Turtles And A Tow

Nov 8^th and by 8:30 am we were pulling out of the marina on our way south. Two sailors suffering from exhaustion and one sailboat with a cluttered deck, no sails, and a serious 3 degree list to the port side under the weight of the giant batteries. Ah, situation normal for us, hahahaha. Clearly anchoring is out of the question because of all of the work that needs to be done and cables and parts that we will need so that we can get the batteries moved to a place that will allow the boat to balance out again so we head for the one place within a day travel on the Intracoastal that we know, that we really enjoy, Loggerhead Marina. We call keeping our fingers crossed that they would have a spot for us. Not only did they have a slip but the Harbour Master looked us up so he could quote our name and last stay while we were still on the phone and agreed to stay late with his crew so that they could help tie-up and check us in if we were to arrive late. Travel times here are at the mercy of the bridge operators and most of them need to be opened – some on demand but some only at certain times on the hour. We were confident that we would make it on time until … yah, until one hour out from the marina, when I was at the helm and Tom had just asked me for the tenth time if I was okay (soooooooo exhausted) the boat came to a sudden stop. OH NO (not the exact words that were used), for the first time ever we found sand. Stupid low tide! We tried and tried to get off the bar but it seemed as though we were just getting further and further into it. With swear words being uttered and a sense of frustration and general “pissed-off-edness”  we called BoatUS. Thank goodness for our membership. Within 45 minutes we had a tow boat show up and a very kind and calm driver pulled us free of our sand prison. It wasn’t a quick manoeuvre but it was effective. Whew. Back on our way to Loggerhead Marina. Arriving at the marina is like checking into a very elegant resort. The Harbor Master talked us into the marina the entire way, two deck hands were waiting at the slip to tie us up and the office stayed open to make sure that we were checked in, given our fob to the shower rooms, the swimming pool, laundry and fabulous boater’s lounge. And let’s not forget the 5G wifi that actually reaches the boats! Finally a sense of calm and ease came over us. I was able to get the galley cleaned up, cabins cleaned out, and the boat in a somewhat livable state. We headed for showers in the beautiful bathrooms and had the first good solid sleep in a long time. Free coffee in the morning and free popcorn in the afternoon, full access to the kitchen and office/lounge.  One night turned into another and another. No complaints from this old girl! Okay, the fact that Tom had to completely reconfigure the bilge space so that he could fit two of the batteries in and that he had to build battery boxes to hold the last two aft of the engine and all of that took a lot of time might have had something to do with it. FYI – Palm Beach / Jupiter also has a West Marine (Tom visited their more than once 😉)

In all we ended up staying at Loggerhead Marina four nights and found ourselves wishing that we could spend the whole season there. Quite honestly if it wasn’t for the voracious noseeums and the pre-purchased airline tickets to and from the Exumas we just might have. The people who work at this marina are some of the most helpful, most professional, and friendliest that we have encountered to date. We love the close proximity to the Loggerhead Marine rescue centre and made a point of visiting it again this trip. We met a number of friendly boaters here, even coming across another former Club Med GO. It isn’t often that I come across another of “ my-kind” these days. It was fun sharing a few old stories.

We weren’t looking forward to leaving here but we were ready to get to the blue skies, turquoise  waters and gentle breezes of the Bahamas so on the afternoon of the 12th we motored out of the marina and made our way down a little more of the Intracoastal to the Lake Worth Inlet  where we found an empty anchorage to spend the night. Anchoring this time was a so easy as over the summer we purchased the Eartec comms. First time that we didn’t have to play “anchoring charades”. Let’s just hope that we can get some sleep knowing that we have to get up at 4ish.