*please excuse any typos but was written in a hurry. Will post about rest of crossing later.
There are, hopefully, few times in your life you pray you never relive. The night I am writing about is one of those nights.
We arrived at Walker's Cay to clear customs around 8:30 in the morning. Walker's Cay is no longer inhabited except for a grounds keeper. The island, which was once a beautiful resort has fallen into disrepair after being hammered by hurricanes over the years. It is for sale and rumor has it that it is under contract. It was eerie. I imagined one of those ghost towns you hear about where the people just vanish, leaving behind the little mundane signs of life (TV blaring, glass of milk on the table, faucet running).
Anyway, I am digressing. The water was crystal clear, it was warm, sunny and although we had had no sleep, life was good.
The customs officer arrived by dinghy around noon and cleared us in no problem. Ben asked him if he could pick a coconut and we were told to make ourselves at home. Ben did not get a coconut, but I picked a BEAUTIFUL bougainvillea bouquet, which sparked up the main salon. After clearing customs, O and Sam took a nap. Ben and I swam off the boat, ate oranges and talked about the meaning of Thanksgiving. It was so nice to sit out in the WARM sun with no noise other than the water hitting the dinghy, and talk to Ben. I couldn't have asked for a better arrival.
When O woke around 4:00 we decided that due to the forecasted wind we needed to find someplace a little more protected. Grand Cay was about 7 miles from Walkers and from the charts looked to offer protection from the 20/25 kt NE wind that was predicted. We arrived at Grand Cay in just over an hour. The chart we had was not very good(nobletec) so I stood on the foredeck looking for coral while O wound his way into the cove VERY SLOWLY. The harbor was virtually empty other than three boats anchored, two of which were abandoned. We decided that because of the narrowness of the harbor and the coral surrounding the entire harbor, we needed to put two anchors out. After forty minutes of setting and resetting, we were secure and happy with our set up.. We finished by backing down several times and she held tight.
Once anchored, I made dinner. We were actually able to eat comfortably in the cockpit which was nice and we were happy not to be underway. O and I hadn't had any sleep in the last seventy two hours so we were all EXHAUSTED. I crashed around 7:30 and O put the kids to bed shortly after. He then put the dinghy up, looked around and came to bed. Around 10:00, Sam started crying so O went in and laid with him for a while and returned around 11:00. At 11:15 we heard something that sounded like a train or helicopter above our boat! We JUMPED Up and SPRINTED OUT ON DECK. The wind was blowing like NEITHER of us have EVER seen before. We had to struggle to see and move. We were crashing into one of the abandoned boats at the end of the harbor. I started pushing the boats apart while O got the fenders. We tried to get the fenders between the boats because with the strong winds we couldn't physically move them. After what seemed like an eternity, but in reality was about five minutes, the wind subsided to 30 kts and we were able to push the other boat off of us, where it settled about 10 feet in front of our bow. We ran back to cockpit to regroup. Once inside, I told O that I had noticed Sam's gate was down and we needed to secure it before we went back out. O ran down to secure it and SCREAMED to me that Sam was not in his bed. He ran into our room and I ran into Sam's cabin. We had left the cockpit doors open when we ran on deck. Thankfully, Sam had crawled into our bed. We both had a feeling which I hope I never experience again. At that point I was shaking. I was just so thankful Sam was in our bed
We both took a huge deep breath and went back up on deck, regroup and start the engines. At first we assumed the other boat had dragged down on us, because we were confident with two anchors out and 7/1 scope on both. We did know that we were almost on the rocks, according to our Nobletec we were approx. 72 yards from the rocks and 77yards on the other side. The wind was still blowing 30 gusting to 35, but compared to what it had been those speeds seemed like nothing. Here is what we knew, we were next to the rocks hung up on another boat or vice versa, it was 11:30 PM, there was no moon we could not see 15 feet in front of us, we were in a strange harbor that we had not explored by light, and we had not had more than four hours of sleep in the past thirty five hours. So, we kept the engines on, made a strong pot of coffee and tried to figure out WHAT we were going to do while staying somewhat rational and calm.
We couldn't know what to do until we knew what was happening with the anchors. We found it hard to believe they had both dragged so we launched the dinghy and O went around to try to push the other boat away from us. However, when he came across the anchors he found that BOTH of our anchors were free and literally just hanging over the other boats line! Essentially, this abandoned boat with an underground garden growing on its bottom and broken windows, upside down furniture and garbage was holding us off of the rocks. My god, what are the chances of it holding, probably pretty good considering it looked like it had been sitting there for a good long while but we could not be sure. To describe the desperation we felt is really difficult. We sat up all night trying to come up with a plan, checking our distance from the rocks and checking depth ( I had forgotten to mention that we kept swinging between .09 and 0.0 ft on our depth sounder and the tide was going out, so we were sure we were going to be aground by morning) and brain stormed, or just stressed out. We tossed around tying off to him and unraveling our anchors to reset them. However, the problem was the wind was howling and by coming up beside him we would have created more windage, possibly pulling his anchor out and sending us all on the rocks. Then we thought maybe we could unravel one of our anchors and reset it, but didn't want to chance the other breaking free with me trying to navigate the area at night with one anchor still tangled up on this abandoned boat. We had no means of communication or I would have called Marco, our Naval Consigliere, because we could not figure out what to do. We did know that if we broke free and didn't get Indy in gear fast enough we would smash on the rocks or at the least we would run aground which we thought might help us, unless the boat in front of us smashed into us while we were aground. The scenarios went back and forth and the clock SLOWLY ticked by. I sometimes felt as if time was standing still.
We ended up deciding to stay tangled to the boat in front of us, as O kept saying "if it ain't broke don't fix it at least until you can see was is broke!" O lashed our anchor lines to the other boats anchor line so it wouldn't jump off during a high gust and we kept running the engines. Eventually we had to turn off the engines because we were almost aground and didn't want to get sand in the intake and to make matters worse, we were almost out of fuel! To say this was awful would be an understatement. We were convinced it was only a matter of time before it all broke free. O kept saying that at least we are all healthy, which is VERY true, but it's bleak when you have to start trotting that out.
Around 6:00 it started to get light, the kids woke up and we had lasted the night. We decided that it was best to come alongside of him and tie off while O unraveled the anchors. I wanted to get help from town but O thought we could do it, which I am sure we could have, but an extra set of hands was insurance and we had already tempted fate enough. O went in and got some help from a fishing boat that was tied up. Ray was local and a godsend. He first told us that the abandoned boat was on a mooring (an old engine block actually) and was not going anywhere as it had weathered a few hurricanes, hence the appearance. We just tied up to the back of the boat while O and Ray freed our anchors, which took seconds. I felt like crying I was so grateful. Ray then led us to the front of the harbor (which had no depths on our chart) and told us where to drop the anchor (in a big sand circle). We then set our other anchor as well. He declared us 'not going anywhere'. What a relief. No smashed up boat, no insurance claims, just Indy at anchor safe and sound.
Word on the dock was that a mini twister had come through. At least that was what had been reported on the local TV. One guy had recorded a gust of 64 kts and they all said they had never seen anything like it short of a hurricane. A couple lessons were learned that night.

