Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Lavers blog, 15th and last 2008-2009 entry, May 7-20, 2009

May 7, 2009, Cambridge Cay – Highborne Cay, Bahamas

We are a bit nervous leaving Cambridge Cay after last night’s experience, but we have learned our lesson and exit through Bell island Cut without problem. The wind is light so we set the spinnaker to try to get enough speed, but wind velocity decreases and even the spinnaker doesn’t get the job done. We wind up motor sailing most of the way to Highborne Cay and then thread our way through the winding cut and anchor in the lee of the island. We grill pork chops and enjoy dinner in the cockpit watching a large motor catamaran go back and forth through Highborne Cut at least half a dozen times on some kind of training session. The water is incredibly clear here and we enjoy a swim and a shower on the stern ladder before going early to bed.

May 8 – 9, 2009, Highborne Cay – West End, Grand Bahama


The Atlantis Casino from Nassu Harbor as we pass through






We approach Old Bahama Bay Marina, West End

Wind is still very light today, which is just as well as we plan to motor across the shallow Exuma Bank to Nassau. We have chosen a route that takes us between the Yellow and White Banks, but still the water never gets deeper than 30 feet and is often in the 11-12 foot range. We have to stay alert as there are many coral heads and, although they are generally visible, it is difficult to tell if they are deep enough to pass beneath the keel. So in the shallower areas we keep a sharp eye out and zig zag around to make sure we don’t hit one of the heads. In late afternoon we arrive in Nassau, pass carefully under the bridge to Paradise Island and look for a place to anchor. At the first anchorage the depth goes from 30 to 7 feet in only a few yards, and we cannot find a safe place to anchor. We motor around the cruise ship docks past a half dozen cruise ships and anchor just beyond the turning basin, Here the current and the wind are in opposite directions and we are unable to make certain that our anchor is properly set. We remember that we have never liked Nassau and decide to keep going. We retrieve he anchor and leave the harbor by the west entrance. We are pleased that the wind fills in on the beam at about 8 knots just as we exit the harbor. We are able to sail at over 5 knots under a gorgeous full moon towards Grand Bahama. We round Stirrup Cay at about 3 a.m. and fall off to a broad reach. There is constant ship traffic so we are in no danger of falling asleep. When the sun comes up the wind dies, and we motor sail all day. We pass by Freeport and round Settlement Point around 5:00. We are assisted into a slip at the wonderful (and expensive) Old Bahama Bay Marina. We enjoy showers and then a “Mother’s Day Eve” dinner at Bonefishers. We are pretty tired after the passage, ao bedtime comes early, as soon as we return from dinner.

May 10—11, 2009, West End, Grand Bahama – St. Augustine, Florida

Dolphins at play as we approach the coast of Florida






More dolphins. They seem to be having fun and at the same time give a lift to our spirits.







