So we are currently sitting at anchor in Nassau channel using a bow and stern anchor to try and hold us still in the switching currents. So far the setup is holding fairly well. Although WildChild has been wobbling back and forth between the two anchors we are basically stationary in the Channel.
I do feel kind of bad though because there are a lot of tourist boats going past here and we are anchored right exactly in the middle. Eeek… some of the boats are passing close to WildChild and I hope not muttering curses towards us under their breaths. Sorry guys… we are leaving tomorrow.
The shopping today went fairly well… we got almost everything on our list except it seems we cannot buy an EPIRB anywhere in the Bahamas. So we cannot replace the safety beacon we gave away to monkey. Let’s hope we never need rescue from the coast guard huh… 🙁 If we are ever out there floating around in our life raft we are going to be in big trouble. It’ll be a long float till help stumbles into us I fear.
So where to now…? and now what..?
Whats’s the plan now Captain Lexi…. ? yeah… I knew somebody was going to ask me that question eventually. The pressure always on every Captains shoulders 24/7.
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For my readers who dream about this lifestyle… please allow me to share some of the daily stress and pressures of my life with you… lest you think this lifestyle is all glory.
WINDS
STEP 1
Data… information…
Here is what we know as of now (4:30pm Saturday May 18th 2019) from here in Nassau.
We have to keep moving south…. Hurricane
season is coming.
Here are the winds… Tomorrow everything looks pretty calm but we have light winds from the wrong direction for our travel. 5
knots of wind coming from Highborn Cay (where we want to go next). Yeah ok they are light and we can easily tac our way towards Highborn Cay and water visibility should be good in calm waters.
Should we go? or should we wait for better winds?
The problem is there are no better winds coming anytime soon. If we try to sit
patiently and wait for better winds it will be a long wait and we are running out of time before hurricanes start forming.
Well ok… light winds means calm gentle peaceful sailing so that seems okay…. but… there are freakin rocks and coral heads everywhere. I know WildChild is a big girl and I am the one who chose a boat with an 8 foot keel (very deep draft)… but I love that keel when sailing (keeps me safe). So now in the Bahamas which are very shallow WildChild has to be careful about where she anchors. Not a big deal really…. but coral heads… are bad for everybody.
WATERS AHEAD
But…. these coral heads are going to be new for me… and they make me nervous. Captain Vince said no worries… you can clearly see them from a reasonable distance and you can avoid them easily. After all the water here is stunningly clear…. but the thing I have noticed is that grassy bottom also looks like a dark spot and also seems to look a bit too much like rocks.
Check out the images below… remember that rocks and coral heads are merely depicted as small red dots. If you study the maps though… that is a lot of small red dots. Like a minefield of small red dots. How are we ever going to get this big girl thru that maze? Lexi nervous…
The big question is… how accurate are the charts…? Can we trust them to be pin point accurate? Can we blindly follow the chart plotter to navigate thru this upcoming maze of coral heads?
To get to highborn Cay we have to navigate 34 nautical miles in unfamiliar waters, sometimes with only 2-4 feet of water under the keel, against the very light squirrely winds, dodging coral heads.
Somehow this does not sound like we are going to have a great day tomorrow. Does anybody want to start taking bets about whether or not we hit a single coral head with our giant keel tomorrow? Hitting a big rock is for sure a bad way to end your day.
I wonder what the odds are of us getting stuck on bottom somewhere on some uncharted sand bar?
Sure WildChild has a mast camera which lets us look down upon the waters just in front of us… and this will for sure help…. I can get Elena to sit all day under the blazing sun on the foredeck and spot coral heads… I can stand all day staring into the camera image on the chart plotter… BUT… does this sound like a fun day for us?
NOPE!!!!!
I wish I was with you at your house sitting safely on the couch with you instead. But the brave girls on this boat are going to face the adventure head on. We are going to move forward with courage and intelligence and do our very best to keep our big girl (WildChild) safe. Vincent says… nah… no worries it’ll be a piece of cake… But the available information does not look that way from here. That’s a lota rocks… in shallow waters.
STEP 2
MAKE A DECISION AND JUST JUMP…!
Just go forth brave children and face the unknown together. Take care of the boat.. take care of each other… make the best decisions every second that you can… do not make any mistakes… Pray and go with God… ask your angels to guide you into the unknown…
enjoy the adventure…
You guys wanna come along…?
I will tell you about how it went when we next get internet access again.
Cheers sailor dudes…
Captain Lexi the nervous again.