A Souvenir from Grace in the Bahamas
26 March 2014 | West End, Grand Bahama Island
Debbie
Shortly after 8:30 AM on Friday, the 21st of March, we hauled anchor, sailing for three hours, and then motor-sailing with the mainsail for another five hours, during which the above shot was taken. We dropped the mainsail before heading into the narrow channel toward Indian Rock. Two dolphin swam near Grace along the passage. We poked our nose around West End, this being our first time there, checking out the conditions at the anchorages to both the left and right of the breakwater entrance, and looking at the first canal beyond the marina before deciding to anchor outside the breakwater to the left of the entrance channel. We arrived within an hour of low tide, which meant calm conditions that changed soon as the strong current opposed the wind. Amidst getting a bite to eat and VHF radio contact with a vessel in distress about ten miles away from West End, the anchorage became less settled. With good intentions, we tried to get some rest; however, the increasing volume of the anchor rode being stretched and slapped against Grace's hull (think: Bass Cello string over-tightened and being plucked) kept Kevin up more than down, checking on things. Finally, at midnight-thirty, the rode had stretched its last, and in less than sixty seconds Kevin had ascended to the bow, retrieving the now slack remainder of line, and we promptly got the engine and electronics fired up. Following our bread-crumb tracks on the chart-plotter from the earlier, we moved to the right side of the entrance channel, dropped another anchor from within our arsenal, knowing that the outboard motor was still not at its best for use with the dinghy, agreed that the anchor and chain left on the bottom of the ocean had served us well over the years, and got little rest in the rolley-ness of the new location, which we stayed secured to the bottom of until the alarm we set sounded at 5:00 AM.