We've had long, long travel days and we've had pockets of crappy conditions, but never have we had long, long travel days with crappy conditions the whole time. Until today.
When people hear about our boat summers, they often ask if we've ever been stuck in a bad storm. A few particular days come to mind, but honestly not that many, considering how many days we've been on the boat. (Chesapeake Bay headed north, ended at the wall in Chesapeake City, MD and mostly worried about the 80 year old pastor who was a solo traveler in 2023, the hurricane that was downgraded to Tropical Storm Elsa in Key West in 2021, the trip back from Block Island in 2023, and a travel day from Nassau to Eleuthera after we just picked up Ben's mom, sister, and niece in 2022 top my list). All of these were storms. Today, there were no storms! It was forecasted to be 3 footers at 6 seconds apart, on the bow.
In preparation for our trip, after giving us our preventative motion sickness meds, Ben reminded me and Moose (the girls were still asleep) that the inlet is always the worst, so we would keep going and it would improve. When the girls woke up, Ben medicated them as well. I wasn't concerned that anyone would throw up since no one had since 2021 when we first started this journey, but every now and then we get a day when we take the meds preemptively, which is how it works best anyway.
81 miles to get from the Raggeds to Acklins & Crooked Islands. We usually go 7 knots, so we were picturing an eleven-twelve hour day.
The Cartermaran started slamming, not with every wave, but it became more frequent as the day went on. Some waves gave us little splashes, while others splashed water all the way up the deck, to the cockpit and through the window. Only one window was open because the other one slammed shut at some point. Everyone was miserable- even the dogs- and there was nothing to do to pass the time. We just sat and stared.
Roo threw up. In Moose's words, "One down."
We were about 1/3 of the way and Ben asked if we should turn around and go back to Exumas instead. The girls and I said no, things were getting better/smoother and waves were further apart, so we kept on.
Moose was down below in the cabin with Hattie. I saw Hattie try to go outside and I grabbed her, quickly because I didn't want her out on the boat deck in these conditions. Meanwhile, Ben grabbed the bucket for Moose who followed her up and he immediately threw up into it. Two down. I asked Bear if she was next and she said no. I knew Ben was fine. I felt fine, too.
With the landing of one wave, something started spraying white bursts at us from the bow. Ben asked what it was and I thought it must've been salt, but was confused by that possibility. We were covered in salt and gritty, but that was because the water that splashed onto us evaporated and left the salt behind. How could pure salt be spraying at us in that quantity? Then Ben realized and shouted, "THE BEAN BAGS!" He ran up to the bow, untied them, and came back with them. He said that he had to pull one out from under the bow. Somehow it had gotten stuck under the bow, while still being tied to the front cleat, and the tension pulled it open causing the beans to fly out and toward us in the cockpit. What a mess. We feel awful about how many flew off the boat before we realized what happened. Now, instead of just being covered in salt, we were also covered in white beans. The mariners' version of being tarred and feathered?!
No sooner had Ben sat back down at the helm when the bilge alarm started going off. Luckily it wasn't a ton of water, so he just drained it and we continued on with the torture of the waves.
Each passing mile felt like hours. Average speed was just below 6 knots, making our journey even longer.
Anchored in the dark and had to try a few spots because the anchor didn’t grab right away. There was a lot of rock. Our travel journey from hook up to hook down lasted 14 hours.
Started at Duncan Town, ended at blue dot.
Ben wanted to fix the air lock in the AC line and make water before bed. Found out there was a crack in the top of the water maker and he announced that we have 1/4 tank of water that has to last until repairs can be made, so to be conservative with water usage. Ben used JB weld to fix the crack because his spare also was cracked. He is going to let it sit overnight and will finish tomorrow when it dries.
We all had a bowl of cereal, called it dinner, and went to bed.
They say you can't appreciate the good days without the bad ones. Well, after today, we are ready for the rest of our time to be incredible. 😂
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