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Another fine day so we pulled up the anchors at 9 and motor sailed NW. The
wind was SE at 10 Kt. Several other boats were headed in the same direction
including the other Sabre. A number of boats were anchored in Bakers Bay on the
northern end of MOW and the other Sabre headed that way also. The seas were flat
but there was a 2’ swell outside of Whale Cay. There were about a dozen boats
anchored off Plymouth. We followed another sailboat into Black sound and found
plenty of room to anchor. From outside it looked like it was stuffed but lots of
masts were in the marinas and at the docks and the sound itself was relatively
open. A catamaran which had capsized a few days before on the Whale Cay passage
was at one of the docks. The mast was hanging over the side and the stanchions
on one side were bent. The hard bimini cover was bashed in. In a discussion
about the accident the skipper said he was sailing in 20-25 Kt winds and a
strong gust or microburst hit the boat. Before they could release the sails or
round up it went over. Several boats saw the accident and rescued the people,
nobody was hurt but they lost passports and other personal possessions. The wind
in the anchorage was stronger, 15-20 Kt from the SE but it is a very protected
anchorage and we will have a pleasant evening although we could see an
impressive display of lightning after the sun went down, it was not close to us.
( See the previous Saturday)
We had a beautiful motor sail from Guana Cay to Little Turtle Cay and New Plymouth. We anchored in Black Sound. Grassy bottom, but looked good - not too crowded. There is a very narrow channel to get into Black Sound. There are new houses and numerous new docks. We went past the point that is New Plymouth to get in here. The town looks newly painted with beautiful pastels. We played card and rested. I made us stew for supper with some of our fresh vegetables. I dragged my line to get here, but got no bites. In the morning we will go to town. We have a stack of cards to send and exploring to do!
We motored to the town dock in the morning before it got too hot and walked
around the town. The project to build a park by filling in the center of the
harbor is progressing slowly. It is partially filled in and bulwarked. The town
is neat and clean and painted as usual. Several new roads have been built and
lots of new houses on the outskirts and around Black Water sound and on the
ocean side. We visited the shop of a model ship builder and spent some time
reading in the town library. We ate lunch at the Island restaurant which is on
the second story above a grocery store. We went thru the museum and sculpture
garden again. We had a few drinks at the Blue Bee Bar and found Chuck’s card
from Sailorman tacked on the wall, several of them actually, he must do a lot of
drinking there. We bought ice cream cones and headed back to the boat. I bought
ice and gas for the outboard and then we had dinner and watched a spectacular
lightning show to the S and W. Lightning would arc from cloud to cloud across
half the sky and big bright bolts would go from cloud to ground but it all
seemed to be a ways away and soon it was mostly N of us. It was after dinner and
we were thinking about going to bed when the wind hit us. It started blowing
hard from the NW. It was quite dark and we could only see during the lightning
flashes. One boat honked and we saw that we were dragging. I tried to pull up
the anchor and reset it. At one point we drifted between another anchored boat
and a boat at a dock. I felt the anchor dig in but it still dragged and we ended
up in the shallows surrounded by mangroves. The boat leaned over to the wind but
when the storm passed in a few minutes the boat was standing upright but we
could see a sand bank a few feet away. I got in the dingy and put out the second
anchor and then reset the main anchor. We lead the second anchor to the sheet
winch to hold the back of the boat away from the sand bank. The fortunate thing
about our situation was that we did not hit anything but mud and it was almost
low tide. After tightening the anchors we retired below to play cards until the
tide came back. An hour later was low tide and about 6" lower than when we hit.
The wind now picked up from the SE at 15-20 Kt and would help push us off the
sand bank but might push us into other anchored boats also. By 1:30 AM the boat
was starting to rock a little and by tightening the anchor lines and motoring
ahead we were able to slip off eventually. We did not want to wait too long
because the moon would set at 4 and then it would be very dark. As we came free
we were able to retrieve the second anchor and then raise the main anchor and
then re-anchor. Fortunately the wind decreased and stayed mild from the SE for
the rest of the night and we gratefully fell into bed.
