The Amazing Folks of Mayaguana

We arrived in Abraham's Bay on Tuesday afternoon and got the boat secured for the weather front that would be here by 9 pm.  We got about an hour of diving in before nightfall, but after 4 days of hard diving, both my legs cramped up, so I drove the tender.

Scully, Ryan & Sam

The wind came up quickly from the north and was blowing 34 knots by 10 pm.  I went out on the bow to check the ground tackle and found that my homemade snubber line was failing at the main splice.

Top Shelf main anchor is a 75 pound Delta style anchor with 300 feet of 3/8" chain.  Since a chain has no stretch, a nylon "Snubber" us used between the bow and the chain to cushion the impact of waves and wind gusts.  If there was no snubber, this impact would damage the windlass (anchor winch) and pull the anchor from the sand.

Fisheries Warden Serving Drinks

We used dock lines and a second chain hook to take some of the strain off of the snubber splice.  Needless to say, Santa is bringing me a professionally made snubber for Christmas.

I stayed up until 2 am on "anchor watch" to make sure we stayed anchored.  It was the first time I was anchored in this type of weather.  Very unnerving, but I finally trusted our setup and went to bed.

Christmas Tree Lighting Concert

The next morning, the wind had shifted to the northeast, but was still gusting 25 knots.  We all needed a day off, so we decided to go ashore.

I rely on a social media site called ActiveCaptain.com which reviews anchorages and marinas all over the world.  Captains make comments on every anchorage both about navigation and what to expect ashore.

Abraham's Bay Restaurant

Active Captain comments mentioned a person named "Scully" who would help cruisers out who wanted to visit Mayaguana.  I call Scully on VHF channel 16 and he met us at the boat ramp.  This was the beginning of quite a night.

Two settlements, four bars, two restaurants, a Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony and a ride in the back of the Police Car and we managed to find ourselves invited to a wedding on Saturday night and Ryan and Sam were scheduled to do a presentation on Spear Fishing for the entire high school the next morning.

High School Presentation

Ms Eden: Principal & Bride

It so happens that the principal of the high school is the one getting married.  She is a younger woman who has a great personality and really made us welcome in the community.  Both Scully and Ms Eden introduced us to the fisheries warden.  He is a 50 year old Rastafarian who also owns one of the restaurants.  He kept asking us how much fish we had on Top Shelf.  He actually had me a little nervous as nobody really knows what the regulations are.   We ended the night playing backgammon at the the Thunderbolt Bar until it closed at midnight.

High School Students

We woke up Thursday to another windy day as the front has stalled right over Mayaguana.  The presentation at the high school was scheduled at lunchtime, so we loaded up the fishing gear and a laptop and made our way back ashore.  The presentation went very well as the kids were very engaged.  Bahamians are scared to death of sharks.  Ryan did his best to convince the student that a shark won't eat them, but after some of the videos they showed on the projector, I'm not sure he did such a good job.

723 Nautical Miles Since Florida

After the presentation, the fisheries warden was waiting for us outside.  He wanted to review the fishing regulations with us.  I thought we were in trouble.  As it ended up, we are going to his house tomorrow night and his wife agreed to cook some of our lobster tails.  This is quite a place!  Next update will be a report on the wedding.  We'll see how these Bahamians can party!