Big Sand Cay - More Type 2 Fun
As noted in our previous post, our backup anchor was holding us in place but mostly because it had been lodged on a rock. The time had come to figure out how to get it up again, as we decided to move on to Big Sand Cay, the best island to stage our crossing over to Luperon from. We had some decent conditions, so we decided to go for it!
Michael had devised a plan; he would get into the dinghy with CK steering, and he would pull up the chain and anchor into the dinghy, then board the boat that I was steering (as w would be off the bottom) and then pull it all onto the deck. He would first have to dive down and untangle the anchor from the rock. I had no better ideas so went along with it!
It all went according to plan. The dive down (20 ft) was a little deeper than expected, so that Michael, ‘thought he wouldn’t make it back up on the 3rd dive’. Freaky! Then, when he was in the dinghy at the part where he needs to pull the anchor back on deck, he slipped and landed on his side, cracking his ribs. This was VERY sore. He didn’t drop the anchor though! We were off to big sand Cay in not the greatest conditions, doing another 20 nm of easting, into the wind. So another motor sailing day. This thorny path is full of them!
We were beating into the wind and waves, so the bow of the boat was going up and down pretty wildly, which means sea spray comes into the boat and also into our bed. Sleeping in the salon again.
About ¾ of the way there, the bilge alarm started to sound. Our electric bilge must always be pumped manually, by design so that you know if there is a problem. I pumped the bilge for a while then looked into the bilge to see how much water was left, and was greeted with the sight of a massacre – the oil absorbant pillow we have there had been disloged due to the rough seas, had tangled on the prop shaft and burst everywhere. Bits of feathers were everywhere, and they had clogged the bilge through hull. Shoot!
We tried the manual bilge in the cockpit but it seemed to have the same problem. So I got Christian to help me and we got our 3 buckets out, and another Ryobi electric pump we have onboard. We started pumping out the water and then throwing them overboard, which worked great until the pump stopped working. We then needed to find the super simple manual bilge pump and started filling buckets with that. We were able to get ahead of it and did about 20 bucket loads, with Michael’s help in the cockpit. We were able to get back underway and keep inching our way over to Big Sand Cay. We only needed to repeat the exercise once more, before we were able to anchor off of the gorgeous and very remoter sand island, the only boat there, just before sunset. Another crisis averted.
Thankful to have 2 days to rest and relax, the next day we went ashore (after CK and I cleaned all the feathers out of the bilge!) and took a walk around the island. We pulled the dinghy super high onto the beach, secured it with the anchor, and another piece of rope tied to a log. We set off in our shore gear – socks & shoes, bathing suites, sun hats and sunglasses – quite the look. Only the birds seemed to mind. We beachcombed and climbed up to the top of the island that has some old army built structures, checked out the wild east coast. There was one area that had an old wooden boat washed onshore, that had some tarps covering it and was strewn with open tin cans & waterbottles – left by Haitian Refugees? We were thoroughly enjoying our wander on the deserted island when Michael and Christian called out – our dingy was almost washing away!! Michael got in the water as fast as he could and swam out to save the dinghy- it was 20 ft offshore and only barely holding on with the anchor! The other line had snapped apparently. A very close call.
The next day, all 3 of our buddy boats showed up one by one. We were alone no longer. Flo and I had been looking for cool shells and enjoying swimming while the guys took off on another explore of the southern part of the island. No way we were leaving our dinghy unattended again! See, we do learn from our mistakes!!
