May 29, 2002
The divers never showed up. Bob patched the dinghy but we were a sorry pair. We couldn't go to sea and we couldn't go to land. We made the best of the day by waiting and eating. I set a new record for myself by winning 100 consecutive Free Cell games. By 6:00pm we knew they weren't going to show and we had an early dinner, talked to "Lady Simcoe" on SSB and went to bed, not knowing what tomorrow would bring.
"Tomorrow" brought a call from the divers at 8:00am telling us they THOUGHT they might make it out this afternoon. Bob woke up in a bad mood. I listened to weather and we had a decision to make. The anchor is a CQR 60lb and we looked it up in our West Marine catalogue. It sells for $700.00. If I was accurate in my thinking that a team of divers would cost us $500.00, the loss wouldn't be that bad. If we weren't coming home, the decision would have been different. We have a spare anchor but it's not heavy. Since the weather was going to be calm, we made the decision to cut the chain. We battened down and Bob went up with the chain cutters. He cut the chain and off we went. We left Nassau harbour at about 9:30am. Bob had pumped up the pontoon on the dinghy that got smashed and it seems to be holding. It feels wonderful to be free of Nassau harbour. I know if anyone suggests in the future that we take a vacation there, we will be in hysterics.
It is now 11:30am, the seas are almost flat and so is the wind. We are motoring along at 5.6 knots and the sun is shining. I went on deck with my chair to read and was minding my own business when a bee decided to land in my armpit unbeknownst to me. I decided to put my arm down on top of him and of course got stung. Acting like a big baby, I went below and Bob got tweezers and pulled the stinger out. I got a cold can of soda and stuck it under my arm. He couldn't understand why I was making a big deal out of it and I realized that we've both been under a lot of stress. The stress is from not being able to get back and coming back, all at the same time. It's such a mixed bag of emotions and we're dealing with it each in our own ways. My dreams about suffocating babies and starving kitties are being replaced by heavy sleep. Bob's heavy sleep is being replaced by bad dreams. Once we get to Florida, I think we'll be too busy to dream.
Instead of making the return in 3-day sails, we are planning to go straight to Ft. Lauderdale. "Lady Simcoe" and "Liberte" are doing it in 3 days so at daybreak, we should be at the same place even though they left yesterday morning. Last they knew of us, we were still stuck to the bottom. The Bahama Banks will be different to do at night. It is quite shallow (12 ft) and there will be anchored boats scattered about. We need to keep a good watch. We may very well both be up the whole night. Then we cross the Gulf Stream, which should be fairly calm. We should be into Lauderdale by early afternoon tomorrow. Unless we have another catastrophe.
May 30, 2002
The end of the month, the end of an experience, the end of cruising for us. The night passage was unremarkable, but quite nice. Seas were calm, as was the wind and there was a beautiful ¾ moon that came up about midnight. We had to time this right so we would be at the Gun Cay/Cat Cay cut no earlier than sunrise. I felt Bob slow the engine down not long after I went to bed about 1:00am. He timed it perfect and we were at the cut at 6:30am. Bob steered through the very shallow cut and I was below reading the electronic chart and giving him directions. Once we crossed over into the ocean, the heavens let loose and it started pouring. Bob timed it perfect and went below for breakfast and a snooze while I sat under the dodger, dodging the rain. I read for awhile while I kept watch but finally my eyelids wanted to close so I went below and got the timer. I sprawled out in the cockpit in my foul weather gear and slept a few winks in the rain, waking every 12 minutes to look around.
Bob got up around 8:00am and I had another snooze until 11:00am. When I awoke, Bob was listening intently to the weather station. Tornadoes were sighted in the Florida area and the sky was just clearing where we were. I'm so glad I slept through that. I would have wanted to turn back. We were in the Gulf Stream but we weren't getting much help with the current so we weren't making great time.
I spotted Florida by the high-rise buildings about 2:00pm but we still had a ways to go. We made it through the first buoys about 4:00pm and things started to look familiar. This is where the whole journey began. If we hadn't been so tired, I'm sure it would have been emotional.
It was nice to see the new 17th street bridge all finished. I asked Bob if he was sure it was tall enough and he replied that it was, that's why they built a new one. Just as we were about to go under, I spotted traffic gates up on the bridge and asked him about it. He did a quick reverse and hailed the bridge tender. She told him to look at the height marker and it read 58 feet. We are over 60 feet and we almost lost everything in those few minutes. We circled around the basin until the bridge opened at 5:00pm and then went through. Our goal was the Las Olas bridge where there are mooring balls. Bob navigated the way through all of the canals and once there, we found no vacant balls. Next option was Silver creek, where we are anchored peacefully, safe and sound for the night. We had much-needed showers and no energy to get in the dinghy and go to our favorite restaurant, The Floridian, for the best tuna melt ever tasted. Of course, we hope it doesn't blow too hard because we only have this small anchor.
- MORE TO FOLLOW -
