Crossing the Devil's Backbone from Harbour Island to Spanish Wells

Yesterday we hired a professional pilot Captain Kirk to help guide us through the infamous Devil's Backbone, which is an area filled with small sections of reef, everywhere, so very difficult for boats to navigate through.  Anyway, this is when the adventure begins:  He pulled his boat close behind us so that I could attach his boat to ours, and there in the front of the boat he had 100ft of heavy line and I looked at it like what am I supposed to do with it. Well I grabbed it but it was heavy so I ended up dropping some in the water then it got hook up on the prop, right when our boat was going in reverse, a bad combination for sure.  Brad dove on it and released it by cutting the line after the engine froze and stopped in place. Once the line was released, the boat did restart, Thank God.  And away we went to explore the Devil's backbone.


All went well through the backbone except a little dragging here and there. It was not as bad as it looks from the outside looking in.  The secret is to hug the shore believe it or not the shore had deeper water to go through, just keep your eye out for the occasional reef. You must however, know how to read the water and have good sunlight. The one time we did drag the bottom was when it had a cloud cover hiding the reef.

Other than that it was not too bad until about half way through the trip Brad noticed that the Port engine was making a lot of noise and shaking more than normal.  So he checked it out and found that one of the engine mount screws had been sheared off, so the engine was now only attached in a couple places, so it was moving a lot.  When it actually happened were not sure, he says that he has been noticing the engine clicking more and more lately but the rope getting hooked in the prop probably put just the right amount of torque to help break the tip of the screw off, now we have a problem.

After reading all the info he could get on google and the cruiser's net he determined that the motor mount needed to be fixed asap, so he called a local place St. George Cay Power.  They came out and diagnosed the problem and stated that they could weld the bolt and motor mount together for a quick fix, other wise we were going to have to go back to Florida to get the boat hauled and put in new motor mounts and that would be the end of our cruising season as we see it.  But again Thank God that this happened on Spanish Wells a place known as a Fishing Island that has people that know how to fix problems like this.  If we would have been in the Exuma, we would have been in trouble and would have had to limp home using one engine.  I have to say we have been very luckily this season with the boat issues, we seem to be in the right place at the right time.  As Brad says, "Is it odd or is it God?"  God has been watching out for us...

Captain Brad has been doing a fabulous job identifying boat problems and solutions.  His attention to detail has definitely paid off.  He is the one that noticed the engine noise and instability.  He also figured out the battery charger was not delivering the appropriate amount of energy and got us stronger and more efficient new charger.  Brad's keen eyes also noted that our anchor was not big enough for this type of anchoring in the Bahamas, after last years dragging adventures in White Sound.  He decided we needed a better anchor.  We had a 44 lbs Delta anchor and what we now have is a 73 lbs Rocna. More better.  What a difference it has made to our piece of mind and sturdiness at anchor.

We are becoming real cruisers fixing boats on the way to our next destination.  And tonight we are huddled over at the marina riding out another Bahamian storm.  25-35 knot winds... gotta go check the lines again to make sure we are secure for the night.