Aground feb 23 - more later

blog 2-28-11
Feb 23

We picked up our friends and set sail for allan’s Cay once again.  This time it would prove to be not as pleasurable for some.

The leaving the dock was uneventful which is always good. This time we had no wind absolutely none, which is always good for a new crew.  We don’t know if they will get sea sick or not so this is a good way to get your feet wet yet it is boring motoring 6 hours.

We got there half way down the tide swing. (3.8 feet total – not like in Maine 12 feet!)

 

I wanted to get close to the shore so we could just swim to the beach. It is a narrow area that runs next to the shore.  As we approached very slowly, I noticed that where I thought we could be was not in the 7foot water area… I recognized this… just before I thru it into reverse I remembered the dinghy line needs to be taken in so as to not get it stuck in the propeller. As I reached back Ben jumped up to take in the line. Little did he know that I needed to back up NOW!! I had a speed boat (a big one right too close to my tail… I had an anchored sailboat to the port… I needed to spin around in a tight spot so I don’t go aground…

 

Oh wait … back up … as we entered the tight cay Ben says with his happy voice, “Ya haven’t sailed the Bahamas until you have gone aground.” I answered with my serious voice, “I really don’t want to go aground!”

 

And so here we are in a tight spot.  As I back up, Ben was looking bewildered and funny, he yelled, “stop” it was too late the dinghy line had gotten stuck under the boat’s propeller, pulled the line out of Ben’s hands so fast as to make a small burn like feeling in his hands… the engine seized to a stop and poof we ran aground.  The current was pretty strong through the small cut and our boat went sideways to the current and the full keel plowed a bit of sand on one side until she stopped.

 

Ben jumped in the water to cut the line from the propeller while the anchored boat so graciously moved out of our way.  Well I would do the same … if I saw a boat stuck next to me and when the tide comes up it might let loose on me – yup – I’d move too.

 

Ok it is 4pm the tide is half way down… in the time it took to access the situation and dive down to look. We were probably 4 inches stuck with a big sand pile up on the down current side. Ben said, ‘welp we are stuck here” meanwhile… I’m thinking can’t we power off of this? Ben’s calm and happy-go-lucky and he says that the tide will come up and we will get off.  I’m thinking yeah but how far and how far does a boat like this tip when the tide goes down a foot or so?  We both know that people actually anchor their boat close to shore during a tide so that the boat will tip and then they clean one side of barnacles; then they wait for the tide to do it again and tip the boat the other way.

 

Every 6 hours the tide moves up and down.  We just happen to be on the down.  So 4pm and aground we did nothing – which was funny that it went against what I thought we should do. I thought we should do something and try to get the boat unstuck, I think we could have done it. And this time Ben was fine with just waiting for the tide to drop then come up again.

 

Soooo we put on a good attitude. (The best I can do. I think I should get points for trying to have a good attitude and if you did not know me you would have no clue that I’M STRESSED. But If you are Ben then you know I’m stressed.  And if you are me all I can do is fake it till I make it. Oh and of course send big prayers up to the heavens) so in the spirit of good attitude I wanted my guests to have fun but in no way did I want to leave the boat unanchored. So I asked Ben if he would stay with the boat while I and the guests swam to shore.  He was fine with that.

 

Victoria and Josh and Connie and myself went swimming and snorkeling.  It was josh’s first time and I think he is hooked. Victoria was a little fish that could not get enough of it. All good times were to be had.  We fed the iguanas – just 3 small spinage so as to not upset their ecosystem. We walked a bit on the beach and swam back.  Then Ben went back into the water to enjoy himself.  All the while the boat is tipping but surprisingly not too much.

 

We guess that the tide will be up enough around 8:30 – 9:30.  We all ate dinner about 8. We all sat on the up tipped side at the salon table.  After dinner Ben went out to check the keel… we got up, he walked to the other side of the boat where the ladder is and we screamed as things came crashing from one side of the boat to the other, Ben was on the ladder on the down current side to see how far the water line was and he was so confused as to why we yelled a short burst and why are his pants wet? The weight of his body and the moving of the people after eating was enough weight to push us off that pile of built up sand on the starboard side and the boat all at once tipped sideways. 

 

It felt like a lot but really when we sail sometimes we are healed over that far.  But we did not know what to do since we have never done this before. I was concerned we would tip further and I was mad at myself for not atleast trying to back us off the sand bar.  We all huddled in the cockpit as we leaned a good amount and laughed and told stories and watched the depth meter rise slowly until we were almost even.  Ben and I stayed up till we felt the boat bounce on the bottom then it was time to quick move the boat to a deeper place… in the dark… eeeek!

 

I had the big spot light in front of the boat as we made our way through a few boats.  Then we anchored between two boats. Although at night it is hard to figure distances.  I knew we were really close to the shore but our anchor seemed good.

 

We set the anchor alarm for a tight 30 feet swing. It went off and Ben went up. It was a sleepless night for me as I then checked our position a few times. I finally woke ben up at 6:00ish thinking if I’m going to be up most of the night it is time he can wake up and sit here with me watching the shore so close we could touch it.  Ok well it was 30 feet away.

 

WE got up and had a nice short sail to Highbourne Cay where we sit and Ben and Victoria are sleeping, Connie and Josh are reading, and I have emailed and now am blogging but have no way to send it until I get wifi. Unless – oh unless I hot sync it with my iphone… I’ll try that.



Tada! I can now sync with my laptop to my iPhone then send to blogspot so I can write longer blogs and more often. here is the first try. Smile Pam