Day 7 After the storm
At 6:00 the next morning we surveyed the damage. The winds were still strong out of the west and the seas were high. We'd taken shelter on the west side of the island when the winds were blowing from the East and now we were getting pushed straight towards land. It was a little disconcerting, like we'd gone to sleep and woken up somewhere else. Thankfully, our anchor held.
We decided to have a quick breakfast of granola and yogurt and move on to the next island before it got more dangerous. Bojana started a pot of coffee while we started pulling up the anchor. The chain was twisted all over the bottom and it took some careful driving in the large waves to keep it from scraping our sides.
Once away from land we raised the mainsail halfway and let out the jib. The winds were high enough we weren't comfortable letting out more. The sky was still dark and the seas were high. A few 5-6' high waves hit us from the side causing the main to rattle and knocking the coffeepot onto the floor. A few times during this trip we saw fish leaping from the water or speeding away from the bow, barely touching the surface.
We made good time in the 20-30kt winds and reached Cay Colson in only a few hours. The cay was home to a few blue holes, good snorkeling and an enclosed bay that the book said had a lot of birds. To get to the anchor point we had to motor through a narrow channel between islands. I drove the boat while Ricky hung off the front watching the bottom. It's stressful when the book says there should be twelve feet (4m) of water and we were only clearing three (1m).
We dropped anchor at the south side of the island and enjoyed a couple of hours of peace from the high winds until it changed directions and began to howl through our rigging.
During this brief moment Amanda, Brian, Kim and I took the dingy to the lagoon to look for birds. We drove to the ruined dock lined with cormorants and backed by a heap of old lobster traps then we shut off the motor and rowed along the line of mangroves.
Cattle egrets and pelicans perched in the trees. It was surprising to see pelicans there. They're heavy birds and their feet aren't suited to perching. The few times we saw them land they belly flopped into the branches. As we paddled, small fish bubbled out of the water ahead of us and the mud was pocked by thousands of upside-down jellyfish. The wind started to pick up and by the time we rounded the corner the waves were several feet high and splashing into the boat.
We hugged the shore when we could but when it grew shallow we had to venture far out into the wind and waves. Kim didn't expect we would be getting wet and only wore light cotton clothing. Whenever we gave the motor any gas the waves splashed over the bow. Amanda's hat blew off and we had to turn around and pick it up.
We'd seen the opening to the lagoon from the catamaran but none of us could remember how far up the island it was so we turned the dingy into every fold in the trees hoping it was the entrance into the lagoon. After an hour of idling into the wind and three wrong guesses, we finally found the break in the trees.
I turned the dingy towards the island and with the wind at our back I could finally give the motor some gas. It felt weird to have waves overtake and lift us from behind. We drove until the prop bogged down in the mud and we had to lift it and use the paddles to float in.
We saw great blue herons at the waterside and two osprey calling to each other as they hovered over the sea, dipping to bring up fish. The herons were the same species as those found in California but they seemed about 3 times as large. They were very skittish and fled before we could get a good look through the binoculars. Each one seemed as tall as a man.
The wind pushed us into the lagoon. The surface here was calm and we could look down at the muddy bottom covered in jellyfish but there weren't many birds and no fish so when the wind pushed us into the trees on the other side, we started the motor and returned to the boat.
Everyone was exhausted after our sleepless night so we lazed about for the rest of the afternoon. Ricky made beans and rice for dinner that night. We were running low on food. Before boiling the beans we had to pick hermit crab shells out of the bag. We ate the last of the tortilla chips and drank the last of the beer.
My trunks were getting pretty rank but Kim had had the foresight to bring a few small packets of laundry detergent and I pulled out the bucket (which smelled like puke) and washed out the sour smell.
We hadn't caught anything with our expensive lures and we had almost nothing left to attract fish. Amanda soaked a dried mushroom in some rancid tuna juice and we borrowed the float from Kim and Brian's camera strap. The line floated out but we caught nothing. At least there was gin and tom collins mix.
A little after midnight another squall blew through. The wind and rain started as though someone had flipped a switch. I climbed up on deck in the howling wind to take down the towels and clothing. Fortunately, we were sheltered by the cay and didn't have to sleep through high seas.
