Anchor Drag in Hard Bargain, Bahamas, and Off to Eleuthera

Anchored in Hard Bargain before the storm.

Dave went snorkeling most everyday.

Hard Bargain does not have a great anchorage, and Dave dove down in the water the previous day to ensure that our anchor was dug in sand.  A storm was coming, and we had put out 80-feet of chain anchor rode in the 6-feet of water.  Not that it mattered, but we did happen to be right off the local cemetery, where a few of the graves, all full length, were likely from a sea disaster.

I set the the anchor alarm to go off if the boat moved more than 60 feet from its present location.  The anchor alarm will also track the boat location.  Typically, it would show a slight u-shaped curve as the boat moves around the set anchor from the wind.  So, a 60 foot movement is not unexpected, particularly if the wind shifts as it was supposed to going from southwest to northwest. I do not mind waking up to check the anchor to guard against it dragging.

This screen shot shows two of the anchor drags.
The green circle reflects 60 feet around the 3rd set.

I slept well until the 3:45 am when my iPad screamed “Anchor Alarm, Anchor Alarm!”  I immediate rose and found that our anchor had dragged over 30 feet, and Salty Paws was moving ever closer to the shore.  We were now in 5 feet of water.  The anchor dragged because the now 35-mph wind shifted direction and had twisted the anchor out of one of the few sand spots in the hard marl ocean bottom.  I immediately started our main engine and put the throttle in slow forward to relieve the pressure on the anchor.

It was 4 am, and the dim light of dawn was still more than 2 hours away.  Rather than raise the anchor in the darkness and move the boat out from the partially protected lee of the point, I was hoping that the anchor would reset on its own.  Every 10 minutes or so, I put the motor back in neutral, only to have the anchor drag again and force me to put the throttle back in forward.  Each time we got a little closer to shore, and now we were in 4 feet of water.  Three more times I repeated the process, and finally the anchor held.  Dave started the coffee, and we waited for dawn.  It finally came, and the worst was over.

The channel on the right is the northern entrance to the Bight
of Abaco.  Measured depths at low tide are as low as 1.2 meters.

Hard Bargain is on Moore’s Island, the only populated island in the Bight of Abaco.  This body of water is roughly a 50-mile circle between Grand Bahama Island and Great Abaco Island, and most always avoided by cruisers because of its shallow 3–4-foot northern entrance.  As always, I am attracted to places that are off the beaten track and had brought school supplies to donate to the local school as we had done on earlier visits to three other Bahamian towns.  

Dave and I presented the supplies to the
three primary school teachers.

The 3 tubs of school supplies.

The school principal told me that the name Moore's Island is from the name of it's first settler.  As there are no written records, it is spelled as many ways - Moore's, More's and Morr's, with and without the apostrophe or the "s."  The town's name of Hard Bargain is thought to reflect the folklore that residents were know for driving hard bargains in bartering with other fishing communities.

The fishing boats in Hard Bargain are anchored off the beach.

The population of Hard Bargain is, perhaps, 500.  The houses are simple, but sturdy.  There is a medical building, an all-grades school, and two restaurants where the menus are just word of mouth.  The primary industry is fishing for conch and lobsters.  The local fishermen each own their own open cockpit boats while they collectively own an old 100-foot shrimp dragger.  This is the mother ship will tow up to 20 of the open cockpit boats to fishing grounds often 100 miles away.  They might be away for up to a week at a time.  Each fisherman receives his share based upon his own catch.  Everything is frozen, and will eventually be boated to Nassau for sale.

I met Randy, whose boat Blade washed up on the beach from
the storm.  It presented a good time for him, however, to do
some engine maintenance.  He would use pipes to slide the
boat off the beach at the next high tide.

Bahamian lobster traps are simpler than
those in the North Atlantic.  The lobsters
are attracted by the fish bait, climb up
to the top of the trap and fall into a chute 

I was very interested in the design of sea wall being built along the Hard Bargain shore.  Similarly to what I want to do in Maine on one side of our house, it is designed to stop the speed of the tidal surge, but not to stop the flooding.

A few days earlier, Dave replaced Molly for the 115-mile Gulf crossing form Riviera Beach to Little Grand Cay.  While we found the crossing fine at our 15-mph speed, Molly was more comfortable spending a week visiting our granddaughter and helping her other grandmother pack for a move.  The pictures below document our travels that took us 150 miles southeast, ending up in Spanish Wells, Eleuthera. 

Depths went from 4,000 feet to 15
feet as we reached the Bahamian
Bank.  Love the color of the water!

We went through Customs in the Bahamian village of Little Grand Cay.

