Tug O' War

December 5
The winds continued to increase from 25 knots to 35, 40, 45 and a few times it gusted up to 5o knots. It was looking like a blistery storm. Wade decided that we were going to slow down our boat speed by heaving to. Picked up some speed to do the turn, and then drifted for almost 2 full hours. We waited until the winds diminished to 35-40 knots until we continued the crossing. Just from studying the explorer charts, I knew that it would be physically impossible for us to enter Bell Channel into Port Lucaya. So, instead we quickly changed our course towards Freeport, Grand Bahamas Island. We needed to call the Harbour Controller on channel 14 for permission to enter the harbour. The VHF radio wasn't working at all on the US frequency... so we had to pull out the owners manual to find out how to change it to International. This tiny little button on the radio says (UIC) meaning USA/International/Canada button. Switched it to Int'l and then received a response from the harbour controller for permission to enter into Freeport. We wanted to clear customs and then wait for the winds to die off until going to Lucaya. That didn't quite work out...
We took down the sails, started to enter into Freeport and then had no idea where to dock. We spotted a local waving to us and trying to give us hand signals/directions. Approached close enough to get clear instructions and then proceeded to a boatyard called Bradford Marine! On shore two individuals were ready to receive our lines. That sounds all fine and dandy, right? Well... it was still blowing 35 knots of wind inside the basin. We got the bow line thrown to them... and shortly after the midships line. The two guys were pulling and tying the lines... for almost 30 minutes until they finally had us alongside the dock. It was like a big tug of war with Joana. I was beyond the point of exhaustion. We waited for the customs and immigration officers to come aboard and stamp our passports. That went very smooth! Many of the managers and dock masters came to welcome us to Bradford Marine... it was difficult to keep up with all their names. After entering into one of the Islands of the BAHAMAS, we showered in fresh water... consumed some food and then went for an afternoon nap. We all lived to tell the tale about our Gulf Stream crossing! Finally livin' on island time... also known as paradise. Stay tooned for many more adventures to come...
natalie
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