A Close Call and a Close Encounter

June 3, 2014 - Long Island, Bahamas

Sailing offshore has its ups and downs (get it?).  We had made passages with 6-8 foot seas, and we’d sailed downwind with 15-20 knot winds gusting to 25 knots, so when I took another look at the 2-day old wind and sea forecast, I was confident we would have a comfortable sail.  After we were well underway, I listened to the Bahamas weather guru and all I heard was “a few squalls with locally increased winds associated with the squalls”.  The day started with a gently rolling 6-foot NE swell and not enough wind to sail, so we furled the sails and motored, expecting winds to pick up later in the morning.  Before the winds picked up, the swell increased to 8’ and more turbulent wind waves developed.  Carla became seasick quickly and started dosing up on the Dramamine, while I literally “stood” watch.  The squalls set in mid-morning and were relentless for the next 4 hours.  Being the good watch-keeper, I would take quick restroom breaks and return to the wet cockpit, hanging on with both hands.  While scanning the rain-obscured horizon, I started hearing a strange noise, thinking that the engine was vibrating a different portion of the boat.  As I continued my scan, I could barely make out a ghostly image of a ship off our starboard bow.  I leapt toward the steering pedestal and looked at the chartplotter to find an AIS target on a collision course with us.  By that time, the ship was readily visible and about 500 yards off our starboard bow, blowing his fog horn to get our attention.  I abruptly changed course so the ship would know that I had seen them, and to allow them to pass in front of us.  We were very fortunate that I had taken a restroom break about 5 minutes earlier, otherwise we would have seen the ship VERY close.

Tired, sick, and wet, we surfed into Little Harbour, not believing how quickly the surf settled.  As soon as we had dropped anchor, two dolphins appeared next to the boat, one of them holding its head above the water to see what we were doing.  I donned the snorkeling gear and got in the water.  It was the most awesome experience, as the youngest of the two came up to me and gazed in my eyes, tilting his head in wonderment, then rolling over on his back as if to invite me to scratch his belly.  The two of us swam side-by-side for a minute, then the momma came to check on us.  She was about 7 feet long and probably weighed twice as much as me.  Although she seemed indifferent toward playing with us, she still swam along with us and allowed me to get close.  This rare experience almost made me forget the previous 9 hours of difficult travelling.