Adventures of Tom, Jan and Peanut: 01/03/14

PORT LUCAYA

May 17-19th

We left Great Sale and headed for the Lacayan canal. We now had a better understanding of the tides so we knew we had to time our entry to high tide. We inched our way in making sure we stayed squarely between the markers. Once in we again enjoyed the hour ride through the canal. our conversation was the same. What a great place it would be to live if they had the money to put in a taller bridge and keep the entrance dredged. Since we were on a time schedule and could not stay and enjoy Port Lacaya on our way through to Marsh Harbour we had already decided to stay a couple of days on the trip back.

We anchored in one of the bays that wasn't to far from the marina, settled in and went ashore. I checked out the shops while Tom visited with people from one of the benches. I returned to find Tom visiting with a local gentlemen. He talked about how they rely on the American tourists and do not want anything to happen that would stop us from coming. While visiting I dropped the straw to my drink. He insisted on walking over to the booth for another despite the fact that it was about a block away. We thanked him for his kindness and he again thanked us for visiting Port Lacaya.

On our second day we took a bus to a flea market slash shopping area. We were the only nonbahamians on the bus. I am not sure if I looked nervous or what but the young man sitting in front of us turned around in his seat and asked how we were being treated during our visit. He also reiterated that it is important for the Bahamians to treat us nicely because we are vital to their economy. When we returned to the boat we found it surrounded by jelly fish! I very carefully climbed out of the dingy and made sure Peanut did the same. Originally Tom said he was going to go for a swim when we returned to the boat but changed his mind when he saw the jellies.

The canal

A scary day on the water!

Tues. May 15th, 2012

Storms rolled on by our anchorage yesterday afternoon and evening. The majority out in the distance provided quite a light show. One squall did pass overhead but we enjoyed the fresh water bath it provided for Laughter.

Today was one of those experiences that causes you to think about the need to have all your affairs in order. .A bit of an exaggeration, maybe, but when the weather turns ugly and mother nature is in control rather than you many things start to cross your mind.

Sitting on the beach when black thunderheads roll across the water and waves of blinding rain that hide the horizon pass in the distance is fascinating to watch but to find yourself in its midst is another story. This morning looked as if cloudy skies would prevail but no sight of a storm so we pulled anchor and headed out. it looked as if we would might catch up and follow several sail boats that were off in the distance. We were about a mile out of the anchorage when the first squall came into sight. We put the pedal to the metal, so to speak, to out run it and were successful. Once we knew it was behind us Tom put out the fishing lines hoping to catch dinner sometime during the 35 mile trip to Great Sale Cay, All was going well until we made our turn, the sky directly in front of us was black! A few moments later Tom spotted a water spout forming. It too was now in our path. There were three boats in front of us, chattering on the radio about what to do. Two of them choose to keep going through the squall. About the same time we spotted a second larger water spout. At that point the third boat, a trawler turned coming toward us. He was going to attempt to go behind this storm. We chose to do the same. We came around the back side, turned and headed toward clear sky’s. I started to relax but it only lasted a few minutes..It was apparent that we were going to catch the tail end of the squall. The wind kicked up and Laughter bounced and rolled as we found ourselves in the midst of rain so intense we could barely see the bow of the boat. Somewhere out there were several large rocks that we had to keep well off our port side and we had to rely on our chart plotter and radar to make sure we kept them there. Thankfully the intense rain only lasted a short time.

We were the 5th boat to pull into the anchorage late this afternoon. The sky’s behind us still black the thunder loud and the lightning bright. We were thankful that our experience with the squall only involved intense rain. We watched as boat after boat appeared from under the squall line as if they were passing through a curtain on a huge stage. By nightfall there were 14 boats in the anchorage.

We are often asked if we were ever afraid on our travels. Today I was.

Adding our name to the famous boaters tree on Allen Pensacola

May 13-14, 2012

A visit to Allen Pensacola was a must. On the Cay was a tree that was the home of a hundred plus signs made from material found on the beach. Each sign had the name of the person or persons, their boat and the date they visited. Some were on the tree, others around it. The tree was located on the ocean side of the Cay. We had to walk the distance on a narrow sandy path with many branches of unknown bushes and trees hanging in our path. This made me a bit nervous as I did not want to come in contact with a poison tree. The result was a rash much worse than poison ivy and known to reappear several times after you thought it was finally gone.

We packed a small cooler with water, took a marker for writing our name and went to shore. The start of the path had been decorated with floats, ropes and such that people had found which was helpful. it was a warm day and the walk was a long one. Fortunately with the overhanging trees and bushes we were not in the sun the entire time. Once on the ocean side we explored the area. The beach was covered in drift wood and there was quite a bit of debris, making it easy to find a suitable piece to write our name on, decorate it with bits of rope and place it on an agreed upon spot on the tree. We spent a little time reading all the other signs finding several people that we knew. Peanut played and played on the beach. When it was time to head back she started to slow down, then would stop and vomit. By now it had to be 90 degrees, and i was really afraid she was overheating. after the second time she stopped and vomited I picked her up and carried her back to the dingy. Tom put her in the water to cool her body temperature down and we headed back to the boat. Once on the boat she drank some water and found a place in the breeze to rest. By nightfall she was back to her old self, thank goodness.