Never anchor around dusk as it's too hard to see and you don't have time to familiarize yourself with the lay of the land before dark.

Set the anchor to the predicted wind angle not the current one.
In the Bahamas, always dive on the anchor to check if it is set, it can't hurt.

The abandoned boat saved us. The odds against our anchors tangling on his mooring are incredible. I am not a religious person, but I do believe that the people in our life that do pray for us were heard.

After all of that, I just wanted to go ashore and have a big breakfast, regroup and start again. We went ashore and found the local restaurant. It was empty except for the staff that just stared at us. Finally, one of the women shuffled out wearing a big purple satin shower cap and acting pretty put out recited the menu. I thought the prices were a little too high so we decided to walk around.
The island consisted of two sidewalks going in different directions. There are no cars on the island but a few have golf carts. Someone stopped in their golf cart and asked us where we were going. We said we were looking for breakfast and just walking around. He ordered us in and said he had just the place. He stopped at a restaurant that was clearly closed, he then got out and went to a couple of different houses looking for someone. He found Maxine and told her we wanted breakfast. She came over and asked what we would like, we asked about a menu she asked what we would like. So Maxine opened her restaurant and made us eggs, toast, ham and bacon. It was wonderful. Maxine was a welcoming, gentle friendly hostess. After the night we had just had she was a welcome reprieve.
After breakfast we took the kids back to the boat and O took them to look for a beach while I got some sleep. Shockingly, it was too windy and chilly on the beach so they came back and we all napped.
Afterwards we went ashore and found the school yard where all the kids were still playing. Their jungle gym was in a state of disrepair from previous hurricanes so the kids ran around. The local kids were playing cricket and I was encouraging Ben to play but he was too shy. Finally, a bunch of kids came over to him and next thing we knew they were all playing together, with Sammy trailing behind. The children on the island have very little but they appreciate what they do have. The were wonderful joyous children and a pleasure to be around. As we were walking back to the boat, kids were running by us saying 'bye Ben' or 'goodnight Ben' it was adorable and Ben felt a part of something.
I was just happy that this terrible, awful, no good,very bad day was finally coming to an end.

Saturday, we happily left Grand Cay for a secluded island we had read about called Powell Cay. It was a seven hour run and we wanted to make sure we anchored in plenty of light so we left bright and early. We were having a nice run here except that when we tacked the gib did not move across and ended up ripping on the spreaders...we just cannot get a break!
Upon arrival we anchored safe and sound, dived on the anchor all was secure. We stayed there for a few days enjoying the solitude and white sand beaches. It was a wonderful spot..just what the dr ordered. I am posting from Green Turtle Cay where we are anchored for the night before heading off to Marsh Harbor.
We need to get our sail fixed and we need to get a handle on the SSB we can't get weather or email.
I will post again soon about the gulf stream crossing.