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Day
3 – Friday November 9, 2001 After waking up and doing the breakfast thing we got ourselves ready for the arrival of the Moorings chase boat….we waited…and waited…and waited…We had wanted to get moving and we were being held up. Considering that we had only a 4 day charter, which seems extremely short, it was cutting into precious time. At 10AM I told Jim to go and snorkel over at the caves and I would wait for the chase boat. No need in both of us suffering and it was his birthday trip anyway! So as he dinked off into the glorious sunshine I sat and waited.
Well, I could have gone and came back with him since when he returned they still had not arrived. We had placed several calls already to the base. FINALLY at 12:15PM the chase boat arrived and the Moorings crew began to check out the boat. If it weren’t for Jim going below with a snorkel we would have been in the same position since the Moorings maintenance crew were prepared to leave when there was still a problem with the rudder. It was still not turning left except perhaps maybe 2-3 degrees. The crew stayed and with Jim helping we finally got the problem resolved. They also repaired a problem with the dinghy motor. The maintenance crew presented us with a bag containing additional towels and a bottle of champagne for our troubles. I was more upset because they were 4.5 hours over there promised 4 hour response time and we had so little time to spare! It might have been different if we had a week or longer charter…but we wanted to get going!
We ran across the channel and as a wimp I will have to say that this was my first introduction to any type of sea…not that the channel is normally anything akin to open blue water, but I was not accustomed to what I began to term as “rocky rollies”. I was only accustomed to sailing in the New York/New Jersey bays which seem more like smooth bathtub water now. It was probably best that I was introduced this way…a little bit more each time. I’m proud to say that I did not get seasick, and as I became accustomed to the feeling, I actually enjoyed it all the more. As we entered Great Harbor I was happily listening to the goats bleat on the hillsides as I was being warned by the skipper at the helm to be prepared. I was going to have to anchor and did I remember how to use the windlass properly? Nope..not a bit. I opened it up and looked at it as if I had never seen it before. I remembered tidbits like “don’t let it overheat” etc and began to freeze. Normally given enough time I might have been able to figure it out but you are never given that time when you seem to need it most. It was like I had never dropped an anchor before, and I was having a severe blonde moment. When I anchored it was never with a windlass before and I have a tendency to learn more by doing the actual procedure while someone watches and talks you through it. This wasn’t an option with only the two of us. After some embarrassing moments Jim made a quick exit and we were going to head for Sopers Hole instead and the mooring balls until I convinced him that they were available at Little Harbor as well. We tacked back and headed for Little Harbor where I managed to snag a mooring ball.
Entering Little Harbor Since we were told that Abe’s had such great Lobster I was hell bent on getting my fill. We dinked over to Harris’s to pay for the mooring and scout out Sidney’s goodies for sale. After we loaded up on t-shirts we spied the bar and decided to indulge in a bit of afternoon libations. Sidney’s daughter asked if this was our first visit and told us the story of how her father had wound up there. As newbies we asked if we could have a drink and she promptly asked if we would like a rum punch. We did, and we DID….they were soooo good and we thought we could easily consume a lot of rum punches without a problem. At some point she must have instructed Jim what the house rules really were and just how to make his own rum punch, and from then on we utilized the ‘honor bar’…
After our introduction to Sidney’s I was dropped off at the boat while Jim headed to Abe’s to reserve our dinner. I took a swim, we napped and I cleaned up for my awaited Lobster feast. We headed over to Abe’s to find that we were the only ‘dinner’ guests and sat near the bar. We were given a simple salad with the bottled salad dressings plopped on the table, after a slight smirk to each other we began our dinner. The ample Lobster and fixin’s were brought out to us and I dove in. I felt it was a wee bit overcooked and not nearly as sweet as the Lobster I was accustomed to. Even though it was a slight disappointment we managed to wolf all the lobster down and the dregs of rice were the only item left on my plate. We were in the mood for a bit of dessert so we ordered it – as we were waiting for this to arrive we were visited by “Nippy” who brought out his trinkets to sell. Jim bought me a sea glass necklace I selected and I’m sorry I didn’t buy the little Nippy sailboat Christmas ornament. We never did get our dessert but were instead presented with a check that I was a bit surprised was so high (I think in the 80+ range) as I spied the HUGE rat trap behind the bar. We then watched poor Nippy get verbally abused for attempting to pull a Wimpy (“I’ll gladly pay you for tomorrow for a beer today”) routine. As
we watched Nippy get barked at by the small dog at Abe’s we headed back over
to Sidney’s for what we felt was a superior rum punch.
By the time we reached there Nippy was already at the bar where he told
me that on my next visit I should bring my friends along and that he had a
preference for blondes like myself. We
indulged once again in the nectar of JVD and I proceeded to have Jim tack my
business card up on the wall in lieu of us contributing a t-shirt to the
collection. (We kept meaning to
bring one over there) We then dinked back to the boat and after relaxing a bit
we called it a night.
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Sidney's Daughter Rena
