Day 274
April 10,
2016
NM Today: 0
NM Total:
4167
The alarm went off at 6:30 as per usual these days. Clark
got up to listen to the weather report on the shortwave radio. He came back to
bed shortly thereafter and said that no one came on the radio. “Oh”, I said,
“It’s Sunday. No broadcast on Sundays. I forgot.” I reset my phone alarm for
8:00, so we could try for the VHF report on channel 6 from Highborne Cay Marina
at least to have some idea what weather to expect today. At 7:55 my alarm went
off again and Clark went to hear the 8:00 report. Well, I guess no one operates
in the Bahamas on Sundays because that report never happened either.
No internet, no phone, no radio stations worth listening to,
and no shortwave or VHF reports either! So much for knowing the weather report
for travel purposes. Tomorrow is another day and since it is a Monday, we will
be able to get the shortwave 6:30 report then. Meanwhile, since we already
signed up for today, we could just sit back and relax.
The boat was still rocking but was at least calm enough that
I could do the pile of dishes stored up from yesterday. We ran the generator to
give the battery a boost, and while that was running, I turned on my ice maker.
I managed to produce just enough ice to make that cold glass of iced tea I
wanted before Clark turned off the generator. If I can’t get enough sleep, then
at least the iced tea helps me make it through the day.
With no plans for today whatsoever, I decided to catch up on
my blog. I could not post any, but I could decide which pictures to include and
do the write up in preparation for internet in the future. I suggested to Clark that he pull out his
guitar, and he said he had been thinking of doing just that. He took his guitar
up top and disappeared for the better part of the day. I called him down for
lunch at some point, and afterwards he disappeared up top once more.
During the course of the day Clark called the park warden for
our next stop on the VHF radio to see about making a reservation for a mooring.
The park warden put us on his list for tomorrow should we decide to come and
told Clark to listen for his mooring assignment at 9:00 a.m. on Monday. He told
Clark that at that time he could inform the park ranger on whether or not he
planned to accept that assignment or defer until Tuesday should he decide to
wait another day before venturing onwards.
The park warden was kind enough to give Clark some details
on weather. Although the trip to the next stop is only around two hours in
length, there is a section that may be unpleasant with strong winds. Based on
input from the park warden, it sounded like waiting might be the better
alternative. Having the option to go or stay and wait to make that decision
Monday morning sounded like a great plan.
It sounded from what Clark said that he planned to stay at
this anchorage for one additional day. Given that the violent rocking ceased, I
was ambivalent regarding going or staying. The only issue with this anchorage
and staying another day that I could see was the great potential for boredom.
Once more I opened up my Dell puzzle magazine in hopes of passing some time.
Mid-to-late afternoon Clark saw a sailboat heading into the
anchorage. The name of the sailing vessel, La
Spirita di Stella, in combination with the red, white, and green flag on
the stern clearly indicated our new neighbor ventured here from Italy. One
gentleman on board sported a tricorn hat and another a red, white, and green
wooly hat. I think that the type of hat worn by a person tends to say a lot
about that person’s personality. I immediately concluded that these two at
least were extraverts.
Clark told me he planned to call them to get an update on
travel conditions. “Wait until they’re settled at least. It looks like they are
still trying to get set for the night”, I said. “I need to get them while they
still have their radio on. I wonder if they speak English”, he responded as he
headed back up top to give them a call on VHF.
As he spoke to them I could hear their strong
Italian-accented English. They told him they had come from the Emerald Rock
mooring field near Warderick Wells Cay. For their travel along the west side of
the cays, they had no wave action worries. However, we needed to pass through
Warderick Cut which would be exposed to the strong easterly winds. The report
they gave Clark said that it was “kicking up” out there. (Clark’s
interpretation of their input.) That input reinforced Clark’s decision to stay
yet another night at this anchorage.
Ho hum! Clark went back to his guitar and I went back to my
puzzles. I worked on the cryptogram puzzles today. Back over 40 years ago my
brother-in-law, Jim, explained some of the reasoning behind solving them, and
now they are among my favorite type of word puzzle. Though most of the quotes
revealed are mundane, I really liked the quote that appeared as a solution to
one of them.
