Crew Log for February 20th – 21st, 2023
Trip Summary:
• Rock Sound, Eleuthera to Governor’s Harbor
• Trip Distance of 25.9 NM, Total Distance To-Date of 3,042.5 NM
• Departed at 08h30, arrived at 13h30
Our log notes for the day start with, “those damn roosters are still at it”. Needless to say, we were up early. It was sunny, very warm and there was barely a breath of wind. Looks like we will be motoring most of the day.
Governor's Harbor is the capital of Eleuthera and is the largest town on the island. Victorian-era houses were built on Buccaneer Hill overlooking the harbor and there are beaches on either side of town. Pink sand on the ocean side and white sands of the Bight of Eleuthera. There are three banks, a few grocery stores, and some of the island's wealthiest residents.
Governor’s Harbor is also home to the French Leave Eleuthera, a high end resort that celebrates what it isn’t. There are no casinos, no cruise ships, no constant turnstile of flights carrying thousands of tourists. The French Leave offers beautiful un-crowded pink sand beaches, azure blue waters, friendly people, great local dining and star gazing. However before the French leave, there was the Cape Eleuthera Resort.
Opened in 1972, the Cape Eleuthera Resort hosted well-heeled jet-setters during the island’s tourism heyday. Built in conjunction with former Pan Am founder Juan Trippe, who set up a small, now derelict airport nearby, the former resort was an excuse to day-trip from Florida for a round of golf and business luncheons. Described in an advertisement as a “world of beauty on the island of Eleuthera,” the short-lived opulence of the resort ended in 1983 with bankruptcy, followed by a fire and repeated pummeling by hurricanes that pushed the property to disrepair allowing nature to begin reclamation.
According to the guide book, Governor’s Harbor was a great place to visit, but not a great place to anchor. It was exposed to any winds other than from the east, and the bottom was reported to be hard and littered with “stuff”. We heard reports of cruisers hauling up on pieces of lawn chairs and building materials, along with rocks and other assorted debris in their ground tackle.
It is also a very shallow anchorage, which makes getting ashore in a dinghy an adventure. Come in at high tide and you might find your dinghy high and dry when you return. Come in at low tide and you’re likely going to get wet retrieving it. The charts also show a cable of some sort running through the anchorage. Those of you who have been reading these Crew Logs will know that we seem to have a knack for snagging cables. Sure enough, we found another one!
We motored sailed the entire way between Rock Sound and Governor’s Harbor in light, to no wind. As we entered the harbor we took careful note on the chart for where the cable was. We dropped the anchor and pulled back to set it. The boat slid back about 20 – 30 feet and came to an abrupt stop. I knew this wasn’t a proper anchor set and we had more than likely snagged a cable or an old mooring line.
I hoisted the anchor and it started to groan under the strain, a sure sign that we snagged something. I pulled it up and sure enough, we had a 3 inch cable or rope on our anchor.
Normally, you release the anchor by pulling up on the shank. However, if the anchor snags, pulling on the shank doesn’t allow the anchor to unhook itself. The fluke simply rotates around whatever it’s snagged on. In some anchorages we have used a “trip line” attached to a float, particularly on sections of the ICW or on any anchorage in Florida, where there is likely to be a submerged tree or, in the case of Florida, a sunken boat or other garbage. If your anchor snags, you can pull up on the trip line and release the anchor by pulling the fluke off in reverse.
If you don’t have a trip line, the only way to unfoul the anchor is to dive down and physically release it, or in the worse case scenario, lose your anchor and chain. In all 3 times that we’ve snagged, we were lucky. We snagged a cable or rope that we could pull up to the surface. The challenge then is, how to get it off, given the strain the boat is putting on the cable. Sadly, we have gotten pretty good at getting ourselves unhooked.
We have an electric windlass (winch) to hoist the anchor and chain. If I am being honest, I am not sure we could do what we do, without the windlass. We bring the anchor up as high as we can and attach a line around the cable. We then put the boat in forward and move ahead slowly as we lower the anchor. When the anchor is free from the cable, we release the line and drop the cable. Fortunately for us, we had Adanaco to help us get the rope around the cable in Norfolk and Anodyne to help us here in Governor’s Harbor, while I managed things on deck and Judy ran the boat. We were on our own in Cape May.
We have gotten good at it, but our luck is going to run out one of these days. We have started to use the trip line if there are reported risks, or we avoid anchoring in some areas all together. However today, we eventually successfully anchored, and could now enjoy whatever Governor’s Harbor had to offer. More importantly, we were reunited with Anodyne after several weeks of travelling in different directions. It was great to see Corky and Alex again.
Judy joined Anodyne on a hike to the ocean side to the pink sand beach and swim, while I stayed behind and lugged water and fuel. There is no marina here, so the only way to top up the fluids is to “jug it” with 5 gallon jugs. Fortunately, both the fuel and water were within easy walking distance. The pink sand beach was not. It is not uncommon here however, for a car or golf cart to stop and offer you a ride, which was exactly what happened to Judy and Anodyne on their way back from the beach.
That evening we were invited over to sv Marnie, a 62 foot custom wooden ketch, owned by Walter and Dana from Norfolk. The boat was built in New Zealand and brought to the US west coast, where Walter bought it over 25 years ago. The boat is a beautiful work of art and is finished inside with Kauri wood, only found in New Zealand.
Due to the tree’s large size, kauri is nearly always clear and knot-less, with minimal wastage. Some pieces of kauri may exhibit a shimmering grain figure that’s commonly referred to as “whitebait”, named for the iridescent appearance of schools of whitebait fish seen in the waters of New Zealand. Apparently, all the wood on Marnie came from a single kauri tree.
The following morning, while having an impromptu meeting with Anodyne, another cruiser, paddled over on his kayak. John is from Alaska and was on sv Siren, a Corsair 31 trimaran that he trailered over 6,000 miles from Alaska to Florida. He had crew on board, but it seemed odd that he seemed to be avoiding them. Finally, Judy went over to say hello and found herself in the middle of a mess. Oh the drama on the high seas!
Less dramatic but slightly terrifying, was watching the kids on a sailing catamaran, OZ, swing from the spinnaker halyard from one side of the boat to the other. It must have been their home schooling, physical education class. They were sure enjoying themselves! Not to be out done, Judy climbed the mast to repair our lazy jack lines.
In the afternoon, we treated ourselves to lunch at the French Leave Resort with the crew from Anodyne, after which we headed into town to go to the fish market. The market is actually just a fish cleaning station on the side of the road and has no real schedule. We asked one of the locals when the fishermen might be back with fresh fish, to which he replied, “…well they ain’t down there looking at their watches…”. It’s better if you say it with a Bahamian accent. I guess they were on “island time”.
Fish-less, we made our way to the “super market” to pick up a few provisions. In the evening we had a Ukulele Jam Session on Anodyne, although I am sure Corky and I enjoyed it more than Alex and Judy. It was my first duo uke session.
We were heading down the coast to Hatchet Bay in the morning. The Bay is a manmade harbor and the safest in Eleuthera. It also is home to Emmet, a local legend.
But more about that, next time.
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