Sunday, January 24
This morning’s weather reports confirmed our analysis yesterday. It didn’t look good for us to negotiate the entrance under sail before Tuesday. We just had to be patient.
Larry planned to take another stab at making the diesel engine work again, but before anything else we set aside time for worship. Even before we started cruising, we planned that if our circumstances prevented us from visiting a church, we would worship on board. As we talked about the situation, we both felt that we had a great deal to be thankful for. It felt like the worst possible decision not to spend time in worship on this day. Our wonderful new friends on S/V Duet who had helped us learn how to get off the reef, the help we received from M/B Cutting Edge, and the safety of our anchorage after all these troubles were all gifts from our God who never abandoned us. We played Dr. Davis’ CD of music on the organ at Christ Church and got ready for worship. It was wonderful.
Afterward, we felt reassured and confident of the presence of God. We had a nice breakfast, and then Larry went to work on the engine.
Everyone who has done trouble-shooting knows the difference between trying to solve a problem when you feel that there really is not time to do the job. You need to get done and right now is already late. On this wonderful Sunday, Larry started on the job knowing that our condition was one of safety and relative comfort. It certainly was a concern that the engine wasn’t running, but it was no threat to us. We had a boat full of food and supplies. Our generator kept us supplied with electricity. Larry could take his time on this problem and cover all the bases.
My only job thoughout was to push the start button. When asked, I pushed. Sometimes nothing happened. Sometimes there was a tentative cranking sound. Then came the moment when he said, “This time, keep the button down until the engine starts or until I tell you to stop.” I pushed. The engine cranked. I was about to despair when it roared to life. I felt like floating on air. I turned to run down to the cabin and there was Larry with a big smile on his face. “Praise the Lord!” he shouted. “Amen!” I shouted. I think we danced or flew or something. That big loud engine sounded like the finest music we had ever heard.
We left the engine running for a while, just to be sure it would keep going. We were ecstatic. It was like finding the last piece for a 5000-piece puzzle behind a dust bunny under the bed. We were giddy.
This experience was very challenging, but it was never a disaster, and we were never in real danger. Everything we needed was provided for us. How could we ever doubt that God knew exactly where we were and knew exactly what we needed?
The beauty of it all was that the moment the engine caught, we were no longer the victims of a wrong turn trying to get by; we were cruising again! We could enjoy the beautiful location in which we found ourselves, and that we did. In fact, we remained there for five more days, just because it was a neat place to be.
As for the devil and the details, the night before, S/V Windseeker II had anchored nearby, and while Larry was working on the engine, I had seen the mast of Windseeker from where I was working in the cabin. Just as our engine came to life, we saw Windseeker throwing out an anchor in a very strange location in the cove. They had been anchored in a very calm location west of us, but as we watched they were trying to anchor in a part of the cove where tidal currents and wind create a very confused surge, not a place where most boats would want to anchor. We wondered why they moved on purpose to that location.
Then suddenly, we heard them calling us on the radio. It turned out that as they were trying to leave the cove, their engine quit. It was running one minute, and it wasn’t running the next minute. They threw out the anchor where the engine quit, which wasn’t the most congenial or comfortable place for them. Larry and Windseeker’s captain talked over the problem and shared their miseries. Windseeker’s captain said, “Isn’t there an island around here with ‘Devil’ in its name. Maybe that is the explanation.” After a couple of hours, they got their engine going and left us behind.
Several days later we decided to bypass Nassau and sail over to Royal Island near the island of Eleuthera. It was a wonderful sail, and the harbor is grand. By the time you read this log we will have moved to Spanish Wells, just a few miles from Royal Island. We are truly cruising now and discovering new adventures daily. This is what we came to do.
This experience has taught us a lot. There may not be a log to follow this one very soon. Or we may get to post another before we leave Spanish Wells. The reality is that we cannot predict from day to day what our access will be. People who have traveled along the coast of Eleuthera and through the Exumas tell us it will be intermittent. So don’t worry. We will be fine. We will share the adventure when we can.
Write a comment