We made it to the Bahamas!
I apologize for the lack of pictures, currently I lack the tech to get the pics up here. I will add them in ASAP!
On Tuesday the 23 of January we launched the boat. I woke at 8 am after a night out with Logan saying bon voyage to island friends. Logan rose as well. We had a 930 launch time and still had quite a few things to do before we would be ready. Including buying food for the trip. So we decided logan would run to buy food and I would prepare the boat. The travelift showed up at 845... whoops. I literally started throwing things from the ground up into the cockpit. And then throwing trash from the boat to the ground for us to collect later. About this time logan strolled on back from the store with about a dozen bags of groceries. Thank god I tipped Lee during haul out. He told us not to worry, that we had time. So we put the ladder up and threw all the groceries into the cockpit. The slings set up, the boat lifted off of its jack stands and we slopped on some paint to the spots we missed minutes before Tilikum hit the water again. "She still floats, so that's good" I said to Lee.
We spent about 3 hours at the wharf cleaning and double checking all our lists. There were still some smaller tasks to be done (like wiring our autopilot), but nothing that couldn't be done along the way. We said our good byes to Sam and his brother Nate and headed for open water.
Logan was feeling a little under the weather. We couldn't figure out if it was motion sickness or maybe some lasting effects of the beverages consumed the night prior. But, considering the illness began before the boat even touched the water, I have my suspicions as to its cause. Never the less we were underway. I managed to get Tilikum to sail herself with just the blade jib up going close hauled. I finished wiring up our solar panels and self steering gear, also affectioanetly known as "Jeeves" our handy dandy auto pilot. I paniced for a moment when jeeves (literally an antique at 30ish years old) didn't fire up when I wired him in. But I later found a burnt out fuse behind the electrical panel and replaced it. I found out that Logan never realized until I mentioned it that we wouldn't have to drive the whole way. Thank god for Jeeves because that would be miserable. As I wrote this we haven't touched the wheel for 24+ hours. I try to give Jeeves a little love every day and tell him things like "Jeeves, your a champion and we love ya, kept up the good work buddy".
On day one we rounded near sail rock, known for its hammerheads and various shark species.. we saw none. We then came up around Culebra, the Spanish Virgin Island (US owned). Then in the evening I dodged cruise ships all night as we rode about 10 miles north of the Puerto Rican coast. I saw the lights of San Juan as we sailed by. Winds we good and we were doing about 5 knots with just the blade jib. Easy peasey.
The next day, Puerto Rico remained in sight with its hazy mountains just above the horizon. Less ships though which was nice, cruise ships annoy me, with their abnoxious lights polluting the night skies. Winds picked up and turned Northerly. We reefed the main during the day and then again at night. I hand steered a good part of the night, navigating by the stars because Jeeves was having trouble handling the weather helm.
In the morning of the next day we lost sight of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic came into view. In addition to the Dominican Republic, some humpback whales graced us with their presence. They on on their migration route from the North including Nova Scotia and the Bay of Fundy South via various passages through the Carribean Islands. Shortly after the humpbacks disappeared Logan went below for a nap. We have both been impatiently fishing hoping for a fresh meal with no success other then the occasional vegan sargasso seaweed meal that would hook. But finally just as I was ready to give up, the line started singing. I grabbed our massive antique shark fishing rod, the one my uncle Jimmy gave me. I had boasted to so many of my friends about how overkill this rod was and how we could catch anything with it. It instantly snapped, I started yelling, Logan!... no response Logan!... no anwser LOGAN! LOOOOGANNN!!!???!!!. "Logan I am not f***ing with you I actually have a fish and the rod just snapped!" No answer to any of my calls. I think to myself, "Thank God I didn't fall overboard cause I'd be a goner." I start to bang on the wall that would be just above his head in the bunk. He finally rose to action and we began to hand line the fish in. I later found out he was having a dream where I fell overboard and was yelling at him. After a long fight, we finally got the fish to the boat and found it was a Mahi Mahi! Yum! As I lifted the line quickly to dump him into the cockpit he fliped his tail and just like that, he was gone. We both screamed "NOO!!!". It was gone and so was our lunch. Logan wrote a poem about our sorrows later which exemplifies our feelings.
Miss Da' Fish
By: Logan MacLennon
Oh, to miss da' fish.
The wait and struggle for a dish.
Lines go zip, rod goes whip.
Wake me up, we have our wish.
The rod has broke, what a joke.
