Day 88 –Departure Plans Foiled

On Saturday, February 28th we made plans to leave civilization and head out to the wilds of the Jumentos and the Ragged Islands. Woo Hoo—such rugged adventurers we are! Our three-week vacation from cruising had made us eager to get out on our own again. HOWEVER, the day turned out strangely and we did not leave.
Leave? Well, no—I guess not—we were pinned to the Exuma Dock for eight hours! We have included the pictures of poor old Caribbean Soul pinned against the dock and the tide leaving lots of blue bottom paint (yes the infamous bottom paint) showing. The pictures, however, cannot even begin to tell the story of how frustrating and scary this ordeal was.

Long ago Capt. John had vowed to never dock where the wind and tide were pushing you into dock pilings. Well, as with most rules there seem to be times when you need to compromise a bit. In our case, we really needed to fill up the fresh water, the dinghy gasoline and the big boat diesel tanks as we were heading out to the wilds where boaters must take their own or do without! The Exuma Docks were full of boats Saturday morning and the only spot was way out on the far dock where we had tied up to fix the wind generator blades last week. The wind was up and the tide was going out, but we wanted to get topped off and out! So, we did it—we tied up with lots of bumpers out to keep from damaging the side of the boat.
Well, as Capt. John was empting a fuel can into the boat tank and I was down below filling the fresh water tanks, we heard a large bang (never a sound you want to hear – it always means that something under stress has broken). Sure enough, the fender board that was protecting our fiber glassed sides from the dock piling broke in two! Lots of people up and down the dock came to help us hold the Caribbean Soul off the piling long enough to squeeze some bumpers into the space were the broken fender board had been. Also, someone jumped in his dinghy and hauled our extra bow line out to a piling in an effort to keep our boat from slamming into the dock piling so hard.
John and I sped up all our activities in hopes of getting off the dock before the tide went out. Exuma Docks, however, had run out of gasoline. This meant that Capt. John had to jog down the street to find a gas station with gasoline. By the time he got back, the Caribbean Soul was bouncing on the bottom. This is not good either.
The bottom next to the dock was sandy so our hope was that being aground in the sand would not hurt the keel or the rudder. And, the side of the boat had already been padded with foam bumpers. But it was 11:30 in the morning of our day to leave the harbor and the incoming tide would probably not lift us off the bottom until 6 or 7 pm. Also, it would be dark by then.
So at the dock we sat, and sat, and sat. At first we agonized over every wave that bounced us harder against the piling but after an hour or two the boat no longer bounced—no, it just settled down in the sandy bottom and leaned against the dock pilings. At the dock we met lots of nice folks, none of whom could do anything except to sympathize with us! We also watched as the strong winds, heavy chop and shallow water around the dock caused problems for 5 or 6 other boats that afternoon and evening (you know, misery loves company!)
Finally at 7 pm—well after sunset—we floated again and were able to motor our bow out into the wind and get off the Exuma Docks! Then the next problem arose—how do you find a place to anchor if it’s pitch dark?
Capt. John remembered the walkie talkies we keep charged on the navigation station. So with John on the bow squinting into the dark and me in the stern at the wheel, he was able to direct us into a spot in the harbor that seemed to be empty enough for us to anchor. Phew! What a day. And we left some of our lines and bumpers on the dock.
Well, we decided those lines and bumpers would have to wait until tomorrow. Caribbean Soul and crew were all in one piece and all our tanks were topped off—ready to go!