Once in a Life Time Happening, We Hope!

I did not expect to do a blog so quick but due to the unexpected happening this week, I thought it best to do so. Facebook followers may have knowledge of it, but there is a little more detail here.

With rain and sun we get lots of rainbows.

Our first few days in Georgetown were fairly uneventful. We were doing the typical chores of getting free water at the dinghy dock at Exuma Market, waiting for the supply boat to come in to get fresh produce, milk and bread and getting fuel for our outboard engine. Once again, NO BANANAS! Are we not in the tropics where they grow bananas????

We had some minor squalls come through when we were anchored at Kidd Cove on the town side and had a nice rainbow appear off our stern early in the week.

Putting my last few loops in the rug.

I finished hooking my rug which I started back in April 2015. I am very proud of it. I did 95% of the dyeing of the wool which consist of eight shades of each color. I was complimented by my teacher at the workshop I attended on my dyeing and the hooking of the roses.  It was designed by Pearl McGowan Flynn and called Rapture Plus Four. Now all I have to do is finish the border.

My first fine shaded rug.

We moved over to Sand Dollar beach after getting our food supplies. The next day was rainy and dreary but we had a bright spot in the day when a dolphin kept circling our boat. 

A single dolphin circling our boat and going under our dinghy.

Look how close they are and the dolphins liked it.

 Then about an hour later five dolphins were in the anchorage and people got in and they swam with the dolphins for about a half hour. They were not afraid of the people and came quite close to them. It was fun to watch and a really cool experience for the swimmers.

Later that night the wind switched causing some rocking and rolling in the anchorage, so first thing in the morning we picked up our anchor and once again went over to the town side to Kidd Cove. (We did not know what a fortunate decision this was until later that night.) Since we moved so early we were able to get in fairly close to be protected from the west wind but also from the north. Mid afternoon we went into town to walk because I had not been off the boat for several days. It felt good to stretch our legs. We got over to the other side of town where there is another small market. I said to Al, I just wanted to see what they had, and lo and behold, they had bananas!!!!The banana blight on Blue Heaven was finally ended!

As we were enjoying our drink before dinner celebrating the finishing of my rug and the end to the banana blight, we were commenting on the ominous looking clouds to the south of us and the dark skies to the north of us with some lightning behind all the clouds. We knew squalls were a possibility that day but never expected what we got! As I was just clearing the dinner dishes off the table a gust of wind hit that shook the entire boat. Al jumped up to put on the windlass (for you non-sailors- it allows us to raise the anchor), and start the engine just in case it was necessary. Another gust hit us which made the boat tilt at least 45 degrees knocking my glass of water (thank heavens I did not have red wine that night) onto the settee and some other small things to fly across the cabin. As Al was on the helm, I was trying to close the hatches. Did you ever try to close something when it was blowing 50 knots?! I finally got them closed and went up to be a second set of eyes to watch if other boats were dragging down on us. We saw up to 60 knots at one point with a steady 35-45 for the next two hours! Boats dragged all around us but our rocna anchor held! We love our rocna anchor!!! At one point we saw a huge catamaran which had been way up in the cove dragging down on us, and their anchor finally caught about three boat lengths away. We were so lucky. Others did not fair so well. The other side of the harbor where there are three main anchoring areas, Monument Beach, Volleyball Beach and Sand Dollar Beach had it much worse because they were more congested and were out in the open. We were in the lee of the island. The waves in the harbor were probably 4-5 ft. Someone on that side saw 90 knots on their wind meter. Boats dragged and damaged other boats or had to leave their anchors behind to get out of the way of dragging boats . Lots of dinghies were flipped or lost, as well as many paddles, oars, and fuel tanks. The good news was there were no people hurt! There were about four boats with lots of damage but that really is not many for what went on and for so long! What was this? The weather guru, Chris Parker, called it a dorecho. I looked it up and it said “It is a widespread, long-lived, straight-line wind storm that is associated with land-based, fast moving group of severe thunderstorms. It can cause hurricane force winds.” (Sorry I had no photos, but I was a bit busy!)

The next day dawned bright and sunny and people were out helping all those who needed help. I believe all anchors and the chain that people lost were found. When water can be this clear it helps.  

This is our anchor chain going from the boat, but you can also see our chain on the bottom half buried in the sand.

This photo was taken two days after the windstorm.  A lot of the small things people lost were found. One dinghy that had to be cut loose was never found but overall we are thankful nothing worse happened. All the sailors were saying, in all their years of sailing, our 42 years included, we have never experienced that much wind. A fellow sailor who said he was in gales at sea, only had 45 knot winds. It was a freak occurrence of two fronts coming together and it happened from Georgetown and north to Warderick Wells Land and Sea Park.

We are trying to get back to doing normal “Georgetown things.” I went to water aerobics to get some well needed exercise. There is no one to lead yoga yet, so water aerobics works. We anchored at Sand Dollar beach so were able to get off and walk the trail over to the ocean side.

Walking to the ocean side.

Passing the snacks around.

It is a beautiful as I remembered. Later we had a dinghy drift happy hour with a few boats at Sand Dollar beach. The bugs were too bad to be on the beach, so we just tied our dinghies together and passed the snacks around until dusk when the mosquitoes will find you anywhere!

Matt and Marty from Runaway joined the raft.

We  left to sail to Long Island. Long Island is one of the islands that was devastated by the last hurricane. They are in need of lots of supplies for the schools and for the people in general. Many cruisers are bringing books and school supplies.  One cruiser had his father's tools which he collected when cleaning out his house.  We have cooking utensils and supplies for the high school's home economics class that we purchased in Vero Beach to donate. It does not look like much, but every little bit helps. 

Our donation for the high school home economics class.

A fund raiser is in the process of being planned back in Georgetown by the cruisers to help out.  When we get back in a few days from Long Island, I plan to get involved.