Still more dolphins

Old Bahama Bay marina brings us a Mother’s Day present – Bahamian banana bread. It is delicious. Elisabeth supplements it with ham and scrambled eggs, an uncommonly luxurious onboard breakfast. We do not have charts or a cruising guide for Florida as we originally did not intend to go there. The chandlery here is our last chance to purchase either one, but they only have information about the Bahamas. Elisabeth runs a load of wash in the marina’s laundry and we check out of the marina. We need fuel, so we leave the slip and stand by off the fuel dock. There is a catamaran there that must be preparing for an around-the-world trip – they take at least 30 minutes to load their fuel. We finally get our fuel and leave the marina at 11:45, almost two hours after our intended departure. Once again we are not quite sure where we are going. We have alternative courses to Cape Canaveral and to St. Augustine, Florida. Our final choice depends on the Gulf Stream – whether it is comfortable and how much boost it gives us. The wind is very light and we wind up motor sailing most of the way. The Gulf Stream is a pussy cat – it is no more uncomfortable than any other piece of sea. But it gives us a three knot kick to the north so that for most of the 11 hours we manage to stay in the stream we are going at almost 9.5 knots over the bottom. We opt for St. Augustine, the more northerly port, as our destination. We see no other sailboats and only a couple of freighters along the way, and the moon at night is almost full and completely beautiful. When we leave the stream at about 7:00 a.m. the wind has come up to about 15 knots and we are able to sail at about seven knots for a few hours. We begin to have visions of arriving by 5:00, but the wind dies once again as the day heats up and in addition we encounter some kind of counter current, likely an eddy off of the Gulf Stream, so we frequently can’t even make five knots. We are now worried about arriving after dark and begin to develop strategies for dealing with that. Elisabeth disappears into the galley and after awhile emerges with a delicious salad Nicoise. We are not going to let little problems like perhaps arriving after dark and not having charts of the local anchorages keep us from eating well on Singoalla. To solve the charts problem we try to call a marina in St. Augustine, but we are still 20 miles or so from the coast and we do not have good telephone reception. But oddly enough, reception is good enough on our Blackberry to receive and send emails. We take advantage of this quirk of modern technology to email our daughter, Catharina and ask her to call the marina in St. Augustine to discuss the situation. She finds that there is room at the marina, but also that it is quite possible to anchor just north of the Bridge of Lions, the first bridge south of the St. Augustine inlet on the Intracoastal Waterway. Then, for maybe the first time ever we are pleased to see thunderstorms developing over land. They generate enough wind that we are able to get our speed up over six knots and calculate that we will be able to arrive at the St. Augustine sea buoy just before sunset. A benefit of our new found speed is that a pod of dolphins comes to play in our bow wave and keeps us entertained for about 45 minutes. We speculate that this is their version of a ski trip. As we get closer to land our telephone reception improves enough for Catharina to call us. She has looked at the harbor on Google Earth, and is able to give us a good description of where most boats are anchored, right in front of the old historic part of the city. The wonders of modern technology are really amazing. We turn on the radar to track the squalls and at first are comforted that they are about 20 miles away. As we continue to watch they slowly get closer. We are relieved that when we arrive at the sea buoy they are still about 6 miles away. We find our way through the inlet to the Intracoastal Waterway and head south to the Bridge of Lions to anchor. Here is another place where wind and current are opposed and it takes us two tries to be sure that we are safely attached to the bottom. By the time we are anchored it is completely dark. We are too tired for much dinner, so we have a glass of wine and some cheese and crackers and retire.

May 12, 2009, St. Augustine


The St. Augustine waterfront

After breakfast we launch the dinghy and go into the Municipal marina, which lies just south of the Bridge of Lions. It is an extraordinarily well run facility with friendly and helpful staff as well as the nicest showers we have seen in months. They help us contact the U.S. Customs office in Jacksonville as the local office is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. After a few calls we are able to clear in by telephone, thanks to our Frequent Boater cards that we picked up in Puerto Rico. We go to Price’s Barber Shop, a large old fashioned barber shop just across the street from Flagler College, and Larry gets his first hair cut since February. Elisabeth is pleased to find that they also cut ladies’ hair, so she gets a trim as well. Larry has a craving for a good hamburger and the barber refers us to Cruisers Grill. The hamburgers are not only very good, but also very large. Nevertheless, Elisabeth has her craving for ice cream – satisfied at a small local ice cream parlor. We wander around the narrow streets of old St. Augustine, enjoying the atmosphere of America’s oldest city (and tourist attraction). When we return to Singoalla, cheese and crackers and a little wine prepare us for a very restful slumber.

May 13, 2009, St. Augustine


The Bridge of Lions is being restored to its former grandeur






Castillo de San Marcos from our anchorage

Chris Parker advises against sailing to Charleston for a few days, probably until Friday. A low pressure area off the coast is causing high adverse winds, waves and rain squalls – altogether a miserable picture. We decide to make the best of things and enjoy St. Augustine. Elisabeth does laundry and Larry updates the blog at the marina’s comfortable boater’s lounge. We go to Acapulco, an d attractive Mexican restaurant we noticed yesterday, for an excellent lunch. Acapulco is just across the street from the old Spanish fort, so we spend most of the afternoon exploring the Castillo de San Marcos. Never defeated in war, 5 different flags flew over the fort during its 150 years as an active military base. Sated with history, we now need charts of Charleston harbor, our next port of call. We walk the two miles to the West Marine store only to discover that they don’t have the charts we need. It is very hot and we see a Dunkin Donuts and immediately develop a raging thirst for iced coffee. Larry enjoys his first donut in five months. We make our way back to the boat and once again are satisfied with cheese and crackers for dinner, with a glass of wine as accompaniment. We are beginning to like this pattern of main meal in the middle of the day and a light supper in the evening.

