then just shut the engine down.  Are they mischievously trying to wake others up in the middle of the night by ramming them with their boats?   Knock on wood…we have only dragged once, and that was in 72kt gusts with nowhere to hide.  But really folks…try a bit harder to stay put.   And finally then, there is the simple matter of securing your dinghy/kayak/paddleboard to the mother ship.  Every morning in Georgetown we are greeted to questions on the radio about the whereabouts of someone’s lost watercraft.  Is it really that hard to provide your dinghy with two points of contact with your boat?  I guess when you get 300 cruising boats together in one place for a week or three, there are bound to be some shenanigans!

Poker Run Fun

Fish in a Hot Blue Hole at Rock Sound

   High ZZ’s in Fernandez Bay

With no disrespect to Tennessee Williams, our next island of call south, after Rock Sound, Eleuthera, is Cat Island.    It is an appropriate metaphor for a place that has no harbor of refuge.  Like its smaller “out islands” neighbors, Conception Island, San Salvador and Rum Cay, Cat Island has no harbors that are safe in all wind directions.  In fact, most offer protection in only 3 or 4 compass points (of the 16 principle points).   This lack of protection makes cruisers “as nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof”.   We had waited in Rock Sound for a favorable wind to visit Cat, and maybe Conception, but the window that we got was awfully narrow.   Maybe two or three days before another cold front penetrated the Bahamas; a new round of wind clocking around from North to East, to South and then West and back to North again.  A new place for us, another Maduro cigar for Shep, but the euphoria is short lived.  We are not inclined to enjoy anchoring for the night in 25kts of wind (gusts to 30) in an exposed place.  We chose Fernandez Bay as the/our best anchorage.  If you can tuck way in toward the east side, the cruising guides says it has N-NNE-NE-ENE-E-ESE-SE-SSE protection…Woo Hoo!  Eight Points!    I guess, only if you are talking about direct exposure to the wind-driven waves.  But the surge is the scourge!    Surge is waves of big-water swells created by big wind from one direction that wrap around points of land and change direction, generally into an otherwise calm anchorage.  Surge makes seemingly snug harbors very uncomfortable for all but the biggest vessels.  The surge from the NE wind on our first night makes us rock-and-roll, 60 degrees and we hardly sleep.  The next night the wind is SE and we get the same rock-and-roll treatment….not fun.   So much for the best protection on Cat Island.  After two uncomfortable nights, we get the really bad news from our weather guru, Chris Parker, during his 0630 weather broadcast on the SSB Radio:  the next night it will be SE wind going to S and then SW and going to W just before dawn.  Fernandez Bay will be completely open to wind and waves from the west.  We cry Uncle!  We decide to motor directly for the only really protected place on Cat Island:  Hawks Nest Marina.  It is up in a narrow creek, with the type of entrance that makes Hatchet Bay seem like child’s play.  Rocks to the right of us, coral to the left, here I am, stuck in the middle with Deb!

Deb on Hawks Nest Beach

Cat Island Starfish 3ft Dia. HUGE!

Beautiful place, Hawks Nest, with its own 3,000ft runway, guest cabins, restaurant, beach, swimming pool…   But we are like a ‘fish out of water” here.  The marina is full of 30-60ft sports fishing boats (read expensive…since copious amounts of diesel fuel, at $6 per gallon, is no problem for these guys); we are the only “rag boat”.  However, our neighbors are all nice, and we only need one night of protection, and, and, and, we don’t need any fuel!  We can do laundry, fill the water tanks, and take real hot showers with lots of water; not the usual splish-splash some water, turn it off and soap up, turn it on for a few seconds to rinse.  Unfortunately, the fishing has been poor (too much wind, they tell us, perhaps cursing rag boats under their breath), and we get no Mahi handouts that night.  The forecast is not good for a visit to Conception Island…we punt, and sail off to Georgetown.  The Cruisers Regatta shenanigans await.

Normal Size Starfish