Stocking Island – January 8-March 16, 2008

We left you with all the equipment failures that had kept us in
Georgetown. Here’s what we did all that time, while we finished with
boat repairs and waited for the computer to come back…

The days meandered on – it’s easy to settle into a lazy routine when
there’s no place you have to be and nothing you have to do. We moved
camp to Volley Ball Beach, near Chat ‘n’ Chill while our guests were
still with us. (Chat ‘n’ Chill is the eatery on Stocking Island with
all the freebie entertainment stuff available to cruisers.)

We were looking for what we presumed would be better and more wifi
connectivity than the 3-4 marginal free sites we’d been using, and to
get slightly closer to town in the nasty weather we’d been having.
That wifi quest proved only hopeful, as we wound up using, up until
the last week, Harbour WiFi, a pay service ashore, one of several,
which we easily picked up with our mast-top unit. No biggie on the
pay part, though, as we actually only bought a couple of weekly cards,
the rest being donated from folks we’d helped with one or more
communication problems. The last week (see “Loose Cannon” post
separately for amplification on both parts) we were on a free site,
picked up with our mast-top antenna…

Once our guests had departed, having had what they called the vacation
of a lifetime, days settled into a routine of, when up early enough,
listening to, and sometimes, talking to, Chris Parker about the
weather, and, nearly always, participating in the morning net.

The morning net is a daily meeting, over VHF radio, of the folks in
the anchorages. It starts with weather (usually derived from
listening to Chris Parker, as I do whenever I’m about to go
someplace), then moves on to local business’ advertisements. Those are
followed by “Regatta” – announcements of activities related to several
races the cruisers do in that period, then “Community” – announcements
of general interest, such as my seminars, what other organized
activities may be taking place in the near future, and so on. It’s
closed by “Boaters’ General” – announcements of things needed, or for
sale, trade or to be donated (we lightened our boat of many things
during this period).

The net takes place on channel 72, while the harbor monitors channel
68 for hailing local boats (and businesses, sometimes, most of them
monitoring 16), plus taxi and a few other specialized ones having
other dedicated channels. Following the net there is a lot of hailing
back and forth, usually in followup to various announcements. Later on
in the day, if you keep the radio on, the traffic dies considerably,
but it’s about like a party line, all the time. If you know the boat
and people, frequently you may dial up the frequency they select for
their conversation, and, if it’s pertinent to something you need or
know, you’ll break in after they’re finished to continue the
conversation with one or both of the parties. Or, you’ll have just
eavesdropped :{))

During this time we got to know many of the boat names, and put names
and faces to them later as we met in person. As has been proven time
and again, but nowhere more so than here, the cruising community is
aggressive in helping others in need, or just immediately falling-to
in lending a helping hand. Rescued adrift dinghies, lost oars or
other personal items, announcing found (including a substantial sum of
money) items on Boaters’ General, jumping aboard an unoccupied boat
which has dragged to get out another anchor (oops!), diving one who’s
gotten another’s chain involved with their prop as the other dragged
by; the list of immediate, selfless help is endless.

We were both beneficiary and donor in some of the dragging. There’s a
saying here, akin to the “if you haven’t been aground, you haven’t
been around” which goes “There are two types of cruisers in the
harbor. Those who have dragged and those who will.” As good as the
holding is, sometimes a boat will break out, and if it’s got up a good
head of steam, not be able to reset before endangering other boats.
Apparently, we were one of those, as the wind went nearly 180* from
light to howling, in the space of a few minutes one afternoon.

Despite (and, probably, actually, a contributor, as we were on the
other end of it when the wind switched direction and piped up) our
125’ of chain (in a little more than 10’ of water) and 55# Delta
anchor, when 20 tons of boat gets up a lot of momentum, the anchor can
come out after 200+ feet of way before it is asked to take up the
strain again. So, while we and the boat behind us were ashore that
day, we both dragged.

Due to the sudden wind shift, there were dinghies all over the harbor
doing tugboat and other rescue duties. A neighbor came aboard and got
our second (massive 75# CQR) unshackled from its harness and lowered
into another dink, thence to be kedged out (see ungrounding in Normans
Cay for reference), securing our boat. At the same time another pair
were stopping the motion of the boat behind us and lengthening his
scope (he didn’t have another anchor ready to deploy). We both
returned after the squall, none the wiser, other than that I saw we
had two anchors out, learning, later, that there were multiple hails
on the VHF trying to find both of us during all the excitement :{))

Our next encounter was better forecast, but for 4AM. We had out ample
scope, and the wind was already in the direction of the expected blow,
so we just did an anchor watch. As it turned out, the blow didn’t
come until right at dawn, and both we and the other boat right behind
us (we being the two recipients of the prior help) stayed securely.
However, I saw a neighbor boat beginning to move, and by the time I’d
jumped into the dinghy and chased him down, while he’d developed a
good head of steam, he’d caught again about a quarter-mile away. By
the time I banged on his hull to let him know (he was still asleep),
he’d stopped. I offered to kedge out his second anchor, lashed to the
pulpit, if he had some line, but he said he’d just move back up and
put them both out, refusing help in that, despite his single-handing
his boat.

That particular squall was very eventful, with several collisions of
dragging boats, one of which had survived the prior one, having been
in the same anchor spot for more than 3 months, but letting go this
time. There was also one very serious fouling of running gear which
didn’t involve a collision, but only the chain of the dragging boat
wrapping itself around the prop and shaft of a power boat which was
holding itself in position into the wind under power. That power boat
wound up a half mile away, secured by several stern anchors, during
which time there were no less than a half dozen dinghies helping out.
Later several cruisers dove on the boat to unfoul it, and to recover
THEIR anchor, which had separated during all the excitement.

