Before and After
I think the picture tells the story.
The journey from Solomon’s Maryland to the Northern Bahamas is about 700 miles. We made it in three legs totaling about seven days of travel gaining 45 degrees F.
It was great to have been in Buffalo for their big November storm. I learned that the Lake Effect storms happen because the lake is still warm during the late fall months and when a huge arctic blast comes down massive evaporation over the lake fills the sky with snow bound for Lake Erie’s shores in Western New York. We had a great week snowbound with Nannie and JJ and our friends like little Olivia and Miranda.
The residential roads were socked in with four feet of snow for three days. In the middle of the night my mom got me up to watch the plow clear us out. She has a plow service for her driveway this year so we didn’t mess with that at all. Then another night the neighbor, who works with heavy equipment, came by with a HUGE front loader (bigger than the plow) and scooped out our driveway plus four other neighbors. Buffalo’s nickname is The City of Good Neighbors, I guess its times like this that proves the name to be true. The storm hit on the day the kids and I were to leave in a rental car and pick Eric up at the Baltimore Airport on our way back to Makai. He said the cabin temp was 32 degrees when he arrived at the boat and there was a bit of damage to outside fixtures from frozen water.
Our town, Lackawanna, still has a driving ban and our cupboards are pretty bare. We borrowed ingredients from neighbors. One day I walked up to a sub shop that was open for a take out treat and at the end of the weekend my brother Jim parked at a nearby shopping center and brought us Chinese Take Out.
Now that the weather is forecasted to be up to 60 degrees everyone is warned of flooding and heavy snow on the roofs. I got out and shoveled the flat roof from the porch and many of the neighbors used a rake with an extra long handle to pull the snow off their houses.
By Monday the disaster was over, we rented our car and returned to Maryland. One more stop to load up on refrigerated items and off we go. The weather windows at this time of year are so short you usually have to get adverse weather at one end of the trip or the other. We left Wednesday night hoping to go slow enough to miss the gale force winds at Cape Hatteras on Friday. As luck would have it we flew down the bay and had to pull over in Virginia Beach for Thanksgiving to kill a little time.
Bright and early Friday we set out for Cape Hatteras, by the time we got there the wind was gone and the engine was on. Hmm, should we round the Cape with 35 knots of wind or 5 knots. We went the safe round and took 5 knots.
Topaz is always hopeful that she will get shore leave to take care of her potty. Our preferred location is on the back step, but after holding it for nearly two days, anywhere she decides to go is praised. Sometime during the night we picked up a hitchhiker. This little guy hopped around Makai chirping until mid morning when Topaz came out to see what was going on. At one point he had a pal with him.
Its always exciting when the dolphins come. The leap and splash and race ahead of Makai like a torpedo. Other than a few turtles and crabs we didn’t see very much marine life in the Chesapeake.
Then there is Roy with his fishing pole, doesn’t he look happy? He got out new line and set up for trolling.
Cape Lookout in North Carolina has been our waiting room heading both north and south. It’s a nicely protected bay with fun beaches when the weather is nice. As always, Eric has boat parts to fix. This time it was changing the bulb in the steaming light.
The sun was warm but the breeze was chilly and the water was ankle biting cold. We took a short walk on the beach. Topaz was happy to play at the beach digging in the sand and chasing birds.
Just when we thought the day couldn’t get any better the icing on the cupcake showed up. A PUPPY! Oh yea, no one in our family can resist a puppy. Except for maybe Topaz, she gave it a quick sniff and went back to the water.
The puppy was soft and squiggly, waggy and squirmy. Oh, I want one!
The sand was covered in shells. The occasional jellyfish at the water’s edge was interesting.
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When the Hill family visited us in the Bahamas last season, they brought us a trick kite. The kids love to fly this one because of the challenge to zoom it around without crashing.
After two days waiting for the south wind to turn around we took off on a direct path for the Bahamas. Last year our path took us on a three day sail to Florida, a few more days to hop down to Miami, wait for a south wind and then cross to Bimini. This year we’re on a tight schedule so we cut the fluff out and are heading straight for paradise.
The first 50 miles was a great sail, slowly the current took over knocking our 7-9 knots of boat speed back to 3 – 4 knots and at one point we were seeing 2 knots and the wind died. Ahhhhh at 2 knots we won’t get there for a week! Most of the crew was either sick or working hard at not being sick. Poor Marie was sick the whole 4 days and only ate a few crackers and some electrolyte drink. At the half way point the wind picked up and the current cut back to 0-1 knot against us so Makai could race to the finish. We did 250 nm in a day and a half arriving in Marsh Harbor mid-afternoon on Friday the week after Thanksgiving.
I don’t know if it is the sleep deprivation from the four day journey, dehydration, eating only granola or maybe needing to wash my hair, but like a musical the tail end of this passage begged me to belt out a song.
