1/18/01 Marsh Harbour -
Well, getting to Marsh Harbour today ended up being one of those little adventures that seem to keep popping up on this trip. I left Green Turtle by myself - Agassiz and Naiad were staying at Green Turtle for a couple of days and I wanted to get to Marsh. So this would be my first time really on my own - no crew, no buddy-boat, just me. But that was no problem, even with a broken autopilot. Marsh Harbor was 20 miles or so from Green Turtle, just half a days run, even if it did include Whale Cay Passage. (a 3 mile dogleg out to the Atlantic, around Whale Cay. In rough conditions it has claimed freighters. Someone screws up every year and needs to,be rescued, usually at great risk to the rescuers...)
Well, my day got off to a pretty bad start. I ran hard aground in the entrance channel to White Sound. (Smack in the middle of the channel, right between the markers, and in the same spot - by GPS - that I crossed yesterday.) Of course, now it was on a low, but, rising, tide. I tried to use the engine to back off, but no good. So there I was, stuck sideways in the 45' wide channel in a 38' long boat. I knew the tide would lift me off, and probably fairly soon, but I did not want to sit there and be the cause of seagoing traffic jam. Just then, Roger and Dana come around the point in a dinghy, returning from New Providence. Roger took my anchor out and dropped it and I was able to kedge off. (I could have managed it myself, but it goes a LOT faster with 3 people...)
A little humbled, I continued on my way to Marsh, enjoying the 10-15 kt breeze which was on the nose, which unfortunately precluded any sailing. The wind slowly began to build to about 20 kts, but the sea was not too choppy, just tedious going, motoring dead into the wind and waves. I was getting a little concerned about Whale Cay, but the morning Cruiser's Net had reported it to be calm, so I thought I would at least take a look. I got close enough to scan it with binoculars and it looked fine so I continued on ready to spin around and head back if I didn't like the way things looked. But it was no problem at all, I have seen worse conditions in 20 kts on the Chesapeake Bay. Greatly relieved, I rounded Whale Cay and ducked,back into the Sea of Abaco . 10 miles to Marsh Harbour on a straight line and I'm in Fat City!!
Now for cruisers like me, navigation in the Abacos is by using the GPS and waypoints from charts and cruising guides. Just go from point to point and generally you are OK if your charts and guides are recent, and mine were.
So as I was returning to the Sea of Abaco, I was startled to see a bunch of pilings, not on the chart I was using, with no markings, but obviously marking a channel of some sort. The GPS course led right down the channel, so that made sense; but the really disturbing thing was the small island (100 yards by 50 - plenty large to show on the chart) to starboard that was also NOT on the chart. And in looking closer at the chart at the course ahead, wondering what else was not on that chart, I notice that the course marked on the chart takes me across a 3 ft shoal, and I need 5 feet of depth. Now, by landmarks and the GPS, I know where I am, but by now I'm totally unsure about that chart. Also realize that I'm trying to steer my boat into 20 kt wind and seas, stay on course, not hit pilings ,and read a chart and GPS carefully while not letting it blow overboard. The chart I was using is a large chartbook, inside a plastic sleeve. So I was passing the anchorage at Baker's Bay, which was not protected at all in this wind, but I decided to stop there briefly to look at the charts carefully. I got anchored quickly - what a relief to be able to sit in relative peace for a moment. I checked the small scale chart page of that area and sure enough, the small 'spoil island' was there as well as the channel markers - great, but I was past those already. But it also showed good water all the way to Marsh - OK, now one says yes and one says no... So I got out another guidebook and checked it, and it showed the shoal to port, but well clear of my course. Of course it did show a submerged rock to starboard of my course, not shown on the other charts, but the direct course was clear... So it was up anchor and on to Marsh Harbour, watching the depthsounder like a hawk all the way and arriving without incident.
Since I got there 30 minutes before the start of happy hour at the Jib Room, ($7 and open bar!), and feeling like I deserved a treat, I cleaned up, got into the dinghy and went over. I ended up getting fairly lit with a bunch of cruisers, moving on to another bar, (after a side trip trying to find my dark boat in the now dark harbor - I had forgotten to turn on an anchor light...) But I met some great people that evening. Some cruisers , a science fiction author, a whale reseacher, some paid crew on a charter schooner....all in all a great night.
Just another day in Abaco...
