March 21st,2007- Galliot Cut

March 21st. Galliot Cut

1700hrs. Well, I cannot write about yesterday!!!! Even our little angel, screwed into the wall did not have a good trip.

Today we spent the afternoon on a lovely beach on Big Galliot Cay. Actually it is the only beach on this cay. We are at what we feel is our best protected spot probably until Sunday. On shore there is no protection from the sun so we put lean- too’s up each day with our blankets. We have also started to collect wood in case we need to spend any night on shore. If we only had a tent.

Of course due to my hearing problem it seems I have pretty good sleeps; unlike Randy who is up all night. We have a minus 2 foot tide right now, but seem to have enough water under us. This afternoon we went in the dinghy to check out a potential northern anchorage. We didn’t like it so we will stay put. We also considered moving in closer to the shore but right now we have 5 feet under us and have 100 feet of chain out so it doesn’t look like it would make any difference to our comfort level.

For interest sake—Randy is still on the beer we purchased in Ft. Lauderdale. A case of 24 beers was between $15 and $20. So far in the Bahamas beer sells for $60.

I am afraid due to a number of our “experiences” I can only think “Thank God” we have not had our loved ones aboard and then of coarse we are reminded that Derek and Evelyn have their youngest Caylin aboard. Safety has to be our priority and we must add 50% onto all the weather reports we review. Derek has repaired their dinghy which we know they are thrilled about.

Everything is still wet from yesterday and covered in salt. No wonder we are exhausted. The anchorage is very rolly with large swells and the wind continues to howl. I have wiped down all the walls and ceilings in the boat. We are trying to dry out our computer hoping we haven’t totally lost it. The screen is full of water spots.

Every day we go to the beach to get off the boat. It is blistering hot as there are no trees. We take our small tarps to try and protect us from the sun.

March 29th. A week has gone by. We continue to have poor sleep due to the high winds and rolly anchorage. Our water supply is getting low, plus we have nothing left in the way of fresh fruit and veggies. .Randy and Derek have tried fishing for lobster and had no luck. The days literally rock by if we stay on the boat so it is important to get to shore for some exercise. We swim, beach comb and hike over the hill to check out the Exuma Sound seas. One day we made a bon fire to burn our garbage. Another Caylin and I played bocce by using pieces of coral and an old coconut.

Another storm is upon us.

Randy and I have gone by dinghy to see a couple of islands to our south; Cave Cay which has a beautiful private marina (no boats there), Musha Cay which is also private and Rudder Cut Cay which had many lovely looking homes along the shoreline. Cave Cay and Rudder Cut Cay both had airstrips. We did see a couple of sailboats at the southern end of Rudder Cut Cay, however, the charts showed many areas had less than 5 feet of water at LMW which is too shallow for us.

We all want to head south so badly. We all had gotten up early today to check out the weather. After reading and listening to the weather reports it’s a NEGATIVE. It looks like we will be here until next Monday or Tuesday. This afternoon boats are arriving in droves. It truly was like watching a flotilla---small boats, big boats, sailboats and power boats---all arriving we assume from George Town. (Maybe we should of gone?). We heard that these boats had been waiting in George Town for the last six weeks waiting for better weather so they could head north. They would have had the winds and swells behind them which would of made for a fast ride. (Where as we would be beating into the wind and waves).

March 31st.

Happy Birthday Evelyn!! We surprised Evelyn with a chocolate cake; (which unfortunately did not turn out as we didn’t have any eggs). Covering the cake in chocolate icing, for decoration we used dried cut up “Craisins” spelling” Happy Birthday Evelyn”.

1800hrs. We’ve decided to have a fun contest tonight cooking meals out of cans. We’ve made pickled beets and curried turkey casserole. We’ve a bottle of champagne (that we didn’t use when we christened the boat) so we’ll take that and some beer over to UNWIND. Evelyn and Caylin made a delicious carrot soup and pizza.

Randy and I went looking for lobster today as it’s the last day of the season plus we tried fishing again. No luck on either count.

April 2nd.

Went fishing—No luck.
Checked weather—Maybe tomorrow????
Went and introduced ourselves to a group on a power boat named Miss K II. They are heading to the Dominican Republic. Randy said he would update them on the weather tomorrow.

NOW LOOKING BACK :( JANUARY 2008); at us leaving Farmers Cay I don’t think we could of done it any differently with the information we had. To avoid running aground we hired “Little Jeff” to navigate us out through the cut.($60.00) Derek went in “Little Jeffs” dinghy for a preliminary look at the seas and he said the seas looked good. The weather reports were not bad. Little Jeff took us first---we got half way to the cut and he turned around; which is not what we had payed him for. I yelled at him what was he doing and he said going back for UNWIND. I was on the bow like usual because of all the reefs. Of coarse this day I did not put on my life jacket as the weather looked gorgeous. I kid you not, within ten minutes the swells hit over 12 feet as we were going through Farmers Cut. I could not move; I could only hang on. Randy was yelling at me to get back to the cockpit. Each time we went down into a crevice he could not see me as I was submerged in water. Again he’s yelling at me to get back. I still couldn’t move. This went on at least three times. Finally he said when I yell NOW get moving. When I heard that magical word I dropped to my butt and worked my way along the deck to the cockpit. As quickly as possible I went down below because of coarse we had left all the hatches except our forward berth open. There was salt water everywhere. I quickly closed all the hatches and port lights. Next I went into our foraward head to close its port light and hatch and the floor was covered in five inches of water. I threw on the shower sump to drain the head. At this point Derek called and asked how it was. I said it was better outside the cut compared to riding through the cut. There was no way we could safely turn around as we definitely would have been broad-sided with the waves.

As we tried to progress to Georgetown, the seas stayed between 10 and 16 feet, we had minimum 30 knot winds and squalls all around us. The long and short of it; we left waypoint N23*57.95” W76*18.40 (outside of Farmers Cut) and 6 hours later we had traveled only 2.86 nautical miles to the outside of Galliot Cut N23*55.60”;W76*16.60” We made a joint decision we would enter the cut for safety. We tried waiting for the current and tide to slacken, but were getting so beaten up. Finally heading in, there was one point where we could not see UNWINDS decks. It was taking all Randy’s strength to try and keep the boat steady and straight as we made our way through the entrance; huge rock formations on each side.. We were riding the waves as if we were a big surf board. When we got through to the other side of the cut…flat calm. AMAZING!!!!

We were all absolutely exhausted but had to get together; not so much for Happy Hour but hugs were necessary to reassure one another that we were all okay.