Thompson Bay, Long Island — 01•06•22
Calabash became very rolly, with the wave wrapping around the island. So with the wind pointing Trouble one way but the rollers were coming on the beam (side of the boat), it made for a very uncomfortable anchorage. So I pulled anchor and headed south to Thompson Bay about 18 nautical miles.
I dropped anchor near where I had dropped anchor last year. Planning to be here for at least a few days, I settled in as some weather fronts were coming in.
A fellow cruiser stopped by to chat and we ended up going to “Tiny’s” for some Pizza and Kalic beers. Pretty good pizza and plenty of leftovers for lunch the next day.
Musical Chairs — 01•11•22
I moved Trouble across the bay to be ready for the Northerly front coming in the next day. I was a little too early as the wind picked up more than I expected. So I ended up moving back to where I was. In between this musical chairs circus, I took Trouble out of the bay to dump the wastewater and make water (Desalinate saltwater to fresh).
Marl Issues — 01•13•22
In the morning I moved the boat again, as the wind was shifting. I put the anchor down in the northwest side of the bay. It didn’t seem to bite really well, so I dove on the anchor. It was in about 3 inches of sand with marl under it. Marl is basically hard pack with a small layer of sand over it. I left it for now as I had a lot of chain out and the wind was still pretty light. I’d move Trouble out before nightfall just to be safe.
Anchor Alarm!
I always set an anchor alarm. This is a circle around the anchor on the Chartplotter. An alarm will sound if the boat goes outside this circle.
I was down below doing some computer work when the wind picked up and the dreaded anchor alarm starts blaring. Jumping up, I looked at the chart plotter and sure enough, Trouble had dragged anchor about 50 feet. I went out and started the engines. This procedure can take a full minute to do, with preheating the diesel engines. I kept an eye on the boat behind me I was moving towards, but I figured I had a couple of minutes before it got close. When the engines roared to life, I put them in forward and maneuvered the boat forward a bit. I still need to get the anchor up, and with the wind picking up, this can be a handful be yourself.
The anchor came up easily as it was not biting into anything, but just dragging along this Marl.
I repositioned the boat in deeper water further out. The anchor went down and seem to bite a bit better into the ground. I dove on the anchor and it looked pretty good. Also, the wind started to veer around so if I did start dragging again I would not be dragging into shore or other boats.
Northerly Fatigue
We had a few large gusts of wind over 30 knots, and Trouble seemed to be holding fine so I was a little less worried. The Northerlys that come though the Bahamas typically have the wind clock around in a clockwise direction from E,SE,S,SW,W,NW,N,NE. So finding a good spot to be safe from all these winds can be tough. I was protected from the worst of the wind – NW through NE. I just had to endure the SW-W winds. These go through pretty fast, usually in about 4 hours.
Trouble held nicely through the worst of it, with lots of wind and rain. Constantly looking at the weather, anchor, and wind strength become the daily (and nightly) routine. While tiring, you know it will all pass eventually.
Dreaming of The Jumentos — 01•15•22
While Long Island is nice, with a good grocery store and a few restaurants, I am dreaming of the remote islands in The Jumentos. It looks like I won’t be able to get down there till February as the cold fronts are coming one after the other. This can be the norm in the Bahamas in January. The Jumentos have very little protection from these storms so I’m a little apprehensive to get down there till the weather settles a bit.
I’ll just waste away my days here waiting for the next few weeks, playing musical chairs, doing laundry, and catching up on some boat projects. I can’t complain too much as Minnesota is getting snow, and I’d take dealing with these storms more than shoveling snow or scraping ice off of windshields.