Day 194, Thursday Jan. 2 2014

Day 194, Thursday Jan. 2 2014

Bruise on Julie's foot

Well we head out early as we need to test our repair (royal “we” on repair).  Yesterday we did not have a choice to slow down as then it would be nightfall by the time we pulled into the anchorage so we wanted to get away early enough in case there was a slow leak at high RPM’s.  Once again the wind is on the nose.  This makes for a lousy passage which is unfortunate.  We would choose to go elsewhere or delay for better winds, but Kevin and Casey only have a week with us and we want to get to Staniel Cay to see the swimming pigs so we will endure a lousy passage. There are areas with coral heads so Julie is anxious and takes bow watch in some high waves.  While coming back to the cockpit a large wave causes the boat to jiggle and a misstep on some nasty tackle.  Julie has a bo bo in a spot that does not bruise very easily.  Ouch!

Kevin and iguanas at Allen's Cay

Up close and personal

Casey takes a Dramamine for seasickness and she slept most of the way.  The trip seemed very long.  We did put up the main for stabilization and for a part of the trip the jib went up too, but it still seemed like a long passage.  We pulled into the anchorage around 1:30, and touched the keel in a sandy spot which we were able to easily back off and stay a bit more to the west and sneak into the anchorage.  There was a strong current which was new to us for anchoring.  Once we were satisfied we were hooked, we dinghied to shore to find the famous prehistoric iguanas.  We could see them on the beach before we even landed.  They were large.  10-20 pounds with pink toned necks.  They would walk right up to us, but we would back off and/or discourage their friendship.  There were about 50 of these iguanas and there was some hierarchy to them as they would chase each other and nip at each other.  It was quite funny to watch.  Since we wanted to spread a towel and play on the beach we decided to go to another b each.  We dinghied across the bay, but this beach was small, and the water was not as inviting, so we headed to another beach, but the iguanas came over as soon as we landed.    Oh well, we could swim off the boat.

Casey's opinion of Iguanas

Large powerboat that had anchored too close

We dinghied back to the mothership and then Kevin and Casey went for a dinghy explore.  A large power boat came and anchored beside us.  It was close by our standards but of course we just watched and decided we would wake up for the current change to ensure we would not collide.  It is odd anchoring in the tidal current.   The currents force the boats position vs. the wind, so the anchor ends up under the boat some times and when the tide changes then the boat shifts.   We have always had lovely breezes through the boat hatches but with the current the wind can be opposite or sideways to the direction of the boat.  No breeze, bumpy and leaning sometimes.  Anyways after about 20 minutes we look up and we are starting to swing over towards this large boat.  We head to our bow and give a shout to the neighbours and they agree they will move (after questioning if we are “dragging” even though we would be “dragging” up current.  Made no sense.  It was taking them 15 minutes or so to get ready to move and we started swinging over again so that Julie actually had to push off of the back of the huge, beautiful blue hulled boat by leaning over our bow pulpit.  (Their captain had to use the head prior to moving and left his 100 pound wife to fend off the 40,000 pound boat).  Anyways it was rather exciting, and would have hurt them more than us.

We spend a quiet evening with lots of starts and a Cheshire cat smile moon playing some euchre.  We have also found our dominoes and competition for domino dominance also begins.

Cheers

Julie and Dawson