May 14, 2009, St. Augustine

Today is a lazy day. We relax on the boat watching the rain showers go by. We take advantage of a break in the rain to go into town just in time to shower before lunch. We have a better than expected lunch at the Casa Habana across the street from the marina. We spend a couple of hours wandering around the city enjoying the sights, then return to Singoalla in mid afternoon. We prepare the boat for tomorrow’s passage: outboard on the stern rail, dinghy on deck and lashed down, waypoints entered in the chart plotter, etc. Since we don’t have a paper chart of Charleston harbor we will have to rely on the electronic charts in the chart plotter. As long as the electronics stay up this is fine, it just means that we don’t have a back up if something happens to the electronic systems. We don’t like that, but this time we have no choice. We do have two spare gps instruments and we have noted all the waypoints so we can use the other devices if the primary one goes down. Again we have a light supper and go to bed early, as we want to get away as soon as we can tomorrow.

May 15 – 16, 2009, St. Augustine, Florida – Charleston, South Carolina

Chris Parker’s 6:30 forecast is encouraging: light wind in the morning, filling in from the south east in the afternoon. We are out of the harbor by 7:30 and raise the sails at the harbor entrance sea buoy. We quickly realize that the genoa is not contributing – the wind is too light. We furl the genoa and start the engine and poke along at about five knots for a few hours. Another boat that left the harbor just after us is doing the same thing on almost the same course, so we have a companion in sight for several hours. The wind increases a little at about noon so we unfurl the genoa and continue under main, genoa and engine at almost 6 knots. At 2:00 we are visited by a pod of dolphins who play in te bow wave for a while before moving on. At 3:00 the wind veers a little and increases to 12 knots. This enables us to kill the engine and sail at over 6 knots for several hours. The wind slackens a little at sunset, but we don’t have to start the engine again until 2:00 a.m. when the wind dies completely. It is important that we maintain at least five knots in order to reach Charleston harbor during daylight hours. If we are late we will have to sail back and forth off the coast all night, and the forecast for Sunday is for deteriorating weather. We see a couple of freighters and a tug and barge during the night but little else until Elisabeth is startled just before 6:00 a.m. by a motor boat that speeds by our bow unnecessarily close. Chris Parker’s morning forecast tells us to expect continued light wind until the afternoon. In an uncanny demonstration of modern technology, we tell him that we see some nasty looking thunderheads with a lot of rain under them a few miles off to starboard. He is able to see them on satellite imagery and tells us not to worry. They are moving off to the northeast and our course keeps us safely out of harm’s way. As we approach Charleston from the south we sail over an area marke “dangerous area” on the chart. We interpret the notes to mean that there may be “unexploded ordinance” on the bottom left over from wartime mine-laying training exercises. Elisabeth sees three brown objects floating together beneath the surface about 15 feet to port of us as we pass by. Now we are concerned – were they mines, buoys or just turtles? We don’t know but keep a sharp lookout the rest of the way. The wind comes up at about 5:00, a little later than forecast. We are just a few miles from the harbor, but enjoy a quiet sail up to the entrance channel, then jibe to sail up the channel into the harbor. It is a busy channel and we meet a cruise ship and a freighter during the short time we are in it. Larry has entered electronic waypoints to take us up the Cooper River to the location marked on the chart for the Charleston City Boatyard. We drop the sails well inside the harbor and motor under the beautiful Ravenel Bridge. We think we are in luck because we should arrive at the marina just at slack tide, making docking an easy process. We try to contact the boatyard on VHF and on the telephone, but at 7:00 on Saturday evening we are not surprised that no one is there. We get to Daniels Bend on the Cooper River where the chart places the boatyard, but instead we find a navy base. There is no boatyard. Now we feel the absence of the paper chart. It is almost sunset and we are not sure where we can safely anchor. The Cooper River Marina doesn’t answer our calls on either VHF or telephone. We head back down theriver looking for a place where boats are anchored or for another marina. We are able to contact Charleton harbor Marina, just below the Ravenel Bridge, and they have room for us. They guide us in through their breakwater and help us tie up just before it becomes full dark. We feel that we have dodged a bullet. We are too tired for dinner, so we showere in the marina’s nice facility, have a glass of wine and slip quietly into slumber.

May 17, 2009, Charleston Harbor Marina – Charleston City Boatyard


Dirk and Larry mug for the camera. Long pants and foul weather gear for the first time in months.

