On April 14th, the day after Easter, we went about 12 miles to White Sound at Great Turtle Cay. It is a very nice resort area spread over the bays of the cay and a settlement that has a very old time feel with nice stores, schools and more of the ubiquitous golf carts. We had breakfast at the bakery/restaurant in the settlement then went into Black Sound to Pineapples bar and grill where we did internet and had a snack.
The first night was ok but Tuesday night a storm passed through starting just about 10 while we had Sheila and Chris from Never Bored plus her brother Berk and friend Jim plus Penny and George from Star Shot and Gary from Sia Sinana. We were monitoring the VHF radio and heard that the storm was imminent so we adjourned the party so everyone went home to take care of their boats. Shortly thereafter the rain started and my neighbor asked me to let out more anchor rode because he felt we were to close. It turns out he was dragging because just as the rain started pelting and the wind came up he was screaming at us to start our engine and drive off although his boat "Whiskers" was drifting into us over our anchor but we were holding. He started panicking in earnest yelling out orders, driving his boat crazily while his anchor was still fouled and his rode under his and our boat. Ann would not put the boat in gear with and danger of fouling plus we could not go anywhere as long as his anchor was fouled on ours. Ed managed to pull his anchor up, it had fouled with grass, and throw it clear of our boat. It was woefully inadequate, a too small Danforth versus a good Fortress he also had on the bow. He then proceeded to start to drive on our port side though his anchor was on the starboard side so we screamed at him to stop before he really wound our anchors again or his anchor grabbed pulling his boat into ours. He then almost hit our stern and our davits. Finally he went back to port so Ed jumped in the dinghy went to his boat and asked him whether he wanted assistance with his anchor. Ed then pulled it in for him and after one false attempt at setting it, a friend of his offered a raft-up to his boat which he did with no problem. Yea, because we could finally rest easy.
So today all the boats in the area agreed we had done nothing wrong, that there was no way that our chain could have dislodged his anchor and that we had done the right thing by focusing on the solution rather than the problem including making sure that Whiskers was safely secured for the night. Of course, the 83 year old guy insists that we caused the problem and that his anchor was not the problem. We moved to an isolated spot today and so did he though we aren't enemies we do disagree. Again he insisted on using the Danforth plus is back to yelling at other boats about how they should anchor and how much rode he has out. One has to watch out in crowded anchorages. End of story.
We went to the ocean beach to snorkel and walk today. I went about a 1/4 mile to the reef but saw some pretty coral but no large fish. When I got back to shore, George pointed to Penny and Ann and said go to them they were near the hole of a really large fish. Well, it was about a 4 pound grouper and Ed speared it for a wonderful dinner with George and Penny. He unfortunately forgot to take a picture for the records.
Gary and Lisa started north today while Never Bored with the Nova Scotia fisherman (Sheila's brother and friend) headed back to Treasure Cay. They will join us sometime on Friday after the guys head to Nassau for their trip home.
Right now it is dead calm but we are anticipating the wind to come up and go north which may make for an interesting night. Meanwhile, a band is playing at the resort and we are getting ready to dance.
Thursday 4-16: we danced until the midnight hour then retired to the boat with the sound of thunder. The band calls themselves the Gully Roosters and you could not help but dance. Ed bought their CD which we played as we left the harbor for Crab Cay, a scant 4 miles distance. We wisely closed all the windows and portholes, and brought in the cockpit cushions before hitting the sack. At 2AM we had lighting and a deluge of rain that lasted about an hour but the wind was low so no problem.
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