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Green Cay, Something of an Ordeal, Part 9
open sea riding it out. They had about 6000 lbs of red snapper on board and would make their way slowly north to Nassau and the market.
Meanwhile, Heide was taking a worse beating than Francesca. Heide's
position left them open to surge that wrapped around the island hitting them broadside. So, not only were they getting 10 to 12 foot sea on the bow, they were getting 5 to 6 foot waves on the beam causing a violent roll. Their stabilizers being of no use when at anchor. The Heide has a really high bow, but they as we, were taking waves over the bow every now and then. Pretty unusual for us while riding at anchor. For Heide, just plain pretty unusual.
During less extreme night time stormy conditions, Joan and I trade off on the anchor watch. That night was special though and we both stayed up and alert. Sleep never being much of a concern.
At the very first glimmer of predawn light, Heide called and said they had taken enough and were going to proceed out into the Tongue where they could use stabilizers and get away from the terrible roll they had been suffering all night. Soon thereafter we set about getting the anchors up. The bow was pitching violently and weighing anchor would be the most dangerous part of the storm. Both anchors were buried deeply and could not be broken free in the normal fashion. During the first attempt, as the main an anchor was brought up short, the chain snatched with such extreme violence it threatened to pull off the whole bow pulpit. Changing strategy, Joan carefully powered the boat ahead while I kept the second anchor rode (rope) clear of fouling. The main anchor, having all chain, would not foul the props or rudders when free. The anchors both came loose and, using the electric windlass, were quickly brought on board. Both anchors gave witness of their night of abuse having bent shanks and some metal torn free.
We followed Heide soon thereafter when we could clear the coral heads safely. The winds were down to a roar after dawn and heading northwest up the Tongue gave us an acceptable ride. We would continue on this course for several hours and then under more settled conditions return to the banks and head back toward the Exumas on a course where there were only few coral heads to contend with.
How did Maggie do during that night? Well, she found that denial and sleep were best. Surprisingly, not one of us had the slightest queeziness throughout the extremes of the night.
For me, it was with great regret that we were forced to leave this unique place. I hope someday to return and explore the island and and the surrounding waters more fully.