Waiting for Weather

When you picture cruising, you probably imagine yourself anchored next to a gorgeous beach in crystal clear waters. While this is the goal for tropical cruising, it is not always the reality.

We are currently cruising in the Bahamas, where crystal clear waters are measured against. Every island you encounter is a magical universe unique onto itself. Yet, in this paradise, we have been confined for almost a week!

As we were sailing from Freeport to Nassau, a strong easterly wind came upon us. We nestled ourselves into the protection of Slaughter Harbor, located between Great Stirrup and Little Stirrup (Coco Cay) Cay. Both Stirrup islands are privately owned by cruise lines, so we are not allowed to step foot on their sands. This sort of makes us trapped in our own boat until the winds finish blowing.

The thing is, the winds have been blowing at 20-30 knots for the past 5 days, and seem to show little intent on letting up.

This means that we have spent the last week in our boat, waiting for weather to improve so that we can continue sailing on. Our anchorage has been a little rolly, with waves as big as 3 feet developing in the protected anchorage, but that is nothing when compared to the 8 to 16 foot waves that roll by in the deep blue waters outside of the anchorage.

Waiting for better weather is always the wise thing to do. There is no point in risking the safety of the crew or boat because you get tired of waiting for better weather. Part of cruising is the relaxed schedule. This isn't a charter boat where we only have a week to see what we came here for, this is a voyage where we have all the time we want. When we feel ready, we then move on to the next destination.

So, here we sit, waiting for the weather to blow over, and waiting for better weather to begin sailing again.

Easy Bahamian Mooring

Bahamian mooring is aptly named, as it is a necessary anchoring technique when cruising in the Bahamas. Currents will whip through your anchorage with furry, and cause your anchor to raise up and reset every 6 hours.

To combat this resetting fiasco, all you need to do is set two anchors, one forward and one backward of the yacht. Now, an easy way to do this is to set your bow anchor like you normally would, and then hop into your dinghy with the second anchor. The current will take you away in a straight line from the bow anchor. When you get to the end of your rode, all you need to do is drop the hook and return to the yacht. Now, when the current reverses, the yacht will swing around and begin pulling on the other anchor. This process will repeat itself 4 times a day until you move on to the next beautiful destination.

The strong currents in the Bahamas help you in placing the second anchor. All you need to do is drift along and the current will do all the work for you!

Once the stern anchor is set, the stern rode can be tied off to the main anchor rode and a little more scope let out on the main rode. This will put the junction well below the level of the keel so that as you swing around, you will not foul your keel.

Anchoring in the Bahamas

Anchoring usually involves dropping your anchor off the bow of your boat and seeing it disappear into the murky water you are floating in. This all changes in the Bahamas! The anchor drops and you can see it on the bottom! You can see it dig into the sand, and you can see if your rode is fouled on anything!

The nice thing is you know what you are anchoring on. You can precisely set your anchor on a sandy patch and watch it dig into the sand. Weeds can foul your anchor, but in these clear waters, it is easily avoidable.

While anchoring may seem straight forward, there is one profound issue to deal with: currents.

The currents in the Bahamas are notorious, and for good reason! They will whip through an anchorage with several knots and reverse in a few minutes. If your anchor has trouble resetting, it will prove itself an issue every 6 hours!

To remedy this, all you need to do is set two anchors, one upstream and one downstream of the yacht. When the current reverses, the boat will swing and pull on the other anchor. The result is that you will simply switch the anchor you are pulling on and not have to worry about resetting your anchor with each tide.

Conch

In the Bahamas, Conch are like chicken. The locals eat them in such quantities that their shells line the shores in massive mountains. What look like large jetties from a distance are actually just piles of conch shells! One local who calls himself "Down Pat" showed us how to clean a conch shell and make a meal out of the mighty mollusk.

A few islands later, we were walking along the beach at low tide and noticed a significant number of conches in the water. Conch are predators who prey on smaller and slower snails. They chase them down and eat them out of their shell. If you see many snails around, you can bet that conch will be close by. They also tend to collect in areas where the sea weed is less dense, as their shells won't get fouled on the blades of grass.

With this knowledge in mind, we kept an eye out for these tasty treats and found the mother load! We collected around 20 conch shells, and then kept only 4 for our dinner. In the mix was a feisty critter that was scrambling to get away and would swipe at us with his nail shaped operculum. We decided to let him go because his feistiness would be good for the species as these critters are just way too easy to pick!

Then we threw back the smaller ones that wouldn't provide much of a meal. You can call us soft, but we felt bad about killing the conch to make dinner. Our third crew member is not so soft and bartered with us to let him prepare dinner with only four shells. He wanted to eat the smaller ones as he felt the meat would be more tender, but we would need to use more conch for the meal. Maddie and I viewed it as more lives lost, so we decided to go for the larger ones.

The prettiest shells got to live, and the ones that were actively trying to escape to tossed back into the water. Our third crew member did the deed and prepared a delicious conch pasta dish. It's true what they say, if people had to slaughter their own animals, there would be more vegetarians in the world.

The conch honestly tastes just like scallops, and when sautéed in butter and olive oil, tastes amazing!

Stirrup Cay, Bahamas

We sailed out of West End and right on past Freeport, as we made our way south. Winds became light and our progress slowed to the point that we realized that we would not make it all the way to Nassau, and instead we pulled into Slaughter Harbor nestled in between Great and Little Stirrup Cay.

This anchorage is deep, and protected by a "tall" island of 50 feet to the East. The next few days are forecasted to have strong Easterly winds, so we figured that this would be our safest plan of action.

We figured that we could go ashore and relax on the Cays while we waited for the weather to blow over, but we were saddened to find that all the islands around us are privately owned by cruise ship companies. As we approached the islands, we noticed large "Do Not Enter" signs on the shores. Upon closer inspection, we realized that the charted towns on Navionics were referring to the structures that are built by the cruise ship companies.

So, we remain anchored with the wind blowing strong and our anchor firmly set as we wait for the weather to improve so that we can venture off to new lands.