World Bahamas Green Turtle Cay

Barnes Bahamas Trip

Green Turtle Cay to Great Sale Cay May 2, 2012

When we were finally able to leave Green Turtle, we had a two day trek back across the Bahama Bank to West End and another day across the Gulf Stream. We spent the night on the hook at Great Sale again because it’s about half way between GT Cay and West End. As we left Great Sale, we attempted a jump-start at sea, but before I can tell you about that, I have to give you the back story.

When we were stuck at Spanish Cay, there were these 3 guys on a sailboat that we got to know. One, the owner of the boat and a live aboard, is a carpet installer/cleaner from Jupiter. One is a (they described him as a tough old German) retired, 79 year old guy from West Palm, who used to travel the world as an equipment buyer and sailed these islands for years with his wife in a 50 ft. sailboat, so he was the most experienced. The third is a retired firefighter/paramedic from Texas, mostly just along for the ride. You couldn’t put 3 more different guys in one boat. After leaving Spanish Cay, we saw them again and had drinks at Green Turtle (they were anchored off the marina). They had had some mechanical problems and some ripped sail problems, and we wondered where they went after that, but didn’t expect to see them again.

So, as we departed from Great Sale, we got a radio call to the powerboat leaving the anchorage. We answered and it was a sailboat wondering if we had jumper cables. Guess who? It was our buddies again. We turned around and backtracked a few miles, pulled alongside and spent about an hour attempting to get their motor started. Besides having no motor, their mainsail had a two-foot tear, which they were afraid would tear more if the winds were too strong. Unfortunately the problem seemed to be the starter motor so we couldn’t get them going and there wasn’t much else we could do for them. The trip for us from there was a full day at 8 knots to West End, for them under sail only, probably two days. We never saw them in West End by the time we left the next morning to cross the Gulf Stream. I guess they eventually got there, then would have had to get the starter fixed…who knows how many days all that would take. If I was on that boat, I think I would have gone wacko.