28 May 2009 | Green Turtle Cay
Mike
May 26... Bakers Bay, Great Guana to Green Turtle Cay
We left Bakers Bay around 9am and headed out the Ship Channel to round the Whale but then headed east out the Loggerhead channel to do some fishing. After an hour or so without a bite we headed back in the Whale channel and proceeded north to Green Turtle.
After some lunch, we dinghied in to "Pineapples" for a beer and then over to New Plymouth. The power was off on the island and it was hot. We're far enough south that the sun is amazingly hot when overhead. We spent the afternoon in town stopping at both groceries and a few other shops before heading back to the boats.
I made some sweet and sour sauce from some mango chutney and vinegar, cut up some peppers and onions and added it to some ham that I had and wrapped it all in foil. I added one can of pineapple and tossed it on the grill for about 30 minutes. It ended up being quite tasty.
We watched a movie before heading to bed.
At 2:30 I woke to lightening and a little rain. As I was shutting the hatches the wind picked up a little more so I went up to the cockpit to see the storm. The holding at Green Turtle isn't the best. On our way in we spotted an area of sand and dropped anchor in the middle. After backing down on it, I thought we were ok. There were about 6 other boats in the area but none of them were very close.
The wind was out of the SE at about 30k at this point but the storm was still coming so I remained in the cockpit. In just a couple of minutes, through the lightening flashes, it was apparent that a boat was dragging down on "Fine Lion." Someone was on deck with a head light frantically trying to get their anchor up. Another person was at the helm with their engine in reverse trying to head off a collision. With about one boat length to spare they got the anchor on deck and drove around to the NW, re-anchoring well down wind.
In a few minutes things began to subside a little so I went below to grab one of our side curtains and zipped it in place. The other one was up, but I hadn't been able to get the second one up in the wind.
With the wind back to about 20k, I went below and made a bed on the settee. Unfortunately in about 10 minutes the wind began to pick up again... as did the lightning. When I got to the cockpit the wind was shifting and within a minute it was 180 degrees from where it was during the first thunderstorm minutes ago. The rain picked up lowering visibility to about 100 feet and the wind was holding a 35 knots. This was the worst possible scenario for our poor anchor: marginal holding and a 180 degree shift in 35 knots. The boat that had dragged down on "Fine Lion" and re-anchored, was now sliding directly toward us. At this point I went below and got Kathy. It we had to take evasive action, she needed to help.
Once again there was action on their deck with someone scrambling to retrieve their anchor in the worst conditions. As they got themselves organized and on their way to re-anchor yet again we began to see gusts above 45k. I started the engine to take some pressure off the anchor if necessary, but left it in neutral for the time being.
With things under control for the moment and the GPS saying that we hadn't budged, I looked around during lightening flashes and "Fine Lion" was gone. I should have been able to see them but they were not where they were supposed to be.
I stayed at the helm with an eye on the GPS and watched the storm. It was taking forever to get past us. After about 20 minutes I got a glimpse of nav lights to our port well off. In the next flash I verified the shape as "Fine Lion" - they where doing slow circles to the west, waiting for things to abate to the point where they could re-anchor.
I went below at 4:30, dried off and spread out on the settee. It had been 2 hours of 35 knot winds gusting at times to over 60. Our anchor had held .... even with a 180 degree wind shift, and we were no worse for wear.