The dock master at the marina tells us that Charleston City Boatyard is up the Wando River – we should have turned right instead of left after passing under the Ravenel Bridge. Larry finds a cruising guide with an arrow pointing up the river indicating that the boatyard is off the chartlet up river, but it doesn’t say how far. We look around the grounds of the hotel associated with the marina for future reference. When we return to Singoalla and look at the current station on the chart plotter we realize that slack tide is in only an hour. Our friend Wendy has recommended that we try to arrive near slack water, so we cast off immediately. The electronic chart of the river is very good, if you don’t include putting the boatyard on the wrong river. We wind along the Wando River for about 9 miles. In places it is deep from shore to shore, but as we get farther up the channel becomes quite narrow and twisty. Fortunately there are easily visible range markers that enable us to stay in deep water. We pass slack tide and the river begins to flood as we pass bend after bend in the river without seeing the boatyard. We begin to think we have somehow missed it when Elisabeth sees “City Boatyard” on the roof of a building in the distance. The tide is now flooding, but there is space on the outer dock and we are able to turn into the current and come alongside very gently. While we are exploring the boatyard another boat is towed in by SeaTow, one of the commercial rescue services. Lison Life was on its way from Florida to Beaufort, but the stern gland where the propeller shaft exits the boat has begun to leak badly. Dirk and Silvia, a German couple who currently live in Michigan, did not dare to run the engine, so they called the towing service, which recommended City Boatyard for repairs and towed them here. Our sails are a little damp, but the forecast is for rain and more wind, so we spend the afternoon removing and flaking the sales, removing the bimini and dodger, stowing lines and blocks, putting “crew covers” on the cushions to protect them during storage and generally preparing the boat to be on land for several months. We invite Dirk and Silvia aboard for cocktails. We are amused and amazed to discover that they come from Konstanz, a lake on the German-Swiss border where Elisabeth spent several summers as a teenager. We have a marvelous time over pina coladas, and after they leave decide that our hors d’ouevres make a perfectly acceptable dinner. Sleep come soon after.

May 18, 2009, Charleston City Boatyard

Singoalla is ready to be hauled







Singoalla in the slings in preparation for hauling at Charleston City Boatyard

We register with the boatyard and discuss our schedule. The forecast is for several days of bad weather, so we want to haul the boat this afternoon. We are given a ride to the airport where we plan to rent a car by John, who introduces himself as an “externship” employee. We discover that he is a student at the IYRS marine systems course in Bristol that our son Erik has enrolled in for the fall. We are pleased that he speaks so warmly of the course. We find a Home Depot and buy a dehumidifier which we plan to install on the boat while she is stored. We hope this will reduce potential mildew problems. When we return to the boatyard we continue removing movable items from the deck, stowing down below, and packing for or trip home. In early afternoon we move the boat around the corner to the staging area for the haul out basin. The current has begun to flow upstream, so the dock approach is a little tricky, but we manage without problem. It is nice to get a compliment from the foreman at the boatyard for skilful boat handling. The boat is hauled, power washed and blocked in the late afternoon. We are able to see the damage done by the coral in the Bahamas – it is mostly cosmetic and easily repairable. Larry Knapp at the boatyard recommends Queen Anne’s Revenge in Daniels Island for dinner, and Dirk and Silvia join us for a pleasant evening there. We spend our next-to-last night in Singoalla and it is none too pleasant, as there are half-packed bags, sails and other items that have been removed from their cabinets for better ventilation, everywhere. We are glad that we only have one more night on board.

May 19, 2009, Charleston City Boatyard

Larry, Silvia and Dirk in the boatyard.

We drive Dirk and Silvia to the airport to rent a car, eat a monster breakfast at Denny’s and then return to the yard. We remove the boom and lash it to the deck. We lash down the frames for the bimini and the dodger. We finish packing our bags and put them in the car. We remove the cockpit speakers that have ceased to function so we can return them to Bose for repair. We go to Lowe’s, buy a 16 foot 2 x 4 and rig a tent over the cockpit to keep the varnish ot of the summer sun. In general, we spend a very long day working non-stop to get ready for several months “on the hard”. Finally we are done. We shower and drive into Charleston for dinner at the Hominy Grill, a wonderful restaurant specializing in traditional southern food that Larry Knapp has recommended. Once again his recommendation is a great success. When we return we climb under our “tent” to a final night of sleep in only slightly organized chaos.

