Day 179 - Anchored to the Dock — Captain Father John

Miles cruised 0, fuel purchased $0, slip fee $25, daily high temperature 78°f

We had a layover day at Little Harbour. All but two other boats were gone at dawn. The boats that departed had to leave early to take advantage of the tide to get out of the shallow Little Harbour channel. We’ll depart early on Sunday morning so we can comfortably exit Little Harbour and enter Hope Town. They both have very thin water at low tide. Dredging does not seem to be an option in the Bahamas.

I called two marinas in Hopetown. Captain Jack’s was full and the Hopetown Marina said they had some open moorings but they were first come first served. Good luck. If we cannot get a slip or mooring ball in Hope Town it is only 9 miles to Marsh Harbour where will get a mooring. Hope Town is more touristy and Marsh Harbour is more commercial. Our goal is to get to Green Turtle Cay which is on the outside of the Whale Channel. We will need a good weather window to transit the Whale. From Green Turtle we will cruise to West End and then cross the Gulf Stream to West Palm Beach

We slipped our mooting lines at 7:30 am in the rain. The wind was out of the NW which was a little unusual because the forecast was for SW winds. This made it choppy and sloppy as we departed Little Harbour. A few miles north the winds shifted to the SW and everything flattened out. We traveled with two sailboats for part of the trip but eventually they fell behind. If they are headed to Hope Town we will get there first and have our choice of mooring balls.

We listened to the Abacos cruisers net on VHF channel 68 at 8:15 am. They provide the weather forecast and updates on local activities. The Abaco Sailing Club cancelled the last race of the season due to a chance of rain in the afternoon. I hope no one had planned a big come back in the last race to take first place. Also the Bocci ball tournament is canceled at the Elbow Cay Club. The forecast is for very blowy conditions from the NE for two days so we need to tuck in somewhere.

As we pulled into Hopetown we saw the harbour jammed with boats. Dale had called ahead on the radio and the Dockmaster advised he saw no open mooring balls. The Dockmaster advised if there was a mooring with a white pennant on it that the owner was away but would be returning. We saw two mooring balls with pennants and another one with someone in a dingy attaching a white pennant. It appears his boat was anchored outside the harbour and he came in by dingy to claim the only open mooring ball. Brilliant! We resigned ourselves to heading to nearby Marsh Harbour. As we exited the harbour I noticed the Lighthouse Marina had several open slips. I suggested Dale give them a call on the VHF channel 16. Turns out they just had two cancellations. We were in at $1.00 per foot. It is just a short walk to the Elbow Cay lighthouse in Hope Town. As pleasant as it is to be swinging on a mooring ball it also nice to be plugged in again.

We had a new experience today. We were anchored to the dock. We have some friends with boats that never leave the dock that we refer to as anchored to the dock. In our case as the tide went out our bow moved forward and the anchor was on the dock. If Paul the Dockmaster had not alerted us we might have been suspended by our anchor which would not have been a good thing. The CL crew rushed to the back of the boat to lift the bow, we adjusted our spring line and all is well.

Bonus photo – a good deal on a gently used boat in the mangrove swamps in Hope Town.

Carl (Chef) Wooden – quote of the day.

“‘SMiLE’ is perhaps the Beach Boys’ most legendary album. It was recorded in 1966 and 1967 but only saw a formal release in 2011. That’s a long time to wait for what was is said to be Brian Wilson’s masterpiece.” – Henry Rollins

Henry Rollins (born Henry Lawrence Garfield; February 13, 1961) is an American musician, writer, journalist, publisher, actor, motivational speaker, television and radio host, spoken word artist, comedian, and activist. He hosts a weekly radio show on KCRW, and is a regular columnist for LA Weekly and Rolling Stone Australia.