Mayaguana

Mayaguana
1/22/12
22 21.50 N 72 59.27 W

Our sail to Mayaguana was an overnighter, we had originally planned to head to a closer island, Crooked Island, but were not going to make that during daylight hours and it could be a huge mistake going into these anchorages in the dark - they are extremely shallow and any coral heads could make a mess of the bottom of a fibreglass boat.  Because of the time factor and we were making good easting we decided to keep going to the next island on our way to Dominican Republic.  We arrived the next afternoon, the entrance to the bay was narrow and once through we had a few miles to run inside the reef and tuck up at the end.

The dilemnas of being at the helm !

It is my turn to steer - normally we would punch way points into our auto pilot and make him do all the work for us while we sit back and relax - maybe read a book or have a snooze but at the moment we are crawling into the infamously shallow Bahamian bays dotted with coral heads and fringed with reefs.

Don is on deck alternating from climbing up the rat lines to enable a good view of the path White Rose will take to balancing up forward and staring out to sea - he is looking for anything dark and ominous which could be a coral head - it could also be harmless sea grass and it does not become obvious until we are very close.  With only a few feet under our keel we crawl along the sea bed swinging port then starboard to avoid any suspect looking areas.
Don yells "port" and knowing that means a suspect area is very close I do a wild mad swing to the left then straighten almost immediately as White Rose takes up a few metres off to port then back on our heading - now comes the yell "starboard" and I immediately groan and begin pulling the wheel in the opposite direction - this goes on for over an hour.  By the time Don comes back into the cockpit my arms are aching and very heavy - my legs have seized into a ram rod position either side of the steering wheel keeping me upright and in position, my eyes are tired from staring out the window looking for any dark spots Don may have missed alternately checking our speed, depth (which is scary), course heading and engine dials - my head is continually turning like the clowns at the fair with the open mouths waiting for a ball to be inserted.

I just want to drop the anchor - who cares if we actually hit the way point that Don has decided is the best place for us to anchor - who cares if we are 50 ft short of that designated 2ft square spot - I just want to rest my arms.
Once the anchor is down and all is quiet Don gives me that cute sheepish look and with a conscience that needs redeeming admits that most of the coral heads he had me going around were actually large stingrays who swam away once we were close to them.  Next time he gets to do the steering and I get to call the shots.


We intended to stay a few nights in Mayaguana while waiting for a weather window to continue to Turks and Caicos -

I digress - Sunday was Don's birthday and it was the day we sailed all day and all night - ie no birthday for him so I made an executive decision that we would simply postpone his birthday for a day.  I got up early and cooked Don an "American" breakfast - eggs, bacon, pancakes, juice and coffee whilst he listened to Chris Parker's normal sked on the HF radio -   I was horrified when I heard Chris Parker (our weather guru) state that today, Monday and the next two days would be a good time to head for the  Dominican Republic - I wasn't ready and needed to get over the last overnighter but I gathered my strength and prepared the boat to sail off into the sunrise yet again.  If we had not left at that time we would have been waiting for at least a week for another chance to make that passage.  I can advise all sailors not to go to sea with a tummy full of bacon, eggs and pancakes !!!

We sailed the bumpy seas with a good wind and making a reasonable course when the wind just simply decided to go south east - the only direction we did not want.  After trying to make headway for an hour or two we gave up, turned around and headed back to Mayaguana and will try again tomorrow morning.   We have decided to put Don's birthday off for yet another day - he thinks it is a good idea to put it off until next year !!!