“An artist lowers a
net of imagination into a sea of possibilities and brings it up full to the
brim with ideas.”
A while later I heard some yelling outside of our boat, and then
I heard Clark pound down the stairs. It appeared that our Italian neighbors had
come to call on us to say hello. I gathered from the visit that they liked
Clark’s reaching out to them and decided to come talk in person. Several
persons, all male except one female, sat in their dinghy and held onto the side
of Sea Moss as they bobbed there
talking to Clark.
I could see and hear from the sofa, so as lazy as it sounds,
I continued to sit on the sofa and listened to their conversation without getting
involved. In their heavily-accented
English, they told Clark that they had sailed the boat here from Italy five
years ago. The owner of the boat, Mr. Stella, is disabled and has special
mechanisms to assist him into and out of the boat. His crew is swapped out
regularly, and he offers trips to other disabled folks. At the moment, however,
he said he was on vacation. Clark gathered that the lone female was either the
owner’s wife or his girlfriend.
We learned that La Spirita
di Stella means “the soul of Stella (star)” – a lovely name for a boat
where the owner’s name is Stella. They told Clark that they had just come from
the lower end of Hawksbill Cay and told him we needed to go see it for
ourselves at low tide. They said, “It is the most beautiful cay in all of the
Bahamas.” I heard Clark ask them if we could still go today, but they said to
wait until low tide tomorrow as it was getting late.
They asked Clark where he hailed from and then Clark
explained all about coming from New Jersey, up through Canada, down the rivers,
across the Gulf, through Florida to here. His description was, of course, much
longer and more detailed than my summary would have been. They loved it as, I
expect, they saw in Clark another adventurous boater such as themselves though
cruising the Great Loop is nothing compared to sailing to Florida (their next
destination) from Italy.
 |
| La Spirita di Stella from Italy |
As they talked, Clark pointed out how international our
anchorage had become sans any Bahamians. The boat moored on the opposite side
to us hailed from Canada.
 |
| Compass Rose X from Canada |
After they left Clark asked me if I wanted to go explore the
area they had mentioned. By now, however, the clock showed 5:30. Knowing it
takes 20 minutes to deploy the dinghy and, with the slow speed we travel,
another 20 or so minutes to get to our destination, plus another 20 minutes to
clean up the dinghy when we returned, I said, “Not tonight.” Having sat around
all day I should have jumped at the chance to get out, but I felt it was too
close to dinner time, and I just could not muster up the energy to go exploring
today. Laziness apparently feeds on
itself as the more I sit the more I want to just sit.
Clark had gone back to his guitar yet again. I could not
believe that he spent most of the day playing it. I wondered how his fingers
were holding up. At some point he came down and started the generator which I
used to cook dinner. Tonight I made chicken and vegetable fried rice using left
over rice from a day or two ago. Since the generator was going I tried to make
more ice, but ultimately Clark did not leave the generator running long enough
for me to stockpile much of it. Perhaps I have enough for one more glass of
iced tea if I let the tea cool before dropping in the ice!
As sunset approached the sky gave us a mysterious showing.
The pictures appear almost to be in black and white due to lighting effects.
Quite unusual!
 |
| Sunset Approaching |
 |
| Sunset Getting Closer |
 |
| Sunset at Hawksbill Cay |
After dinner I pulled out some embroidery work that I
remembered I had brought along for just such a case of total boredom. I started
working on it in the cabin, but Clark invited me to bring it up top to enjoy
the evening. I moved up top and Clark brought his mp3 player along. I sewed until the light became too dim for me
to see my stitches. At that point Clark turned on the newly installed light on
the fly bridge, and I could see to sew after that until we decided to retire
for the night.
As I crawled into bed, I noted that the time showed 9:30.
“We’re getting like old sea dogs”, I thought to myself – up at 6:30 and in bed
by 9:30.
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