Roy and I were watching the waves and Makai carving through the Atlantic Ocean like a NYC messenger darting through traffic. The water’s surface is bustling with wind and wave activity. Makai plows through a steady barrage of moving, peaking, foamy water. Some waves slap the windward side sending spray to douse the cabin and drip down the windows. Other waves shoot between the hulls smacking the bridge deck. If the water smacks far enough forward a blow hole shoots up through the trampoline. The wave that hits amid ships bring visions of Moby Dick rising up under us and slapping Makai with his tail leaving her shuddering from the force. The waves that escape out the stern appear to shake their foamy white fist at us as we bid farewell to that bit of water.
Other waves arrive from the stern joining with the small rooster tails our sugar scoops make. The patters of foam and spray are constantly changing. A bit o wind can blow the top off and confused waves collide into each other pointing dozens of water fingers back at us. Some manage to climb up our stairs and wash down the back deck.
Roy and I are mesmerized like staring at a campfire. What show will the next wave provide? While the waves at the stern have us captivated, we can feel Makai twisting and banging into the waves on the bow. Occasionally a wave hits the scupper in the cockpit just right and a geyser shoots up under the table or a similar geyser shoots up the sink drain. That will be a clean up project for later.
When we manage to lift our eyes from the show, the ocean looks fairly consistent. Deep blue peaks frosted with white foam glistening in the sun. Occasionally patches of sargasso weed float by. Some the size of a dinner plate and others the size of a SUV. Do you know what that means? Hiding under the weed umbrellas are bait fish that the Mahi Mahi like to feed on. Unfortunately we’re moving much too fast to put out a line and no one is in the mood for fighting a fish. This beautiful ocean brings “Mal de Mer” but we won’t discuss that 
The chart shows 10 miles to the channel entrance. The islands are so low that we won’t spot land until we’re upon it. Unlike Christopher Columbus, I have a chart to prove to the mutinous crew that land is indeed ahead. Can you just hear the crew of the Santa Maria with their scurvy teeth falling out, “Are we there yet?”, “How many more minutes?”
Finally, we arrive and pull into the small Marina that our friends on Tangent are in and the day ends with showers, dinner and drinks at sunset on Tangent.
The next two days are full of work projects. All the things we couldn’t do in Maryland because it was too cold. Makai got scrubbed top to bottom, we cleaned and removed the cockpit enclosure. Topaz got her Island Haircut (it took forever to cut through the forest of dog hair) and we did several loads of laundry with our cockpit washing machine.
Eric changed engine oil and replaced the bearings in the wind generator. One night on the trip the wind generator made weird noises and then froze up. Eric was impressed that he found the spare bearings and then spent much of the two days taking it apart and replacing the seized part.
The marina had a pool so when the kids took a break from fishing and playing, they splashed around in the pool.
This marina hosts a few charter companies. Makai is a retired charter boat from the early 1990s and I always feel like she’s having a family reunion when we’re surrounded by the charter fleet. Since she was in service several generations of Leopard Cats have come and gone, now Makai is the granny on the dock.
We made a few trips to town for fresh provisions, rum and the internet store and are ready to head out.
We carefully watched the weather and found that the two day hop trip down to the Exumas would consist of one windless day and one smooth cruise. After leaving the marina we no longer had internet, but assumed the weather wouldn’t change so we stuck with the plan.
Wow, we were wrong. Makai and Tangent entered the cut through the reef at the exact same time as the cold front band of clouds did. Our wind went from zero to 20 knots and the breaking waves on either side of the channel were 8-10 feet. Eric said that his surfing experience was an asset here. He was impressed with the Sunset Beach type waves of the North Shore of Hawaii while my knees where shaking. They didn’t break in the channel but Makai would rise up over the top and fall down the back side of the swell. The rest of the trip was wet and bouncy as the wind was strong and on the nose. We managed to sail most of it until the top of the jib chafed through. Luckily we were only a few miles from the anchorage.
The next day was supposed to be a nice sail, but we spent the day cleaning up and making repairs. Our jib halyard attaches to two straps that are sewn onto the head. I previously bought the strap as a backup but my machine won’t sew it. The sailrite is strong enough to punch through the webbing and thick fabric on the head of the sail, but somehow as the needle punches down through the layers it slows down and is out of sync with the bobbin thread. The result is maybe 1/3 of the stitches actually stay in. In the end I just went over it extra times and eventually had enough stitches to hold. Sewing the cover back on was done by hand using pliers. I broke about 10 needles on this job, but after some difficulties, we got it back up and are in business.
Topaz was very happy to get swim time in and now we’re off to the Exumas. It’s a warm windless day, the water is crystal clear and the bottom looks like a beautiful sand beach 30 feet under the water.