Grab the line, keep in time.
The (censored) thing jumps, I (censored) my trunks.
It's Mahi Mahi, we know it's tasty.
Get it to the boat, all she wrote.
It spits the hook, just as we get a good look.
Oh, to miss da' fish.
The wait and the struggle for a dish.
We decided to head further north away from land closers to Navidad and Silver bank in the hunt for the Mahi that got away.
On the following day, we lost sight of Dominican Republic for good. The wind was right on our tail so we sailed wing and wing for 15 hours +. We couldn't see land and the swell and chop was really small. Logan mention, "I think I'm going to go for a dip". Before you knew we had a line dragging behind the boat and Logan was in, I was next, I hopped in did a few twirls and dives then got out. There's something about 6000 feet of water underneath you that gets the blood pumping and makes you not want to stay to stay in for too long. The natural progression was to of course get the surfboard involved. Within minutes Logan had untied the board that Sam gave us from the stanchions, attached leash to his ankle and jumped in. He was scurfing under sail, offshore, out of sight of land, with 6000 feet of water underneath him. This is when I mentioned "Logan, you ever watch shark week on discover channel? When those sharks attack seal shaped objects from beneath leaping through the air?" He wasn't deterred and instead started doing 360s and riding fins first.
We decided that we weren't going to be able make it to the Bahamas before sunset on the following day. We needed to get there during daylight so we could navigate our way into the shallow Anchorage safely. So we had time to kill so we would make it there the following morning and not at night. We decided that we were going to conduct a pit stop. We picked out a small blip on the chart called White Cay, part of the Turks and Caicos (if the TC border people are reading this I'm sorry (notsorry)). It's an island about 500ft in diameter in the middle of nowhere. We decided that we would go there in the morning and kill some time swimming/beaching and then take off. The following morning we arrived at the cay just after sunrise. The blip on the chart was a rock jutting out of the endless ocean with overhanging cliffs on the east and west points. There was even a little blow hole splirting out mist when the small swells lapped up against the rock cliff.
On the north side was a white Sands beach. This was truly one of those Islands you see pirates get stranded on after a munity, untouched! We found a sandy patch of bottom in about 25 feet of water and 150 feet from shore. We ate a hardy breakfast of coffee kiwi and pancakes. Then plunged into the water. It was breathtaking, clarity was 80+ feet, coral was everywhere and healthy. This place was obviously untouched by humans. We instantly saw two 4 foot barracuda. We swam to shore and did a little exploring, no footprints other than iguana, bird, crab, and seal tracks were found. We saw a boat on the horizon, the first wed seen for days. It was headed in our general direction and we decided that if it was the authorities that we would have a better argument if we were in the water and not on land. So we jumped back in and did more snorkeling on the way back to the boat. It was incredible.
When we got back into the boat many high fives were shared and we recounted what each other had seen with excitement. Then we got on our merry way headed for the edge of the Turks and Caicos bank.
On the way there we caught 2 barracuda which was very exciting. Logans was a good size (36" & 25 punds or so) and mine was slightly smaller. It was likely on account of a shark having eaten half of mine on the way in but logan didn't buy that excuse and rub his victory in my face. But barracuda from what I had heard are no good for eating, so we threw them back.
When we got to the edge of the bank the water instantly changed from the shallow water aquamarine color to the deep water velvety blue. We dropped of from 30 feet to 3000 feet in just a few minutes.
That evening we were about to be treated to yet another unobstructed sunset. Logan and I decided to go up on deck to watch it with a few beers. We sat there for 15 or 20 minutes as the ball dropped. Just as soon as the sun broke the surface of the horizon as if of cue, A whale broke the surface of the water. He was about 30 to 40 feet to our port. Perfectly positioned between us and the sunset. Logan and I slowly turned towards each other silently, and with wide eyes and open mouths..... we then proceeded to flip the f*** out. Could this be a better day! We high fived, screamed, laughed, and made whale noises. We named our whale Wally, he (she?) followed us for about a half hour as the suns colors faded. I later went to get the camera to get some shots because I thought no one would ever believe us. But I knew the moment would never be captured fully, as it wasn't. We sat on deck and attempted to communicate with Wally via whale sounds. Like the ones you hear on these meditation tapes. Wally continued to surface within 25 to 100 feet of the boat, we think the thought Tilikum was one of his own with her big black underbelly. It was the perfect ending to the perfect day.
I will never forget Wally, and I will never forget this day.