Later, we moved to a location slightly closer to Chat ‘n’ Chill (close
enough that Lydia swam to and shore, mostly), and, as a front
threatened, put out our second anchor just for comfortable sleeping at
night. It stayed there for a couple of weeks, there being no pressing
need to get it up, and great security should there be another blow.

One of the ways we got to meet cruisers is my wifi setup aboard Flying
Pig. Without the gory details (see islandtimepc.com), in addition to
the direct cable connection to my computer, we have a local (onboard)
wifi feed to Lydia’s and Louise’ laptops which is also visible to
boats around us. Because of our mast-top unit, we can connect to wifi
when most around us can't - but we're happy to share our signal.

Thus, if you’re in an anchorage and see, as one of the available (or,
maybe, the only) wifi sites “FlyingPig-ComeSeeUs4PW,” that will be
us. We block those we don’t know, but for the simple expedient of
coming to us and introducing yourself, we make our signal available.
There’s no password, actually, but if we’ve blocked you, we’ll unblock
it, or, if you’ve not yet logged on, note your computer’s
identification and allow your connection. It’s a great way to get to
know others in the cruising community, and, lost signal aside, we were
besieged by folks dinghying by as we prepared to leave, saying how
nice it had been to be our neighbors.

So, what else happened, other than that I played volleyball nearly
every day, which was a great help to my general conditioning, and
Lydia yoga, ditto? All this happens on Stocking Island:

Daily volleyball, on 3 available courts (the posts are dismasted
sailboats’ sticks!) – there is “fun” volleyball (all ages over 15,
both sexes, very relaxed rules) with 9 to a team, “regulation”
volleyball (very high level of play, with regular rules) with 4 to a
team, and under-15 with whatever they aggregate to play, supplemented
by two tournaments before the end of “Regatta,” more on which later.
There’s also Beach Church (a registered non-denominational church),
and art, jewelry, bridge, poker and other classes regularly take place
on the beach next to Chat ‘n’ Chill.

Various other places on Stocking Island have several flavors of
swimming instruction, yoga, pilates, and spontaneous (with
announcements on the local net, also more on which later) seminars on
the beach at Chat ‘n’ Chill. The owner asks only that visitors to the
beach not bring their food and beverages there (somewhat like do-it-
yourself yards requiring you to buy their paint when you do the bottom
– but they don’t give you a place to work on your boat for free!!)
while enjoying his hospitality. Of course, the traffic at his eatery
and bar is enhanced by all the people who come ashore…

During our stay I did two seminars, separated by about 5 weeks (lots
of new boats, and some departures, in between), on wireless
communication for cruisers. The first happened to be on a day when
the wind was howling, and rain threatened, so, due to the nasty dinghy
rides for many, some demurred on the first one. Despite that, there
were 60+ attendees at each, with both followed up by folks getting me
to resolve, variously, ham radio, SSB mail (SSB mail, recall, being a
radio form of emailing), wifi and other connectivity challenges. I
also did an “online” (over VHF radio) seminar on Honda generators (see
prior “Cruising is…” post for details). Others did seminars on
navigational aids, Texas Hold-em Poker, basket weaving (yes, really! –
the output, using locally found materials, is stunning!), Conch Horn
manufacturing and playing (you make a loud trumpet, effectively, out
of a salad component’s prior home), and so on.

It’s easy to see why folks get stuck here. Town from the Stocking
Island anchorages (there’s another major anchorage south of here, Sand
Dollar, and one north of Monument, Hamburger Beach) is a reasonably
easy dinghy ride, and there is much more than organized activity (much
more than mentioned above is available, too) to do on the Island, the
weekend place for the locals to unwind. Walking on various nature
trails, snorkeling, the “sound” side, where there is the more typical
ocean shore, including finding conch and “lobster” (the clawless
version found in the tropics, AKA, sometimes, “bugs”) within easy
snorkeling distance, and the endless conversations which spring up
between cruisers and other cruisers or locals.

“Regatta” is a couple-week period of intense activity in the cruiser
community. It started with a round-Stocking-Island “fun” race, in
which we participated, arriving over the finish line more than 3
hours after the (very much) fastest boat, the very clear winner in the
“real” race. There were also Texas Hold-Em, Trivia, volleyball,
softball (the cruisers won, narrowly, against the Bahamians) and other
contests, as well as several dances at Chat ‘n’ Chill, hosted by
“Rockin’ Ron,” the skipper of Sea Dancer, a boat with the same hull as
ours, a Morgan 45.

The finale of the event was the race week. It was opened by a
hilarious variety show put on by all the cruisers who cared to
participate, preceded, immediately by the pet show, in which there
were two little girls, one dragging a conch shell (rescued from the
water outside the conch salad stand) and the other with a sizeable
hermit crab. The fun and regulation volleyball tournaments followed,
and it ended with another variety show ashore, for the benefit of the
Bahamians, who brought their kids. In between, there was another race
around Stocking Island (we didn’t participate, being involved in
getting ready to leave), and two in-harbor races. The anchorages
started emptying nearly immediately afterwards…

This year was a relatively light year, probably due to the recession,
with a high of a little more than 300 boats in the various harbors, as
compared to the normal 500+, and the local businesses felt the loss.
A case in point was the open-air restaurant at Hamburger Beach, which
closed for Sundays only as compared to their usual daily fare, on the
weekend we arrived. The cruisers’ season here is from December through
the second weekend in March; otherwise it’s very deserted by
comparison. Yet, several cruisers we chatted up (we have about 150
boat cards from various encounters and my seminars) have said that
it’s absolutely beautiful, and, of course, without all the other boats
around, a peaceful place to be in the summer. We’ll enjoy visiting
here another time, no doubt…

So, we’ll leave you for now, and pick up on our next trip.

L8R

Skip and Crew