The electricity on Little Grand Cay was out so they couldn’t pump gas.  We detoured 6 miles northwest to the fancy marina at Walker’s Cay.  The island is owned by Carl Allen, one of the heirs of the Walmart fortune.  It was essentially empty.

While heading southwest we stopped at one of my favorite anchorages, Sand Cay between the two Double-Breasted Cays.

I was a little late in taking a picture of the stingray swimming by David.

Hitting the ball for Tory at Sand Cay.

After leaving Hard Bargain we finished going through the Bight of Abaco
and passed by Gorda Cay, aka Castaway Cay, aka Disney Island.
The yellow dot is a kite flyer being pulled by a speedboat. 

Tory watched the sunset at Little Cave Cay,
hoping for one more trip ashore.

The Disney cruise ship on Disney Island.  We observed 100s
of people on the islands two beaches.

After passing Disney Island, we anchored off Sandy Point, where we planned to spend the night.  As sea conditions were improving, however, we decided to proceed the 50-mile crossing to Eleuthera, rather than wait until tomorrow.

Our first Eleuthera anchorage was well-known Egg Island, but we soon
proceeded to Meeks Patch, aka pig island.  Tory was very concerned when
Dave jumped from the boat in order to see and feed the pigs.  She even
got to the bow of Salty Paws on her own, a first!  See below.

Dave and I left Tory unhappy in the v-berth while we explored South Meeks Patch and picked a place for snorkeling.

The forecast for the next several days includes high seas and 20-30 knot winds.  We were
pleased to find the one remaining dock space in Spanish Wells, Eleuthera.

We looked forward to an ice cream cone in Spanish Wells, but decided not to compete with
the golf carts already waiting in line.

We took a short ferry ride to North Eleuthera for our 7-mile roundtrip hike to Preacher's Cave and the Sapphire Blue Hole.

Neither Dave nor I were much interested
in jumping in.

The Bahamas has roughly 100 blue holes, often 100s of feet deep, but the
Sapphire Blue Hole is one of the few on land.

Dave and Tory in front of Preacher's Cave.

English settlers were shipwrecked on a reef on the Devil's Backbone.  They
found the nearby cave that provided much needed shelter.  It was thought to
be a gift from heaven in answer to their prayers.

We went to the beach near the Preacher's Cave and looked out on to the Devil's Backbone that Molly and I had navigated two years ago when we went to Harbor Island and spent a week with daughter Liz and family.

Dave has been a great mate.  He is an experienced boater, and also a game player.  We alternated between Ghost, Oh Hell and cribbage.  He flies out today (Sunday, March 24th), and Molly will rejoin me later this afternoon.  We will be slowly heading back to the States provided that she is entirely comfortable with the seas and winds!

Bahama Bound and Ian, A Hurricane for the Wealthy

Our friends Dan and Jeremy and their dog Rufus on their Rosborough Sabbatical cruised with us for four days.
Here we are on the Cayo Costa Sand Bar, where we spent three days.

On a Saturday we shared the Cayo Costa Sand Bar with 50 other boats during the day, but by 5 pm they were all gone except for our two Rosboroughs.

The crowds have left the Sand Bar, letting Dan and me walk our dogs off leash.  Our two Rosboroughs, Salty Paws and Sabbatical, are in the background.

Our route across Florida and crossing to the Bahamas.  Anchors
show anchorages and stars show marinas and docks.

We have now crossed interior Florida from the West Coast to the East Coast and find ourselves in Riviera Beach, near West Palm Beach.  The weather forecast for Saturday, May 16^th, is ideal for a Gulf Stream crossing to the Bahamas.  The light wind will be from the south, and waves are expected to be less than 2 feet with a 7 second period between them.  Most any wind from the north means that the crossing should be delayed as the wind will increase the size and frequency of the waves in the north-flowing Gulf Stream.  Our landfall will be Little Grand Cay in the northwest Abacos, roughly 115 statute miles away.  Our journey can be tracked at https://share.garmin.com/CruisingonSaltyPaws

Here Molly greets Dave, her replacement for the crossing.

Of course, Molly won’t be with me for a week.  My friend Dave flew in to West Palm this morning, and Molly flew out as the crew change honors her request not to have any more 100-mile open water crossings to the Bahamas.  She will spend a week with daughter Liz and family in Georgia and then fly to Eleuthera where we will meet on March 24^th.   At least that is the plan!

Rosborough boats everywhere at the Burnt Store Marina.

Over the last two weeks, we enjoyed the Rosborough Rendezvous in Burnt Store along with 20 other Rosboroughs from all over the east.  Owners trailered to Florida from Massachusetts, New York, Michigan, Kentucky and more along with some Florida boats.  We compared notes, ate and drank together, toured each other’s boats, and participated in various talks including mine on last summer’s trip to Newfoundland.