May 20, 2009, Charleston City Boatyard – Bristol, Rhode Island

The alarm goes off at 5:45. We work frantically for two hours doing last minute packing, closing up the boat and checking out of the boatyard. By 8:00 we are on our way home and our blog is done until we return in December to head south again.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Lavers blog, 14th 2008-2009 entry, May 1-6, 2009

May 1-3, 2009, Ocean World Marina, Dominican Republic – George Town, Bahamas

The navy clears us out from Ocean World




Calico Paws leaves Ocean World

We expect the navy representative to give us our clearance, collect his 20 dollar fee, and see us off at 6.00 am. The alarm goes off at 5.30 am (unusual for us these days) and we get up in half light and scurry around to be ready when he comes. There are four boats leaving the marina, all at the same time, since we all have been waiting for the stormy weather to subside. The navy representatives (there are two) come late, and we are the last boat they release. We wave good bye to our friends Hans and Ursula, and who leave just before us, and we clear the breakwater at 7.15. We are uncertain of what kind of conditions we will meet, so we have entered four alternative routes into the navigation system.  Each starts with the same first leg, but terminate at a different point along the way. We can go to Provinciales in the Turks and Caicos, or Mayaguana, Calabash Bay on Long Island or  George Town  on Great Exuma, all in the Bahamas. The wind is very light at the start and the exit from the marina very lumpy, but at about 8.00 the wind fills in at about 18 knots on the beam. It is apparent that we are getting a current boost since we are able to average about 8.5 knots over the bottom for 6 hours.  The speed slacks off to the high sevens, and we continue to be quite comfortable. Beginning in the afternoon we trade 3 hour watches for most of the rest of the trip. If we are to go to Turks and Caicos we have to turn right just before West Caicos and go toward Provo over Caicos Bank.  You only do this in daylight with reasonable visibility as there are a large number of coral heads along the way. We arrive at the turnoff at 2.00 a.m., far earlier than expected, so the decision to bypass T&C is easy. We round West Caicos and alter course by a few degrees towards Mayaguana. Around 6.00 a.m. we decide that we are going so well and are so comfortable that we will bypass Mayaguana and keep going.  We fall off to a broad reach until we round Plana Cays at about 2.00 p.m. We get our first sight of the incredible, almost luminescent Bahamas color on the shallow water around the Cays. We harden up to clear North East Point on Acklin’s Island about 12 miles away, then it is a beam reach towards Cape Saint Maria on Long Island. We see no other sailboats on the entire trip, but a couple of motor boats and several freighters -- one every few hours. At the 8.00 pm watch change Larry notices some big dark clouds building up behind us. He turns on the radar, and sure enough they are full of rain. It appears to be one big line of squalls, with clear weather behind. We cannot avoid them, so as they approach, we shorten sail a little and wait -- Larry on deck in foul weather gear (first time this winter) and Elisabeth down below. There are only a few extra knots of wind in the squall, but Singoalla gets a much needed fresh water bath and emerges ¾ of an hour later salt free. The skies clear and we continue at good speed until we jibe around Cape Santa Maria at about 7.30 am. We see half a dozen sailboats leaving Calabash Bay and heading north. We presume that this is part of the giant spring exodus of the George Town live aboards who have spent a last night in the area outside of the reef strewn George Town harbor so they can get an early morning start. We think it is too early to stop. The wind has died down, and we broad reach slowly the last 25 miles to the tricky channels of the south east entrance to George Town. We drop sails before the channels and we motor at about 3 knots on several different legs, following the directions of the cruising guide. We are greeted by a small pod of dolphins who tire of us all too soon -- it is no fun playing with a boat going so slowly. As we prepare to anchor off Gaviota Bay on Stocking island we see and greet David Schramm on Jenny, whom we had last seen in Samana. We agree to get together for cocktails and anchor nearby.  We enjoy a very pleasant hour on Jenny, catching up and are asleep  within minutes of returning to Singoalla.

May 4, 2009, George Town

Houseboats for live-aboards in George Town




Volleyball Beach




Terry and Limon join us for cocktails





The happy hostess

The customs office was closed when we arrived yesterday, Sunday, so we flew the quarantine flag and did not go ashore.  Soon after breakfast today David comes by in his dinghy to say he is going into customs and to load up on water.  We decide to go in  too, so we put the motor on the dinghy and head the two  miles across the harbor, look for and find the narrow dinghy cut into Lakd Victoria, and tie up at the dinghy dock just as David is finishing filling his water jugs.  Here the harbor is too shallow to bring in the “mother ship”, but you can load up your portable containers free.  We walk together to the customs office.  Clearing in is reasonably straightforward, but the fee is $300.  For this you get a one year cruising permit with one exit and reentry permitted if it is within 90 days.  You also get a fishing permit.  The good news is that we will not have to clear out.  We just have to mail a form back to them from our next port of call.   We walk the quarter mile or so to the Immigration office where we fill out some more forms and get our passports stamped.  Finally we go shopping at the Exuma Market, a surprisingly well stocked grocery store, then return to our boats.  After stowing the groceries we take the dinghy to the St. Francis Resort for lunch – pretty good pizza – and to buy tickets good for 80 minutes access to their wifi network.  At lunch we meet Terry and Limon Potts who are from Portland, Oregon and whose boat, Sans Cles, is anchored just in front of us.  We invite them for cocktails at 5:00.  We tour the coves in Gaviota Bay and return to Singoalla.  When David and the Potts join us for cocktails we have a lively discussion about healthcare in the U.S., but more importantly to us, exchange information about routes to follow and places to see.  When our guests leave we decide that our hors d’ouevres make a wonderful dinner and go to bed almost immediately.

