The sea conditions of the days leading up to our departure were similar to those we had prior to our washing machine adventure back in 2009, but, the Atlantic had more time exposed to light winds when we finally left. The winds were out of the South West again. Terrific we thought. Winds out of the West and a rising tide out of the East into North Bar Channel. But with a certain amount of indifference we pulled out of Hope Town an hour after low tide and headed South. On this passage between Lubbers Quarters and Elbow Cay we left two small patches of sand plumes in our wake as opposed to a sand churn a quarter of a mile long. Just a bit better at hitting the magenta line between Elbow and Lubbers Quarters I guess. Once out on the Sea of Abaco "proper" we hit the wind chop that stayed with us for the rest of the trip. No big deal, about a foot or two of chop out of the West. All reminiscent of '09. But we kept on going and once we rounded Tiloo Bank and headed to Pelican this was behind us and the ride was actually quite smooth. Not that it was that rough earlier on the Sea of Abaco, the water worked with us instead of slapping us on the side. Since we were now aligned against the tide running into North Bar, our speed slowed about a knot but we kept plodding along. Amazingly and in contrast to our expectations, once we rounded Channel Cay all we had to work against was the wind chop out of the West, and this was when the tide was running into the inlet with an opposing wind. Cool, and that worked for us!
Hooked up to our high end mooring at Pete's Pub it was time to relax and settle into a different, no, eccentric environment where the main street is about 10 feet wide and composed of powder soft sand. In all fairness the moorings at Pete's are well maintained and stout. I am thinking the anchor used is a full yard of concrete and part of ours is visible in the upper right hand corner of the photo. We had absolutely no concerns using the mooring. Little Harbour is well protected on all sides, and with the secure mooring there was nothing to worry about.
Well almost nothing to worry about. We were getting ready to have lunch at Pete's (by the way, they have awesome fish sandwiches) which meant making sure the boat was secure and we had all we needed. Check the lines to the mooring, get the travel bag ready and start to go down the side ladder into the dink when Deb asks, "Hey, isn't that boat is drifting?" So I turned around and looked out the port side wing door with her and said, "That's a 55 or so Ocean Alexander motor yacht". A 1997 copy could be had for about 1/2 a million. This was a more recent edition. No way anyone would be dumb enough to let that slip off a mooring. It just doesn't happen. So we stood there another moment or two watching and it dawned on me that yes, this boat was moving. I said, "Hmm. It looks like the engines aren't running, Holy Crap it IS ADRIFT!". Ok, perhaps there is a certain amount of editorial license in the vocabulary representing the expression of surprise. But, and you knew this was coming, I am sure you got my drift.So we threw our stuff into the dink and chased down this boat which weighs in at about 20 tons with our 18HP dink. Yeah, sure. We got this. So I grabbed the errant line hanging off the bow and started to turn the boat which was about to lean on another boat at anchor. It was a futile exercise as with the wind all we could do was slow it down. Fortunately another center console saw we were in trouble and stopped by. Between the two of us we managed to pull the boat away from the sail boat and stabilize the situation. We were shouting at each other about how to proceed when this man comes out to the bow of the boat and asks, "What the heck is going on here?".
I was going to say we were hijacking your boat and taking it to Cuba to facilitate some illegal immigration (good money in that I hear) but I elected to "fill him in". After some hurried and tense discussion he offered up the notion that he should start up his engines. We all agreed with some sarcastic enthusiasm. You know, like no kidding Sherlock? Ya think? Once all tide up again, Deb and I went to lunch where the crowd at Pete's Pub was sitting back with beers and their signature drink the "Blaster" enjoying the show. They say no good deed goes unpunished so I am wondering how this will be rewarded.
It's all good and after a dinner with friends at their house we decided that with the calm water and rising tide we should head out into the Bight of Old Robinson for some exploration with the dink. Over the years we have always wanted to get into the tidal areas West of the Bight. This stay lined up well with tide coming in later in the afternoon and light winds. So I fired up Google Earth and located what I thought were three Blue Holes, saved their locations and plotted some courses into our hand held Garmin GPS. Some times I impress even myself. I was three for three and we floated over three rather large blue holes with incoming tide. They are most impressive geological structures and they beg you to jump in and snorkel or dive them. We stuck to the look bucket to play it safe and while at the last of the three Jan saw this monument in the distance so we investigated it. As it turned out, we were over the very spot the three poor souls passed on at, on their anniversary of April 2. Spooky to say the least. I mean, really. I did not know about this event or where it happened and we wound up there that day. Glad we didn't dive the site and our hearts went out to the families involved. I'd say we spent more than several minutes paying our respects. If you want to explore these sites open up the Voyage 2012 tracks and select "Blue Hole Dink". If you play the track this would be the last blue hole we visited. On this somber note we left the tidal areas, and went back to Little Harbour.Closing out the days spent at Little Harbour we realized that even though we brought Freedom down, spent three nights on a mooring ball, ate lunch out, and had a small bar bill, we had a great time for less money than it took to rent the Albury 20' for a day and the ride back through North Bar was calm. So it was "all good".
Settling back into life at Hope Town, we attended a Light House lighting, and watched the full moon dink drift go by but that's a matter for another entry.