The Rendezvous was well-organized in large part due to the work of Bob Louthen.  Thank you, Bob!  Molly, Tory and I are
all in this picture, although to find us might be like reading Where's Waldo? !

After the Rendezvous 7 Rosboroughs headed over to Cayo Costa.

Molly is holding a whelk
egg casing.

Tory waits patiently while I am engaged in boat talk.

Pelicans at dawn off St. James, Pine Island.

Afterwards, we spent 5 days anchoring on the West Coast and spent our last night off St. James, Pine Island.  As we were never able to start our dinghy motor,  I decided that a 1 ½-mile row each way would be a great exercise for me and allow us to check out the one restaurant in St. James.  We tied up at the dock of the Waterfront Restaurant, only their 2^nd day of being open since the eatery was devastated by Hurricane Ian on September 28, 2022.  Pine Island and its neighbors including Ft. Myers Beach and Cape Coral bore the brunt of Ian’s 15-foot storm surge and 160 mph winds. 

We rowed to the Waterfront Restaurant in St. James.

Seated next to us was 70-year old woman I will call her Mary, the most common name in the USA for someone born in the 1950’s.  She quickly became enamored with our dog, Tory, and began telling us her story.  Her husband was a successful veterinarian, and over 30 years ago they moved to Pine Island from Ohio for the climate and to make a home.  She described an idyllic neighborhood and a community of friends and relatives.  Unfortunately, their house and neighborhood were all destroyed by Ian. 

One of the many homes on Pine Island that is beyond repair.

They, and many others, did not have the funds to rebuild and in just two months sold their condemned house and lot to a developer.  The sale provided enough funds for Mary and her husband to find a home on the mainland, not far from Pine Island, but it was not the same.  They came to the Waterfront Restaurant with Pine Island friends to recapture some of what they have lost.  At the end of the day, though, Mary would be off the island.  She seemed to share all this with a tear in her eye.

This type of story is being repeated in Fort Myers Beach.  Prior to Ian, this community was known for its single family, “Old Florida” homes.  Few have been rebuilt, and many are now in the hands of wealthy developers planning hotels, resorts, and high-end condominiums.  Here and throughout places like Fort Myers, Cape Coral and Captiva Island the larger, fancier homes have either been repaired or rebuilt while many of the smaller homes and condominiums are still uninhabitable.  

What we saw with homes also applies to boats.  I estimated that
20% of the 400 boats or so on land at Indiantown Marina have
been abandoned and are worthless because of mold and neglect. 

We ate dinner with friends in Cape Coral who have a 2-bedroom condo and are still waiting for a building permit to complete their repairs.  They may be lucky, however, as their condo building, 4 units on the 1^st floor and 4 on the 2^nd, was deemed to retain at least 50% of its pre-Ian value.  This meant that the structure could be repaired rather than required to be completely demolished and replaced

Another issue for Florida homeowners is the rising cost of homeowners’ insurance, assuming a homeowner can even find coverage.  Flood insurance rates have more than doubled and most national carriers have left the Florida market altogether.  Increasingly, particularly along the coast, homes are in the hands of wealthy homeowners who can afford to self-insure.  

You may have read about the supposed exchange between F. Scott Fitzgerald and Earnest Hemingway.

Fitgerald: The rich are different than you and me.

Hemingway:  Yes, they have more money.

This exchange never actually took place, but there is an interesting background that gave rise to story.  One description of what really happened is at http://www.quotecounterquote.com/2009/11/rich-are-different-famous-quote.html

Below are a few other pictures -

Both Tory and Rufus are leaning against Molly.

Tory has become quite the boat dog and is the focus of much attention most everywhere we go.

We cruised the shallow, inside passage between Pine Island the mainland.  No one answered our call to open the Malachi Bridge.  We ended up lowering everything on our roof and were able squeezed under.  Oyster shells did gouge the side
of Salty Paws as we hugged the right side of the channel in the swift current.

Hurricane Ian killed most of the mangroves and trees on York Island, off St. James.  How many years will it take for it to come back?

We met old friends Rod and Sheila for lunch in Manatee Pocket.

A pod of dolphins came right up to the Sand Bar as they were feasting on a school of fish.

We have taken a liking to rum and pineapple juice with our card games.

While we were away our house got hit by a 3rd major storm.  The sandbags did their job, though, and there was no further damage.

Here I am with cousin Cliff on Cabbage Key.

Here are the three most well-known Rosborough dogs - Tory, Tyler and Rufus along with owners Bil, Jessie and Dan.