Thursday was spent prepping the boat, and ourselves, to leave Red Shanks for our Friday sail to Long Island.
Our hearts were heavy as Friday would bring the start of diverging routes among The Navy.
Steve on “Anchor Management” is heading on a fast track to Puerto Rico. Us, more leisurely, to Long Island. And “Storyville” was planning to play in Red Shanks a bit longer. “Pipe Muh Bligh” was undecided and with “Morning Glory” already in Long Island and “SYL” on their way to Turks and Caicos, our time together, at least for now, had come to an end.
On Thursday evening, everyone piled on “Pipe” to enjoy sundowners and talk about the fun we’ve had together over the past few months. Though we’ll see “Storyville” and “Pipe” again at the Family Island Regatta in a few weeks, Steve is staying in PR once he gets there. Before we knew it, the sun had set and with plans to leave at first light it was time for bed.
A few grateful tears, strong bear hugs and a melancholic ride home from Troy (our dinghy was already stored on deck), and we waved goodbye to great friends who have become family on the water.
So with heavy hearts we settled into bed awaiting the 6:30 a.m. beep beep beep of the weather radio alarm.
Daylight on Friday morning came quickly and along with Steve, we pulled up the hook and motored out toward the mouth of Elizabeth Harbour. Troy woke up to radio one last “be safe out there” and other than talking with Steve on the VHF, the world was silent.
Exiting the cut, we hoisted sail and for the first time, pointed our boat in a different direction than Steve’s. He headed northeast and we southeast.
Halfway there we passed over the Tropic of Cancer. We now officially live in the tropics.
While sailing toward Indian Point on Long Island, we talked with “Morning Glory” who was already there to make plans to anchor near each other. We dropped the hook, caught up with them and dinghyied to a nearby beach to hunt shells and stretch our legs.
Returning to the boats, Ted happened to dive his anchor only to discover it was barely holding on to a small rock ledge. Further investigation revealed ours was too! When we had set the anchor and backed on the chain the boat jerked so hard we thought it was buried deeply in the sand. Turns out it just happen to catch a rock ledge on the scoured rocky bottom. The next two hours were spent racing sunset as we motored north looking into alternate anchorages. Just after dark, we found a spot, though a bit shallow, with decent anchor holding so we settled in for the night.
Ted and Mili joined us for spinach lasagna aboard and we all agreed that visually checking the anchor should be the first priority each time we set the hook. The keel softly touched the sandy bottom a few times at low tide in the night but it was good holding helping us to sleep soundly.
N 23° 20.20 / W 75° 07.60