Hey Mon, Give Me Tow!!!

February 9, 2010 - George Town to Long Island (Stella Maris Marina)
Exumas Docking Service in George Town has been out of fuel for over a week and not expecting any for at least another week………………….and we were sure we had plenty left to make the 2 hour trip to Stella Maris Marina on the North Shore of Long Island (the furthest south full service marina in the Bahamas). Well we were not disappointed they had plenty of fuel but we DID NOT……………….gave out of fuel about 5 miles short.
The good news fist! We were in about 14 feet of water so we could anchor. Bad news - no fuel, no generator, house battery weak so anchor was dragged out manually. Good news - our hand held radios were fully charge as boat radio was inoperative. Good news – Stella Maris responded immediately and sent a dive boat out to help. They had a bunch of divers and snorkelers on board returning from a dive trip. They were about to be put to work in pulling a 36 ton vessel which was not part of their plan.
Bad news – anchor won’t come loose; wind is blowing and we are all rockin’ and rollin’ . Good news – the dive boat captain says he will dive down and pull it up! Well that is so nice of him. As he is about to dive he says “Hey mon, ya know where you are??” – and we look down and spot about 8 sharks circling the wagons! “You are in “Shark Reef”, no dive here!” Good news – took 3 people to finally get anchor pulled up and we got hooked up for the hour ride to the marina. Tow Boat US would have loved this ordeal.
Channel into marina is very narrow and the entrance is even narrower and very shallow with rocks on one side and bulkhead on the other. Good news we missed the rocks – thanks to boat hooks and big fenders. It took 4 guys to get us pulled in and tied up at the fuel dock. The rum, beer and fuel began to flow freely! Feasted on our stone crab claws and all slept soundly.
Lesson Learned – DO NOT TRUST YOUR FUEL GAGE