boats

by

Conception Island- almost paradise, 2/13-2/14

This beautiful island nestled in the Far Bahamas is described in our Explorer Chartbook as”…paradise within paradise in that it is preserved in its primitive natural state as part of the Bahamas National Trust. As more “armadas” of boats escape for a sojourn from the fleet at Elizabeth Harbor and discover the beauty….” The island lays 15nm NE from the tip of Long Island and 50nm from Elizabeth Harbor. The only anchorage in prevailing easterlies (NE – SE) is West Bay and it can hold a generous quantity of boats. Your typical cruising vessel is not the only creature to be drawn in by the magnetic pull of remoteness, crystalline waters, mangrove creeks and long-tailed tropic birds. We were very surprised to find two mega yachts and a stealth-like dark-colored boat the likes you might see in a Bond movie or a futuristic flick. Kinda ruined the primitive natural paradise view of things; until they all departed.

It's a stealth machine, but what's it doing in paradise?

It’s a stealth machine, but what’s it doing in paradise?

The island is perfect for dinghy exploration with miles of interior mangrove creeks to poke around in and simply lose oneself in Mother Nature’s beauty.

We diverted off the central creek to this crystal clear branch

We diverted off the central creek to this crystal clear branch

West Bay faces a long, sandy white crescent beach, ideal for a beach stroll, tented beach party (if you own a mega yacht) and to land your dinghy anywhere you so desire.

Ortolan anchored in gorgeous West Bay, Conception Island

Ortolan anchored in gorgeous West Bay, Conception Island

The day held true to forecast and Ortolan and crew enjoyed a lovely sail at 6kts, two fishing lines out but no bites even though we altered course through the contour lines north of Long Island. About two miles out the watermaker began her job and made us a steady 7 gph for a few hours. That’s our usual M.O. when we can’t run it underway. Have I mentioned we really like our watermaker and don’t see how other cruisers manage without one? Even though we can’t always make water when we want, having the ability to and not having to rely solely on marinas or local water spigots, is a huge plus and allows us more flexibility in planning our itinerary.
Thursday morning we launched the dinghy, checked the anchor like a responsible boater should – heck it’s easy in clear water, impossible when we are not in the Bahamas – and zoomed along the 1 ¼ miles to the mangrove creek entrance.

Just inside the entrance to the interior of Conception Island

Just inside the entrance to the interior of Conception Island

Much of the interior creeks are deep enough to dinghy through any time, but the entrance as well as a few important stretches are best attempted within a couple of hours of high tide. This assumes you know when the tides change. Perhaps I’ll delve into that hot topic another time.
Top priority was to get in and find the green turtle area. A reviewer on ActiveCaptain gave good directions, saying that once in the lagoon one needs to follow the left branch into the deep green section. That sounded simple enough and we only almost messed up once! Sure enough toward the dead-end section to the left, the water was much deeper and greener; best of all, filled with at least a dozen green turtles. Shy ones though and they don’t give you much time to photograph them. We drifted and paddled; using the outboard just enough to keep us off the rocks. One guy was more curious, or just not paying attention because twice he surfaced within 10ft of our bow, looked up at us and dove back down. As if to say, “hey I see you and no you can’t take my picture, so there!” And right he was, but I did manage to track another and caught him as he surfaced.

My best green turtle shot. Good thing the camera is digital!

My best green turtle shot. Good thing the camera is digital!

Green turtle hangout territory

Green turtle hangout territory

A better weather day I could not have wanted; sunny with a high of 80 and just enough breeze to keep me comfortable but not so much that I felt windblown. Another piece of info gleaned from ActiveCaptain was how to get to Babbies Bay over on the ocean side. Now, our chart showed nothing called Babbies Bay but the directions appeared to guide you to a lovely crescent beach that would be ripe for finding sea beans.

Two teeny problems. One, Russ twists his knee as we pull the dinghy up on to the beach. (sure sounds like we need a better method, uh?) Solution: he goes back to ice his knee, leaving me to beachcomb. Second problem: the beach I am on after I cross from West Bay beach to the ocean side, is NOT Babbies Beach. As I get to the southern end of the beach #1 I see that a path continues up some rocks (with a rope for help up) and that must lead to Babbies Beach. (could that be a made up name?) Solution: have water, camera, Tevas- will hike. Yes, me alone.  Another dinghy was beached near ours and I didn’t see anyone nearby so I figured they’d trekked to Babbies and maybe I wouldn’t be totally alone. (wrong)

The path pretty much wound its way close to the edge of the rocky cliffs and one wrong step and I’d be history; a broken shell on the stones below. In places it moved far enough away from the edge and for that I was very happy. Around every bend I hoped to see “the beach.”  Alas no.  After a bit I got to a section where the path was simply the rocky edge, very crumbly and most assuredly one wrong step and I’d be a goner. With someone, maybe. Alone, no way.  The land past there jutted out just enough to prevent my seeing what lay beyond- that darn beach I bet! Hopes dashed- but not my body thankfully, I made my way back-stopping to snap a few photos and thinking I was getting too much sun!

