Yesterday we had a slow sail along the east coast of Great Abaco looking for an anchorage with protection from the strong south west breezes which had been forecast. The day was grey and overcast and the sky got progressively greyer as we dodged squalls in the distance. We looked into and decided against one or two nearby places so we kept going. Around 4pm the sky became very dark and we could heard the thunder rumbling all around us. We were about twenty minutes out from Marsh Harbour, which offers all around protection, but we found a small bay and decided to take shelter there. We dropped the anchor, confident that the spot would provide shelter from the aforementioned SW winds, and settled in to watch the storm.
The entire horizon went black and the coming rain obscured the islands close to us. The thunder got louder and lightening struck in multiple directions at once as the storm approached. We cheered on a sailboat that was coming in behind us, encouraging it to hurry into the anchorage before the rain reached us. It got close but it wasn’t fast enough. It disappeared into the wall of rain as the storm finally hit us. It was still fairly calm and we sat in the cockpit, enjoying the show. We could hear the wind coming behind the rain and suddenly we got a blast from the north. It sent us into a spin, swirling us around, and heeling us over – no small feat considering the queen of the harbour is no light weight.
We think that the speed and the motion pulled up the anchor because we started to pick up speed and we realized that we were doing a knot through the water. This is disconcerting in the best of times but now our protected anchorage had suddenly became a dangerous lee shore. As the anchor dragged we got closer and closer to the rocky beach and the large pilings that made up the ruins of an old pier. We threw on rain jackets and started to motor, very slowly, away from the shoreline, into the mounting waves.
We weighed our options and ruled out trying to get into the harbour. It seemed too risky to try to navigate our way into an unknown harbour, filled with boats, in rough conditions and limited visibility. We decided to try to get the anchor up and motor out further into the bay to re-set it. We saw that the two other boats sharing the bay were doing the same thing. It took some time but we got the anchor up and we were able to re-set it a safer distance from the shore. With the anchor dug in we felt a lot better about our situation, but conditions got worse as the wind continued to blow hard out of the north. By this time the rain had passed and we could see again, but the waves became enormous and it got really uncomfortable. Our neighbour hauled up his anchor and made for the harbour and we decided to do the same. The boat was difficult to maneuver through the waves and the wind caught us and pushed us around a few times. Adam struggled to pull up the anchor as he bobbed up and down on the bow, waves crashing over him, but the anchor just wouldn't come up. We decided that we would just have to tough it out for the night and hope that we hadn't fouled the anchor on the bottom.
It was rough going at first but sometime in the night the wind shifted and the waves settled and we were able to get some sleep. At first light we hauled the anchor without any problems and headed into the harbour just as everyone else was waking up.
The entire horizon went black and the coming rain obscured the islands close to us. The thunder got louder and lightening struck in multiple directions at once as the storm approached. We cheered on a sailboat that was coming in behind us, encouraging it to hurry into the anchorage before the rain reached us. It got close but it wasn’t fast enough. It disappeared into the wall of rain as the storm finally hit us. It was still fairly calm and we sat in the cockpit, enjoying the show. We could hear the wind coming behind the rain and suddenly we got a blast from the north. It sent us into a spin, swirling us around, and heeling us over – no small feat considering the queen of the harbour is no light weight.
We think that the speed and the motion pulled up the anchor because we started to pick up speed and we realized that we were doing a knot through the water. This is disconcerting in the best of times but now our protected anchorage had suddenly became a dangerous lee shore. As the anchor dragged we got closer and closer to the rocky beach and the large pilings that made up the ruins of an old pier. We threw on rain jackets and started to motor, very slowly, away from the shoreline, into the mounting waves.
We weighed our options and ruled out trying to get into the harbour. It seemed too risky to try to navigate our way into an unknown harbour, filled with boats, in rough conditions and limited visibility. We decided to try to get the anchor up and motor out further into the bay to re-set it. We saw that the two other boats sharing the bay were doing the same thing. It took some time but we got the anchor up and we were able to re-set it a safer distance from the shore. With the anchor dug in we felt a lot better about our situation, but conditions got worse as the wind continued to blow hard out of the north. By this time the rain had passed and we could see again, but the waves became enormous and it got really uncomfortable. Our neighbour hauled up his anchor and made for the harbour and we decided to do the same. The boat was difficult to maneuver through the waves and the wind caught us and pushed us around a few times. Adam struggled to pull up the anchor as he bobbed up and down on the bow, waves crashing over him, but the anchor just wouldn't come up. We decided that we would just have to tough it out for the night and hope that we hadn't fouled the anchor on the bottom.
It was rough going at first but sometime in the night the wind shifted and the waves settled and we were able to get some sleep. At first light we hauled the anchor without any problems and headed into the harbour just as everyone else was waking up.