Gone with the wind

 It seems that every weekend there is a major blow that pins us to an anchorage a lot longer than planned.

Last week, heavy winds were forecasted for Sunday. We wouldn’t be able to move until the following Tuesday or Wednesday because we needed to wait for the sea to calm down. It had been 5 days already that we were in this small town on Cat Island and looking at possibly another 5 days. Not a lot to do in this  area nor did it have many restaurants, groceries, fuel or water to fill out tanks. 

There was a one day window to cross a big exposed section of the Atlantic to another island that is much bigger with lots of services, hiking trails, farmers market and more. 

The decision was made. We would do a 10 to 12 hour day and get to Long Island before the next big blow. 

Always before heading out, we check long term weather, the direction of the winds, currents, tides etc. This time of the year the winds are mostly south-east so when anchoring we look for areas that will give us protection from  that direction. Thompson Bay did offer protection from that direction so off we go.....

One hour out, the boat was rocking to and fro, things were  flying below. No matter how you think you’ve secured everything, there’s always something that was forgotten or shifted.  Coming back up to the cockpit I was horrified to see waves 6 to 8 feet crashing on the bow. The forecast was way off. This was not the calm sea we had expected  and the winds were 5 to 8 kts more than predicted.

These waves were probably the biggest that we’ve encountered since the beginning of our journey last year. It’s difficult to really convey an image of  giant waves building up and the boat is literally lifted up then comes crashing down and lifted again a few seconds later. 

Our GPS was showing that it would take us hours more to get to our destination arriving probably in the dark.

The decision to turn around was a no brainer.

Stayed 10 days at our anchorage. What’s a week and a half at the same spot versus hours of sheer terror. 😰😱.

So our new rules before we’ll consider lifting our anchor : waves that are no more  than 2 to 4 feet.  Winds 15 knots or less (especially less) . No night passage if we can avoid it. Leave at day light. And last but not least, always have cold beer for our arrival at anchorage 😂🍺 of course this is all in a perfect world 🌎 lol 

So we eventually arrived at  Thompson Bay  where we are currently waiting out heavy winds for the next 3 days. Oh and by the way, we’ll probably be here next weekend as well....you guessed it..... another blow in the forecast 🤪

Oh well games of dominoes, movies and popcorn goes a long way to past the time sitting on the boat during a blow 😂

Fortunately there is quite a lot more to do on this Island. The only thing missing is a  laundry facility. Guess I’ll be washing by hand for a while.

Cheers 

Mike and Pierrette

Cheri, send me your email address