Yesterday we sailed again for the Bahamas…and made it this time! We sailed 12 hours, anchoring at 2 AM off Grand Bahama Island. The depth sounder showed we had 15 feet under the keel and chart plotter showed no reefs nearby. However, upon attempting to weigh anchor the next day, now down to short chain, a wave started to lift the bow when BANG! and a shudder through the ship told me we were caught up short. Clearly, the anchor was set in something more solid than sand -- something like coral!
I eventually freed the anchor by releasing more chain and moving the boat about, but not without paying the price in a bent anchor shank and fluke. Coral exacted a similar penalty a decade or two ago on sailboat Simba, off of Concepcion Isle. (Is there some lesson to be learned here?:-)
Today we are sailing onto the Great Bahama Bank and will anchor shortly (it’s 7 PM). My email for the next month will be wdc3404@wloradio.com. Please send only text messages, and do send them pleaseJ We’re headed for the Exuma island chain which contains a host of lightly populated or unpopulated cays. By June 1 we will be docked on the St. Johns River south of Jacksonville for the summer, or if that’s unavailable, at a marina in Brunswick, GA. I will fly up to Maine and then the Long Island Sound area where I hope I can persuade one or more of you to put up with me for a couple of weeks or so. I plan to return to retrieve Simba in October.
I hope I can get this message to you over the airwaves. I love you and am looking forward to seeing you shortly.
Dad/T2
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