Boats and More Boats

[Hilde’s log] April 14, 2008

Can’t get a good wi-fi signal on a bet, so I’m posting this via email. I can’t post photos this way, but maybe I can update the posts later if we ever find a good signal.

Just when I think I’m getting pretty good at this, along comes another cruiser to put me in my place. Not on purpose – they’re just amazingly good. We were sitting in the cockpit yesterday watching all sorts of boats come into Marsh Harbour, when a little ketch floated by under sail. She was about 30 feet, with red sails, a couple of white haired folk on the lines and under sail, not motor (she didn’t look as though she even had a motor). She floated through the anchorage, red sails taut, jibing this way and that on a dime, as her crew looked for a likely spot. When they found it, they dropped anchor and calmly went forward to strike the sails. She is Meander, from Devon, England, and her crew is amazing.

On our trip to the birthday party at Guana day before yesterday David and I took the ferry. Ferries here are all called “Donnie” plus a number. We were on Donnie XI. They are ungainly looking craft, basically floating buses with enormous engines. We puttered out of the harbor and then VRRRRRRROOOOOM, off we took churning white water behind us as we thumped our way across the Sea of Abaco. I was reminded of our ferry trip to Seattle several years ago. I was enthralled by the view and the sunset and the whole experience, but around me tired commuters were balancing checkbooks, reading novels, and napping. It was the same on this ferry, with tired shoppers hanging on to their groceries and cranky children fussing. No one was into the view but us, the touristas. It was great to do the crossing in 20 minutes, rather than 2 ½ hours, but the noise and the shaking were tremendous. On the return trip, the ferry beat all the way across the Sea and somehow the diesel smoke got trapped in the open cabin with us. That pretty much cured me of riding the ferry.

While waiting for the return ferry at Guana, we saw what appeared to be a cartoon submarine off the pier. Just big enough for one person, this little yellow submarine (yes, we sang a chorus of that at the top of our voices – we had a great time at the party and it was still showing) had rounded wings and tail and nose, and was shaped just like a ballooned cartoon of a real airplane. A man was inside – we could see him wiping steam from his breath from the inside windshield – and he steered toward the pier and away, alternately submerging and floating up for air, water spurting rhythmically from holes in the cabin. He evidently knew the ferry pilots, because once they’d docked and the passengers had loaded, he came up right at the stern, slipped out of the sub through a door in the bottom, and crawled up to sprawl on the nose and chat. He drew a crowd of Bahamian workers, plus the passengers on the ferry, all of whom gawked and cracked jokes about his little craft. As the ferry pulled away, we watched him floating off through the mooring field, a little yellow airplane submerged in the clear blue water.

Today is April 14, 2008. Two years ago today, Raven sailed away from Seabrook on the way to Florida. On board were one terrified (me), one resigned (Schnitzel), and one excited (David) sailor, off to see what we could see. Happy anniversary, Raven!