Steel Bent Out of Shape & Bone Broken Again April 18, 2006

Rose at 0700.  Wanted to clear customs at Lucaya.  Attempted to start the Cub’s (dinghy's) motor but large swells threatened to smash it under swim platform.  Although we hung three fenders off the platform, it was impossible to keep them in position.  Even attempting to clean the outboard's battery terminals was impossible under these conditions.  In fact it was downright dangerous.  I had the dinghy's large hinged fiberglass seat  swung back so I could access the battery, when a swell caused the seat to suddenly close on my right shoulder – OUCH!  I found out later I had re-broken my shoulder bone.

Giving up, we hauled the Cub back up on the davits.  We then reeled in the anchor chain, deciding to clear customs at Nassau instead of Lucaya.  Oh,oh: another proglem. The anchor was hung up on what had to be coral (absolutely unmovable).  I worked the boat around the anchor, attempting to break it free in the large swells without making a bad situation worse, and eventually retrieved it -- with bent shank and fluke.

 

Marnie is cooking fish for dinner, ready in a half hour, so as we  are  now on the banks in 50 ft. instead of 1500, we’ll drop a hook shortly and dine (tough life here on Simba!).

This afternoon in beam seas we “flew” the starboard paravane bird several times.  And while skipper napped, Marnie entertained a handsome feathered bird who seemed enamored of the pilot house.

An ACL Company RORO (roll on-roll off) small freighter just passed.  It was the one whose entire bow is hinged.  It is quite a sight to see the bow slowly lift up and back, like the opening of a prehistoric beast's mighty jaw, and then from the ship's maw see trucks pour out.  (In rough seas it must surely suffer from upset stomach :-)  This boat is one of three that I often saw at Ft. Pierce, FL when anchored there.  ACL created the RORO freighter several decades ago, according to Google, and it was good to see this old friend, the Caribe Girl.  Subsequently we regularly saw Tropical Company boats, such as Tropic Mist, that evidently run between Nassau and West Palm Beach, where we often saw them being loaded and unloaded at a hugh container terminal close by Cracker Boy Boatworks.