Looking north along the path less traveled- by me!

Heading back north along the path less traveled- by me!

Fortunately, the beachcombing goddess “Seabenia” took pity on me and I easily found several beans and one curious sand crab who didn’t know or care about the time.

Wasn't easy to get this guy and not my shadow too.

Wasn’t easy to get this guy and not my shadow too.

Russ’s knee was not a major disaster- thank goodness, or we’d be in Florida now.  I checked the chart and saw that my hike along the cliffs was at least one half mile. Maybe next time, if those rocks don’t crumble more…

by

Catch ’em any way you can!

Saturday, Nov 3. Our plan was to make 56nm from Southport, NC to Myrtle Beach, SC.  We’d anchor in a spot we’ve used three times now, just off the ICW in a small oxbow of the Waccamaw River. Only three opening bridges near the end of the day and they were on request.  ( NOTE: we’ve added a new page “Where is Ortolan?” so you can follow our path)

Our stop in Southport the previous night was South Harbor Village Marina and their best feature is the terrific Italian restaurant an easy 3 minute walk from dock to land. The food and service are always excellent and my sister-in-law Kerry would so approve of their black cloth napkins. Ever notice how the linty white ones can leave your clothes speckled white? Ask for a black napkin.

So later that evening we hear a call on Ch16 from a commercial fishing vessel (shrimper most likely) to the Coast Guard. M/V Diamond City was taking on water and needed a pump because hers weren’t keeping up. She was one mile off the coast by Southport. Based on the back and forth Q & A between the CG and fishing vessel, the problem was caused by one of the outriggers breaking and somehow making a hole below the waterline. Diamond Cityhad 1 ½ feet of water when they first called for help. The Captain was very calm. The CG sent out a boat with a pump which promptly became clogged. The last we heard was that a CG crew member was attempting to come aboard to assist and now the water was up to 3ft.   Very hopeful this calamity would work out well; but we wouldn’t know for sure.

Diamond City safe at the dock in Holden Beach, NC

Saturday morning we passed Diamond City, the Coast Guard was there getting a report.

Alright, back to our trip on Saturday. As you may know, we aren’t big on fishing but Russ is determined to harvest fruits of the sea any way he can.  One way to do this is to snag a pot, or better yet, a large net strung across the channel. If you snag a new one that wasn’t weighted properly you can easily come away with a good haul. Right. Or you can stop dead in the channel with green netting wrapped around your sail drive, all the time thankful that you don’t have a traditional shaft drive where the line can get really tightly wrapped around all that exposed metal.

Approximately 10miles before the South Carolina line in the area of Ocean Isle Beach, we began noticing very colorful floats on both sides of the channel. I pointed them out as good examples of visible floats. Minutes later we hear a noise we’ve never heard before but figure we must have snagged a pot- except it sounded like more and we never saw one. I race back to the stern (grateful I was decently dressed) and see a large green net with little float balls (about the size of ping-pong balls) near the water’s surface and trailing out from our port stern. Uttering words even today you can’t say on the radio I look around and see two men in a small skiff over near the channel’s edge. Meanwhile Russ has turned off the engine, leaving the starboard one in gear.

The men come over to help and fess up that this is their net (after Russ asked who’d be stupid enough) and it should sink to the bottom but because it was new…. The water is 18 ft deep here mind you. The nets are in for a short while and then get hauled up. Just our luck.  A Krogen trawler Lili (they have AIS) is headed our way and I hail her to warn of our situation and to proceed with care. She didn’t have much choice because between the net across the channel and us in the middle, the only room to pass was between the float on our starboard side and the edge of the channel.

The culprits help untangle their net from our port sail drive and/or rudder

Rudder with sail drive forward of it

The net gets freed from the port sail drive (might have only been arund the rudder) but the starboard engine was still going to keep us in the channel and not hit the G87 marker. The current is weak thank goodness but it’s moving us back and slightly toward the edge of the channel. Now we see that the starboard drive has caught the net, so we shut it down. What is that noise I ask? Again I ask. Oh no says the Captain, the autopilot is still on!! Turn it off and pray that it isn’t now a piece of crap destined for Davy Jones’ Locker. So now we are just at the mercy of the wind and current; both fairly light.  The men in the skiff use the netting, still attached to the starboard drive, to pull us back into the channel; wish I had taken a picture of that. We give them a line to use instead (you might recall the one- blue with burnished wood highlights?) and once they extract the netting and pull us far enough, we start the engines. They both seem OK and respond well. Thanks for your help I say as the guys toss back our line.  Help? Wish we could have met under better circumstances one guy says.  Hey, at least I did NOT apologize for ruining their new net.

The lesson learned is: beware of identical shiny new floats that appear opposite one another and pay careful attention to whether small boats are near the channel’s edge and close to the floats.  Be extra cautious on weekends.

The sail drives and prop behave well and Herr Otto is back to being his usual stable, keep-on-course self.

And here I thought I wouldn’t have much to write about on our third trip south- same old, same old I figured.  Couldn’t have been more wrong.  Hope you all are enjoying the ride 🙂