It has been almost a year since I wrote last. Around a year ago today, I had just returned from Costa Rica and was getting ready to drive out to California for a new job on a tall ship. Today, I am sitting on the cutter Geronimo at a marina in Harbour Island, Bahamas watching Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt after a full day of day-off adventures. We haven't really had wifi for about a month so I'm taking full advantage of it.*
On Sunday, we finished a month-long trip with nine high school seniors and we've had this past week to refresh a little and catch up on some maintenance. Today, we ventured to Eleuthra, mostly because I wanted to find Surfers' Beach and get the perfect swell and wind conditions that showed up today. We took our 19-ft Boston Whaler, "Hoss", across the harbor and got a ride down the road to Surfers' Beach. We also crossed Glass Window Bridge on the way where people claim you can see the Atlantic on one side and the Caribbean on the other, though the Bahamas are technically not in the Caribbean at all...
We found the beach without much difficulty and the waves were beautiful. Nice straight lines and slowly-breaking crests, shoulder to head high. I couldn't wait to get in the water. I saw a few people who looked like surfers sitting under a canopy and I asked if they knew where I could rent a board. Then sent me up a hill along the road and along a bush path to a spot called Surfers Haven. I found it but no one was around. I knocked and a lady came out and told me that the people who do the rentals were gone for the day 'cause the swell was good. Typical Bahamas. Or just surfers. I walked back down the hill and back up the road to the beach where the surfers saw me come back empty-handed. "Did you check the beach hut? That's where they usually are if the swell's good." So I walked down the embankment to the beach. They weren't there but another surfer told me about a spot called Surfers Manor where a guy sometimes rents boards so I set out back up the hill to try to find it. About half way there, I ran into one of the surfers I had seen on the beach in his car on his way back to the beach with his board. I relayed my unfortunate saga and he offered to let me borrow one of his boards which he didn't really use anymore. I was so happy and grateful. As soon as I got back to the beach, I put some wax on it and started to paddle out. Before I even made it to the outside, I let the board go in a a breaking wave and when I looked behind me it was floating back to shore. The leash had apparently rusted through and there was no way to attach a leash. Not being bold enough to surf head-high waves in strong surf at a break I didn't know, I dabbled a bit on the waves near shore and spent most of my time looking at the waves wishing I could've had my board.
Nonetheless, it was a great adventure. We stopped at Glass Window Grill on our way back and got food and drinks while overlooking the turquoise water and then took Hoss back up the harbor and home to Geronimo.
This past month, or rather six weeks, has been a great adventure. I've learned more about myself and about sailing and navigation and what it's like to be in high school now. It's certainly a different ball game working with high schoolers from a private boarding school than it is working with students from public schools in LA and working on a 70-ft modern sailboat rather than a 110-ft wooden brigantine but I still love it.
The students boarded in Port Canaveral, FL and two days later we sailed south to West Palm Beach where we holed up for a couple days to wait on the weather. That sail down was the most gnarly of the whole trip but also one of the most fun. My watch was on from 2000-0000 and we were sailing downwind with some pretty strong wind and big seas. If you've never surfed down a wave in a boat before, it's a both exhilarating and sometimes stressful experience if your helmsman has never been on the helm before and doesn't know how not to gybe accidentally. Gybing is when the stern (the back of the boat) turns through the wind. That makes the sail cross to the other side and the bottom of the sail is attached to a heavy log called the "boom" which comes crashing across in what could be a devastating fashion if you are unprepared and don't take the proper precautions. Fortunately, we did not gybe accidentally and we made it to Palm Beach where we spent a couple days seeing manatees and exploring local attractions.
Once our weather window opened, we left Florida, crossed the Gulf Stream, and arrived in the Bahamas about two days later. We crossed the banks while my watch, C watch, was on around 430 in the morning. The next three and a half weeks went by so quickly, though it didn't always feel like it. The students were really great and got along really well. Some of them were great sailors, most of them were enthusiastic crew, and they all had a good sense of humor. Even when feeling miserable from seasickness, they managed to keep a positive attitude.
Over the course of a month we sailed a lot and motored very little, from Florida to the Abacos and around the Exumas, covering a total of almost 800 nautical miles. We caught and tagged and/or measured 31 Green sea turtles, snorkeled on a plane wreck, made friends with locals, fellow sailors and yachtsmen and even some folks with a sea plane. We played and swam with pigs, snorkeled in a stone grotto, jumped in deep blue holes, and explored an abandoned plantation mansion. The students learned to sail and navigate and I became a better sailor and navigator by teaching them. Next week we have a faculty trip and then a spring break trip and then the winter season is over! Here's to three more weeks of sailing the Bahamas.
*Pictures to come later because I'm having technically difficulties and need to go to bed, sorry