As we came into Black Sound we saw several bright red starfish. There are
good size small (8") fish below the boat. I will fish here, later. We walked up
and down the well kept and many new streets of New Plymouth. We took a picture
inside of Vert's Ship models. from $300 - $1600! We visited the Memorial Garden
and took a picture of some of the honored Bahamian statesmen and their bronze
statues. The statues are cast by Robert Mastin of Miami, FL. We walked along the
roads and sightseeing in the east end of New Plymouth. A sign said "Ocean Beach"
but it must have been a long way because we ended up at Black Sound (east end)
and could see about a mile further and we were hungry :). There are many
beautiful new houses, a mansion for sale. A few rentals and resorts. Rich picked
up some rental info from one. We walked back to town and ate at the Island
Restaurant. It was upstairs from a gift shop and grocery. Rich had the burger n
paradise and I had shrimp pasta. They do not catch shrimp here, so they were
tiny canned shrimp - it was good but I'll bet Rich's hamburger in paradise was
better. Smile. We bought a book at the store downstairs about a fellow who was
born and raised on Abaco "I Wanted Wings". We bought a $10 phone card at the
phone company. I want to call Christine but a fellow on the only pay phone was
on it for the long haul. We took a picture from HIGH above the town (from the
phone co.) The lady at the phone co. couldn't change $100 travelers check so
after lunch we went to the bank. They were closed. The bankers hours are Tuesday
/ Thursday 10AM - 1 PM :). We also enjoyed an hour of reading magazines at the
"Library" in 1/2 of the post office building. It's a 'traders' library and has a
few locked reference books that you can get access to a few hours a week. As we
were walking we met a cute little kindergartner and I gave her my straws. (I had
saved them off juice cartons for such a meeting). After lunch we went to the
Blue Be Bar - Mrs. Emily's. It had huge costumes that were beautifully made of
beads and paper mache and feathers and sequins. One formed huge flowers with a
big bee. The other was various faces. We had 2 of Mrs. Emily's Smashes and
helped each other walk back along the waterfront to our dingy! Oh, yes, the lady
named Betsy at the museum told us that the cellar of the museum will open in a
month. The owner's (Roberts?) gave us the "off limits" cellar tour 3 years ago.
(They have turtle catching and rope making apparatus down there - but the
building was damaged by termites.)
Excitement: We returned to the boat and rested and sun showered. I fixed supper - scalloped potatoes and sausage and soup. The 1/2+ mood was expected and we were watching for some possible sign of the meteor shower - no luck. Off to the south and west of us was a thunder cloud with gradually increasing lightning show. Rich sat on deck and was watching it for a while before we ate. It was well away from us... As we ate the lightning also seemed closer and to have more distant clouds sort of north of us. We had a little rain. Wind was blowing. It was dark because the moon went behind the clouds. Rich was looking out on deck and checking our position regularly. One time when he came in and I was finishing up the supper dishes we were reminiscing about that BIG storm we were in at Ft. Jefferson on our honeymoon... When suddenly we heard a horn blast loud. We had just closed all of the windows because the wind was blowing and it was raining harder. Lightening and thunder were near. You could only see when the lightning flashed. Rich took 2 steps back on deck and said "were dragging". He started the engine. I knew that we had been about 60 yards from 2 different boats but a few were just anchored with no lights. I could not see past my glasses except when lightning lit the sky. Rich ran forward to reset the anchor. He did. I was at the wheel. Behind us = about 60 yards I saw a dock and a boat. I was totally disoriented. I turned the wheel so that we were going to the port and away from the dock and boat but I thought we were on the opposite side of the harbor... Unknown to me I steered us away from a dock and boat on the opposite side and towards mangroves and a creek and shallows. I could see the mangroves with the light I held and occasional rapid lightning. Rich said "don't go forward because I set the anchor". Over the wind I hollered that we were still drifting towards shore... I could see nothing. It was black and pouring - Black Sound all right! We slowly backed inside some mangroves on our starboard. Port, I saw a dry hump of land! about mid beam! There was no thud - but we seemed to have stopped. Rain was cold and hard. Rich's bathing suit - drying on the line flew right past my head! Rich came back from the anchor line and turned off the engine. It was about 10:30 PM. Rich called on the radio for help - no one responded... We regrouped and evaluated and Rich set the two anchors to pull us off as the tide rose. We were at absolute low tide. The wind was still howling and moving behind us. This was good. The rain came and went. Rich put the anchors so that we would not go further towards shallows and as the tide rose we would go up and we hoped to leverage ourselves off. By midnight the winds had gone down and the rain had stopped - clouds dissipated and gave us the mood for pretty good light. We waited for higher tide. The pile of sand to the port was our marker. We faced out to the harbor. We planned to stay awake and adjust lines as needed. The 2nd anchor was to starboard. Rich put it on a winch. Both anchors were holding. Rich kept adjusting and checking. The water crawled u the marker. Rich was pretty sure that we were in mud. The prop seemed clear. Rich began manually inching off as the sand bank on our port side went under water. He alternated between tugging the anchor lien and nudging with the engine. I took the starboard anchor line slack up to keep it off the propeller. A food at a time we moved forward. About 2:30 AM we were off! Yea. Rich got anchor #2 free then and pulled up the CQR anchor and we used the bright moon light to find a spot to re-anchor near where we had been originally. We happily got dry and bedded by 4 AM.
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