The Adventures of Zoom
This story deserves a post of its own. Wednesday night the winds kicked up pretty hard and there was huge swell and surge. I woke up at 11:30 and couldn’t sleep. Very unlike me! I came upstairs to look around and lo and behold our beloved dinghy Zoom was gone. I called to Eddie, “we lost Zoom.” It was pitch black out, high winds and tons of swell. We couldn’t see her even though Eddie had gone to bed about a half hour earlier and she was there when he went to bed. We got on the VHF radio but it being late got no answer. Nothing we could do. So the two of us tossed and turned until daybreak.
Eddie got back on the radio in the morning and Fritz from Sea Rose picked up Eddie in his dinghy and off they went in search of Zoom. Eddie returned to Seaquel about 45 minutes later, no Zoom in sight. To say that we were upset would be an understatement. Apparently, in the surge, Zoom has unknotted herself and disappeared. Later that morning Fritz came back and took Eddie to the Park office where he made a report and the office announced it on their VHF which could reach farther than ours.
Have you ever had your car stolen and suddenly have no ride? That’s what it’s like to lose your dinghy. She is the family car! Lucky for us we still had our trusty kayak and the paddle board.
We moved to the protected mooring field in the park and attempted to regroup. Now, mind you, there is no wifi in the park so we knew we would have to leave to figure out this problem.
Meanwhile, I caught the mooring from the stern instead of the bow on the first grab. The bow sits so high it is really hard to reach the water even with the longest hook. Then the lovely couple on Exstasea on the sailboat next to us dinghyed over and helped us get a second line on. Phew, no winds in this spot.
We made a plan that we would go back North in the morning. We thought Eddie’s friend Bob maybe able to help us out, we would have wifi and we would probably have to purchase a new dinghy in Nassau or worst case scenario go back to the States.
That afternoon, we dropped the kayak and paddled to shore, climbed to BooBoo Hill and then paddled the mooring field.
Legend has it that BooBoo Hill is haunted by souls of a ship that went missing in the surrounding reefs. During one stormy night, their ship vanished with every soul on board perishing. Some say the ship sank with all passengers on board, and other’s say the bodies are buried under the hill. It’s said on moonlit nights you can hear the spirits singing in the howling wind.
There is a tradition of leaving a piece of driftwood behind with the name of your boat. It’s viewed as an offering to the God Neptune and the other sea gods for good sailing and safe passage. We had talked about leaving a piece with our name but losing Zoom sort of put a damper on our creativity. We will have to come back one day.
With no sign of Zoom and heavy hearts, we headed back North on Friday. We needed wifi! We decided we would go to Allan’s Cay which we hadn’t been able to get to on the way South due to winds. There’s a cell tower nearby and Eddie could see the iguanas. Win win.
I had heard about people recovering their dinghy and was still optimistic. Eddie was saying it’s like kidnapping - the first 12 -24 hours are the most important! I posted on all the Bahamas cruising FB pages I was on. We made a ton of calls. Nothing in Nassau. We had thought maybe Bob could help but he was still in Lauderdale. I found a used dinghy in Marathon on Craig’s List. It was very similar if not exact to what we lost but not as well cared for. We figured we would get it and if we needed to we could replace it with what we wanted later on. Back to FB. I asked on the Trawler page if anyone was in Key Largo and would go put eyes on it. Boaters are the best and someone went and looked at it for us and told us it was in fine shape. Our friends Keith and Deb in Key West said they would go to Key Largo and pick it up and bring it to the Bahamas in the next week or two when they came. I felt lucky. We had a plan. We have amazing friends and an awesome boating community. In the meanwhile we would kayak!
We had left Allan’s Cay and crossed the Exuma Sound to Rock Sound. We knew we could anchor near shore, be in a protected anchorage, have plenty to do and be able to kayak for provisions. Seemed like a good spot to hang out while we waited for Keith and Deb. We had a magnificent cruise. The water was so beautiful. We could see the bottom in 40’. I tried to take pictures of it but it is really hard to capture.
We arrived in Rock Sound, dropped the kayak and walked to the grocery store. Whew long day - 42 mile cruise. We were tired!
There was a wedding at the Frigate, looked so pretty all lit up. I fell asleep to the wedding band playing Grateful Dead!
On Sunday we woke up not sure of how long we’d stay in Rock Sound or what our next plan was.
I did keep telling Eddie that as soon as we put money down on the new, to us, replacement dinghy, ours would come home. And sure as shit that’s what happened. We put a deposit down by credit card on the dinghy in Key Largo and I’d say within an hour Zoom showed up on FB!
A Montreal cruising couple found her on Saturday, 4+ days after she was lost, on the ocean side of Hawksbill Cay, 12 - 15 miles from where we lost her, she was beached. Remember I complained about how heavy she is. We knew if she beached she would be stuck! Alex and Catherine, aboard sailing vessel Camayenne found her. Lucky for us Alex’s brother was visiting for the week as he helped rescue her.
Now here is the cool part, at least to me. They posted on a Montreal cruisers FB page. Someone on that page, had seen what I posted on the Bahamas cruising page and connected us! We connected thru a FB phone call. LOL they were headed to Allan’s Cay and then Nassau the following day. So we got up bright and early and were lifting the hook at first light for our cruise back across the Exuma Sound to Allan’s Cay. Exactly where we had just come from! Not nearly as nice a cruise as the day before!
We anchored and they brought Zoom home!
We were thrilled. She came back in great shape, a little dirty, a lot sandy, as they said she was filled with sand when they found her and completely intact with all of the equipment on board! Eddie jumped in with the key but she didn’t start and the motor wouldn’t lower. As luck would have it Alex is a diesel mechanic. Eddie and Alex took the cover off the motor, replaced a fuse so the motor would lower and then hot wired her and she started right up.
Zoom being rescued / towed across the shallows. Beyond grateful to have her back.
I made Eddie solemnly swear that we would add a line to her and raise her every night, no matter what!
Zoom, the little dinghy that could!
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