Bimini to Nassau – 125 nautical miles sailed
“Fuck!!!” I yelled as the boat was lifted up on a swell and dropped with a crash onto the sandbank. “We hit it again, goddamn it!” Ana was on deck and got flattened, bruising her arm, but fortunately she was not thrown from the boat, and she yelled at me that she was okay.
I gave it full throttle as the boat twisted in the surf. If we could not get off this shoal the boat was going to be in big trouble, as the tide was on the way out so SeaLight would get pounded to bits by the crashing, unrelenting waves. A large swell came through, lifted the boat, and she found water, taking us out of the danger zone and out into the uncertain darkness. My thumping heart had become fully lodged in my throat and it took a few swallows to ram it back down. Jesus.
Ana and I had awoken at 4am. I heated water, splashed my face, checked the wind forecast, then filled my Yeti with a hot drink. It was going to be a long day.
I started the boat and went up to retrieve the anchor. The heavy winds from yesterday had bent the anchor pin and I could not get it out, so had to retrieve a hammer and pliers from my toolbox to bash it free. Ana was at the helm, piloting in the darkness as I tried to release mud from the anchor with a boat hook.
Leaving Bimini in the darkness was never a good idea, but we had a good, but short weather window and we needed those hours to get to Nassau before the strong winds of the next cold front blew in and made the seas treacherous. I took the helm and Ana went up to the bow with a spotlight to light up the channel markers so I could see them. She caught sight of a giant ray flying through the water past the bow of our boat, new animal for the trip.
To avoid another grounding the plan was to leave at half tide, which would give us an additional foot and a half of water, and also to stay very tight to the green buoy where the deeper water should be. As we neared the buoy we could hear and just barely see the surf crashing into the shoals to our right. I would never admit at the time, but I was terrified. Really scared. We’d been in similar situations before, but they never get easier. You doubt yourself, your skills, your plan. But once you are committed, you can’t turn back. And if you screw it up, as captain, you have only yourself to blame. And the consequences can be severe, for the crew, for the boat, for you.
Once we were in the open water we talked about what had happened. The extra tidal water wasn’t enough. Getting closer to the marker didn’t matter. What went wrong? I pulled up the chart again and made a discovery; there was another way we could have exited the channel, safer, with more depth. I hadn’t even noticed it before because the magenta lines on the charts (these identify the most direct path between two points, in our case from Miami to Bimini) all terminated at the entrance channel we had used.
Lesson learned: When something goes wrong, don’t plan to make the same mistake a second time. Ask a local for guidance. Triple check the charts. Look for guidance online from others who have made the same mistake. Also, don’t blindly trust the markers.
We had about two hours sailing in the darkness. We had one vessel coming directly at us, who we had to call on the VHF to ask direction. We had to navigate around another dangerous shoal. It was not fun and it was not a good start to the day.
But the day got better. Much better. The sun rose to shine on the brilliant blue waters of the Bahamas Banks. We had a comfortable 9 knot wind on our beam so flew the headsail to gain more speed. There were few boats and the navigation was simple. The only strange thing was being able to see the bottom. When this happens in the lakes, you are probably seconds away from grounding your sailboat.
Ana and I had two rounds of coffee in the cockpit and a great conversation about the dictator wannabe to the south and his plans to annex Canada, then Greenland, then Panama. I already knew this was going to happen, it was just a question of when. We also talked about our visit to Bimini and the stark differences with where we had just come from. In southern Florida we saw what extreme real wealth looks like. We were surrounded by rich people driving fancy cars, fancy boats, and living in mansions. But I don’t know how happy they were. People were assholes on the roads, aggressive and mean. Everybody was in a mad rush all the time. And I have to say this - the extent and magnitude of female facial reconfiguration was shocking, and I mean in a way that there seemed to be more people with it than without it, at least the ones walking around in the rich areas. These things, to me, are not a sign of happiness. And the research backs this up – American ranks low on the happiness scale, despite their massive wealth, power, and influence in the world. So if that’s not what it takes to be happy, then what is it?
Well, the research shows that living in a place where there is little income disparity is a huge driver of this. You don’t have to be rich, but it’s better to not have many rich people around, and also not many poor people. Having everybody hovering around the middle seems to be an ingredient in the special sauce of happiness. This is why Denmark is always at the top of this list. Their social and taxation policies provide for a population that is overwhelmingly clustered around a tight income range. If you start making too much money, the government takes it away in the form of taxes. If you don't have any money, they give you some. Although this would outrage Ayn Rand, it does seem to provide for a happy populace.
My mind keeps going back to this interesting woman we met in Annapolis with whom we had a lengthy conversation in her fancy retail shop. She said the USA is all about greed. Greed drives everything. Greed kills everything. The pursuit of money is the highest societal goal. Greed is rotting the country. You Joni Mitchell the trees, put them in a tree museum, and charge people twenty-five bucks just to see ‘em. To make a bit of cash.
In Bimini, just 50 miles from Miami, we saw something different. People living simple lives. Not running around in a rush. Smiling most of the time. Waving at you from their cars instead of giving you the finger. Are there rich people on the island? Maybe, but I bet not very many of them. We saw a lot of people just talking to each other, not working particularly hard, but they all looked well fed and well dressed so I think most people do okay. Look, there's no romanticizing being poor - it sucks - but you also don’t need to be rich. And every person on Bimini has access to clean, beautiful public beaches, an ocean full of fish, a few stores to buy groceries, and probably a whole lot more spare time than the average American.
Sounds like a recipe for happiness.
We arrived in Nassau harbour at 11pm and navigated slowly through the channel, confused by the lights and bridges and orientation. But we took it slow and I had the girls up on the deck spotting for me. Once at the Montague Bay anchorage we dropped the hook but could not get it to stick, despite multiple tries in multiple areas so I tossed out our secondary anchor – the Danforth, and it stuck on the first drop. By that time we were tired as hell so we all crashed hard and fast.
Tomorrow, we explore Nassau.
No comments:
Post a Comment