MAYDAY, MAYDAY

 We travelled from Staniel Cay to Norman's Cay in rough waters, we should have been out on The Sound for the calm waters in hindsight. Check out this catamaran going the other way... I am grateful for our stabilizers. It was uncomfortable as it was (for me, not Paul).

We anchored near the sunken airplane late in the day at Norman's Cay. Such a beautiful area. 

When we travel of course we have our VHF radio on in the flybridge with the tall antennas, which has its benefits, we hear Florida, Nassau, Spanish Wells, basically all over. The radio is a buzz of communications between boaters, U.S. Coastguard etc. After we anchor we only put on our handheld VHF which picks up our "neighbourhood". At around 630pm last night we heard a Mayday on our radio. This is rare! Paul went up to the flybridge to put on the VHF up there to pick up information more clearly. A 28 foot tender was out on the Sound that ran out of gas and was heading into the ocean basically. A boat nearby was taking the lead and relaying information to other boaters that wanted to help. Paul's dinghy was full of gas and ready to assist but getting the co-ordinates was hard as radio communications can be. The boater said he was outside of Highbourne somewhere but the co-ordinates he gave stated somewhere south of Shroud Cay, much further south. All boaters in the neighbouring anchorages were listening in. There were four persons on board. A boat near Whale Cay (a local) went to get him and towed him into Norman's Cay about 40 minutes later. This ended well. This is why I too, take a look at the fuel in our boat. I also have water and granola bars in the cooler seat. I also have a first aid kit, life jackets and a hand held VHF charged up and ready to use if need be. There are boaters around but without communication to send would be fruitless. Check out our post Tow Boat U.S...... this post showed us that the VHF radio we had on our dinghy only received, it did not send out our voice when we broke down in the Intracoastal Waterway. What did I do with that radio? I got rid of it! We bought a new one. There is no reason to have a radio that cannot receive your distress calls. 

We are now slowly making our way back to Florida, one island/Cay at a time. 

We always pick up our produce in Staniel Cay. When we are at the Yacht Club there are some harmless nurse sharks that hang around. Anyone can swim with them. I love watching others do that.

Hey there.... I want you to know that Blogspot will NOT be sending emails of any updates on blogs (starting in July). If you want to know where/what we are doing it is all up to you now. No notification emails will be sent to you. I am still updating the Time Line 2020-2021 more regularly.

Thanks for reading.