May 5, 2009, George Town -- Rudder Cut Cay

George Town



Singoalla Departs George Town





Rudder Cut Cay




Sunset at Rudder Cut Cay

We have a dilemma. The southwest entrance to George Town Harbor is relatively deep, but adds 10 miles to today’s sail, compared to the northeast entrance. Limon Potts from Sans Cles has given us the way points for the optimum route out from the Wavey Line Charts, the best and most current charts for this area. If we leave above ½ tide we should be able to make it out the north west route. The shallowest spot is fairly near our anchorage, so if we leave by about 8.00am we will be past it before the tide falls enough to make the choice of route questionable. So we raise anchor, swing by Sans Cles and Jenny to say good bye and head north west. We make it out without any problem. The depth sounder never shows less than 8 feet of water below the keel. Once outside in the Exuma Sound we roll out the genoa. The wind is very light but far enough north of east that we are on a very close reach and manage to sail around six knots all the way to Rudder Cut, about 30 miles. We drop the sails and follow the guide book’s directions through Rudder Cut to the anchorage behind Rudder Cut Cay. You have to time your entrances so you have the sun behind you-if not you cannot see the shallow spots or coral heads. We anchor when the water begins to get too shallow, and enjoy a quiet evening in incredibly clear water with only three other boats in sight. Elisabeth goes for her daily evening swim and prepares a marvelous shrimp dish, inspired by a dinner on Splendido with Michael and Jeremy in Fort de France. In a new first, made possible by our moving north and the advancing of the season, we have dinner in day light in the cockpit and are treated to a spectacular sunset.

May 6, 2009 Rudder Cut Cay- Cambridge Cay

Tide Rips at Rudder Cut




Spinnaker sailing is hard work

Last night we had good visibility coming in through Rudder Cut, so we were able to avoid potential coral heads easily.  This morning we have to go out the same cut into the morning sun, so visibility is nil. Fortunately the GPS has a track of where we went yesterday, so when we leave at 8.00 am we are able to follow yesterdays “bread crumbs” and emerge into Exuma Sound unscathed. Today the wind is again very light, but coming from about 80 degrees, just aft of the beam. We have trouble maintaining 4 knots with the genoa so we decide to set the spinnaker. The difference is amazing. We over trim the spinnaker slightly so we do not have to tend it constantly and sail at 6-6.5 knots for several hours, Otto (our autopilot) steers and Elisabeth and Larry read. Unbelievable comfort. The wind dies off some and the last 8 miles are made at about 5 knots. We drop sails at Bell Cut and get ready to go through the narrow cut to anchor behind Cambridge Cay. The tide is flooding and there is a very strong current through the cut.  It is across our path into the anchorage, and Larry makes probably the biggest mistake of his sailing life. He sails the prescribed compass course but fails to realize that he is being swept sideways at a great rate by the very strong current.  Suddenly the water is turbulent all around us and it is apparent that we are in among a mass of coal heads. Larry becomes disoriented because we are not where he expects to be and then - BANG - we strike coral.  Singoalla shudders, stops, then bounces over the head. But – which way to go? Coral heads all around us!  How do we get out of here? We finally figure out where we need to be, but in the process of getting there we strike 3 more times. Fortunately we are going slowly and though noisy none of the bumps are serious. We are much relieved when we regain deeper water, find the route we should have been on, and pick up the first available mooring.  This is the Bahamas Sea and Land Park and moorings are provided to protect the coral. We are incredibly shaken and thankful that we escaped what could have been a major disaster.  Elisabeth dives down to inspect the keel, and reports that the damage is minor - a few dents in the keel that can easily be repaired. But we are shaken and thankful that we made it without more serious damage.  A dinner of grilled pork chops and copious amount of wine make us feel better.