The waves on shore were a bit bigger and rollier than they looked from the boat, and they had been piling into the dingy so it was filled with water (think heavy, really really heavy). We managed to tip it up so the water ran out and between us heaved it back onto the beach. We tied it down to a rock and dug in its anchor.
Then we faced the challenge of getting back into our dingy in rolly surf! Now, think about this for a moment, there is the dingy, the motor, us, a steep beach, the surf and the rocks. The goal is to get us into the dingy with the motor on and heading back. The difficulty is we have to be in the dingy in deep enough water to start the engine, but we can't climb into the dingy in deep enough water to start the engine. Now normally what we do is push the dingy out into the water, hop in and use the momentum to carry us out far enough to start the engine – tough to do in this situation when every wave is pushing us back onto the shore. The solution was for me to get in and start the engine while Steve held it against the surf. He then leapt in as I gunned it forward.
By this point, we were both soaked (and Steve ended up with a back relapse the next day). The question that arises (and the one that we asked ourselves at the end of it) was why did we do that? We could have simply attempted to call the owners on the radio and then looked the other way. The first reason is that dingys with their motors are expensive ($2500 - $5000). Without your dingy, you have to swim everywhere – rather difficult for getting groceries. In the Bahamas, dingys and motors are hard to replace. There are no West Marines just down the road where you can get another. The final reason, it was the right thing to do and if the situation were reversed we hope someone would do it for us.
Even though the wings were cold, they and the wine were still very nice!
We Left Norman's Cay early this morning for Nassau. It's a blustery day! Tiny whitecaps on the waves and the wind generator (our own little electrical production plant) is churning out the volts. I'm charging both laptops right now and will move on to mobiles so we're all juiced up once we hit civilization.
Have to go down below in a minute because I hear stuff flying about as we surf over the peaks and troughs of the waves.
Power and communications have been more in demand on this trip than originally thought. Of course we knew we'd use power and want to communicate with our family and friends, but we didn't know to what extent and what the 'boat reality' would be like. Steve would feel plugged in with a couple of check in telephone calls over the course of the trip (although he really enjoys the emails and Skypes that I do and the ones that we receive), I would be quite happy with daily communications. Women and men have different communication needs – or at least this woman and this man do!
So we're going to have to get communications and power a little bit better sorted out for next year. (We still haven't heard that woman from the UK sing yet (Rafael says she's from Blackburn, Mom says she's from Scotland, we just don't know)– so out of the loop, but then again last night's sunset and starry sky were fantastic.) I've got my eye on satellite which still costs, but we need to explore whether it will cost more than the $10 a day we pay when we do hook up to wifi. I would also like to explore solar charging for the electronics – there's an awful lot of sun out here that could be put to better use than simply improving our suntans and fading our fabrics!
Heading back is making us nostalgic and excited at the same time. We have so enjoyed this adventure that in some ways we never want it to end. Then again there are lots of adventures in the plan for the rest of the year, new things that we've never done before (motorbiking to Ireland, tandeming (Steve has his eye on a route in Germany ('Just think, if we're biking, all the beer and spatzle you want!') and I'm pushing for Italy (need that annual Italian fix!) plus seeing our family and friends who we've missed on this trip.
Good job we've got an enclosure! Just had a big wave splash all over the front of it – would have had an ex-laptop!
My laptop has been functional, but a PIB for the whole trip. It's a PC so it runs all of the Sailmail (HF radio communications for when we're out of wifi range) and the big wifi antenna that we use for long range Internet access. The screen is all shiny which is great when you're inside, but absolutely rubbish for using up on deck in the sunshine (it makes a wonderful mirror though!). And with its maximum battery life of 30-45 minutes, it's been a real power sink (and yes, a second battery would be nice, but they seem to have stopped making them – surprise, surprise!). The MacBook has been great, but it doesn't run the above software (and yes, there is something called 'partitioning the drive' where we could run both Mac and PC stuff, but I don't know how to do it, would have to research it to figure it out – would rather 'experiment' with that when I'm within easy reach of technical support).
Just checked down below and, yup, most of the books have leapt off the bookshelves again. Project for next year, something to keep the books reined in. Don't know if I'll ever get used to seeing a big wave at the same height as me sitting in the cockpit! It has gotten easier though.
I'm going to be very interested in our reaction to being back in the US. The most people we've been around have been a few at two to three tables in some out of the way island restaurant. Cars? One every once in a while cruising by slowly enough for the driver to say hello and us to say hello back. I suspect the difference will be quite striking (to say the least) when we get back to the US!
Okay, really big wave splashing on the enclosure. Time to take out the knitting! More later.
Okay, it's calmer(ish) now. The trip back from Staniel Cay to Fort Lauderdale will be about 230 miles which we'll take in 30-40 mile increments. We had tossed around the idea of simply doing it all in a big overnighter, but to 'preserve the back' we'll take it day by day. And it looks a bit blowy over the weekend so we'll sit that one out!
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I have an idea for your books......use the wire you would hang net curtains with, fix a hook to each end of the shelf and you can unhook/hook as you need to and it streches and pulls tight plus you buy a roll and it's easy to cut to length.
ReplyDeleteClaire