Highborne Cay, Exuma Islands

Well it was a frustrating night for us. We were both very worried about the elderly couple on Hart's Desire so we did not sleep well at all, plus the wind had kicked up to 25 knots and was rolling all the boats in Allan's Cay. It was pitch black all night since moonrise wasn't until 5 am, and we just had kind of a fitful night.

Kevin got up at sunrise (high tide) this morning and dinghied over to Hart's Desire to check on them with the intent of helping them get off the beach. When he got there he found the boat was farther up on the beach, abandoned, and had turned slightly so both the stern and the bow were up on the beach. He had radioed them last night and suggested they consider setting an anchor so that when the tide lifted their boat they would hold their position and be able to back off the beach. They decided not to do this, and instead intentionally drove the boat farther up the beach as the tide came in, in an attempt to maintain their position and avoid the rocks on either side of the beach. Consequently, come morning there was no way they were going to get off the beach under their own power. Kevin recommended they call Highborne Cay marina a few miles away and see if they could provide some assistance. We think their cruise is over. It is doubtful that anyone is going to get them off that beach, no one is going to be able to even try it until the next high tide (12 hours) which is about sunset. And that high tide is lower than the morning high tide when they beached it, making things that much more difficult. We haven't been boating long, but this crew makes us look like seasoned veterans, despite their "25 years boating experience". They had no idea where they were until we told them (we aren't sure how they even made it to the Bahamas), Kevin saw their paper charts and they were over 15 years old. They have an electronic chartplotter but don't have any electronic charts for the Bahamas on board, and don't know how to use it. Neither of their two bilge pumps worked (arguably the most important piece of equipment on the boat). They have no spares for anything. They beached their boat in a horrible location (a narrow rocky beach) while there was a huge sandy beach with no rocks about 500 feet away. They abandoned the boat when it wasn't necessary endangering all the other boats in the anchorage. They had no idea when high and low tide would be and how to use them to get the boat off the beach. They raised a distress call on the VHF, they could have gotten help faster by standing on the back of their boat and yelling to the 10 boats which were within earshot. I could go on... Anyway, hopefully they can get some help from the professionals at the marina. We left our spare bilge pump with them and asked them to leave it at the marina when (if) they get off the beach. They sure seem like nice folks, but hopefully they end their cruise before one or both of them is seriously hurt.

Due to a wind shift, we have moved about 2 miles to a new anchorage north of Highborne Cay. On the charts it appears to be a tricky anchorage to get into, but we didn't find it too difficult to get in here and we have a huge anchorage to ourselves, protected from winds and waves from the East to the Southwest which is where the wind is supposed to be tonight. The bottom is clear sand and the water is pure turquoise so it looks like we are anchored in paradise.

Where we are:
Lat: N 24 43.598'
Long: W 76 49.421'