Not So "Berry" (1/10/13)

Last night we had our final dinner with Rick at Flo’s Conch Bar.  We had our Kalik’s and a rum punch or two along with expertly prepared broiled grouper, Bahamian peas and rice and homemade cole slaw.  We started it out with delicious conch fritters – our first on this journey.

The entertainment came from three hands of Mexican Train dominos which Rob cleaned up on.  Chester and Lovely the cooks/hosts were the only other people in the place and were friendly and attentive (and great cooks!). Lots of pictures were taken and plans made to meet up with Rick again further on down the Exuma chain. 

It was a great night and we all headed back to our boats around 10.  That’s when all the fun began.  This anchorage has been rough to say the least.  After Nautilus and Long Gone running aground on our entry, both boats had had to re-anchor over our stay, ending up in less than favorable positions.  We had a good set on our anchor but our place in the little cove we were in managed to “grab” the current and send up flying around any time the tide was rising.  It didn’t look like anyone was going to get much sleep!

With that in mind, it appeared that Rick/Nautilus decided not to bother with his worrisome anchorage and he set sail last night to cross the NW Channel for Spanish Wells.  And we watched Long Gone’s mast kicking around and knew they weren’t having a good time of it either.

Rob and I were just about to head to bed when “the tides turned” in a different way.  Apparently what we thought was a RAW conch allergy that Rob had was, in fact, a CONCH allergy as a whole.  With symptoms of food poisoning, he was completely incapacitated for almost 4 hours – and this is particularly harrowing on a boat without plumbing as well all know it!  I’ll save you the details.

Add to that that the tide happened to be at an unusual low last night and just as  Rob started to settle down, Moonshadow “settled” down too - right on the bottom!  The current continued to rock side to side and forward and back as the keel bumped along the bottom of the anchorage.  I’d love to give you some idea of how this played out but suffice it to say, it wasn’t exactly prime conditions for comfort or sleep!

Needless to say, the night couldn’t pass quickly enough for me!  With all the “excitement” and an already precarious anchorage, the rest of the night was spent jumping up and down checking for a dragging anchor and overall conditions. 

I finally gave up at 6am and pulled out the SSB to see what kind of forecast was in order the next couple days.  I had been trying to learn this process for a while and finally was successful this morning.  I put final details in place for our own crossing tomorrow to Nassau with Long Gone and when we saw them surface, we made plans to immediately leave the anchorage and try something a few miles down the island chain with hopefully less uncomfortable conditions.

We now sit in our new anchorage with slightly better albeit more exposed conditions and the skies have clouded up and the rain’s begun to fall.  Finally the boat is getting a washdown after our last salty offshore leg – just in time for tomorrow’s!  The beach ¼ mile off our starboard rail looks inviting, but not in the rain.  It may be a popcorn and movie kind of day.

So goes life in the remote Berry Islands.  And I’m thinkin’ points south are looking pretty good right about now!