The Green Parrot is a great hangout in Nassau. There is plenty of dinghy dockage, Wi-Fi, marinas and, of course, cold beer. From there I have a view of the entire harbor, cruise ships and all. It’s always on my stopover list when transiting the Bahamas.
The harbor represents some tricky business when anchoring. The holding is good, but not exactly great. The key is to let out a little more than normal scope without impinging on the other captains already anchored there. It is important to understand what I just said. If I’m the first one to anchor, everyone who anchors after me is obliged to respect my position and swing. If you don’t, and you drag, you’re at fault for damages. Further, if your anchor drags and you wind up coming to a stop too close to another boat, you have the hassle of having to weigh and reset your anchor in a different location. I have learned that anchors have the highest propensity for dragging around 4 a.m.
The hard truth about cruising is that I spend more than 10 days at anchor for every day underway. Being on anchor means constantly checking for chafed lines or the boat dragging, and watching the other boats. Most GPS systems have drag alarms to alert you if you’re actually on the boat. I long ago lost count of how many times I’ve returned from shore to find my alarm going off.
But back to the Green Parrot. This guy is sitting at the bar complaining that his new boat will not anchor for more than an hour. He is making out as if it is a boat design problem, and I’m patiently listening to him. I happened to be watching him two days before when he first came in the harbor and immediately put him on my “must keep an eye on that one” list.
First of all, he let his anchor drop while going downwind. Then he paid out maybe 40 feet of rode in 12 to 15 feet of water. By my way of reckoning, he should have let go of at least 140 feet of rode (15 feet of water plus 5 feet from the water to his anchor roller is 20 which is then multiplied by 7 – multiply by 10 in rough times).
The upshot of it all was that after raising and lowering his anchor umpteen times, he got a slip at the marina and was convinced that he bought a poorly designed boat. I sipped my beer and listened till he was finished. There were so many things I wanted to share with him, but sometimes you just have to let things slide past you without getting involved. This was definitely one of those times. My only comment to him was that his boat is much better off in the marina.
I also did not mention to him how much I personally was relieved.
Capt’n Mike
www.Whensday.us
