We began our adventure on March 4th,
2002, leaving our home (boat) in Carrabelle, Florida and driving to Golden
Meadow, La. Our work began on the following day with an introduction to our new
home, the Miss Reese for the next two and a half months. She is a 109’ utility boat used in
replenishing the oil field
rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. The Miss Reese is 23 years old and has just
undergone an extensive refit in the shipyard. We, a crew of 5 must prepare this
boat to cross the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The
crew consists of the captain
and his wife, the engineer (Jimmy), my wife Marie and me. We worked 12 to 14 hour
days getting the boat ready, stocking her with food stores, supplies, parts and
anything deemed necessary by the captain and owner for the transit and use by
the company boats in Calabar.
On April 6th we departed
Fourchon (Foo-shon), La to begin our transit of the Gulf of Mexico. Marie and I
were assigned the mid-night to noon watch (12 hour watches) and Jimmy and the
Captain’s Wife, Sue were assigned the noon to mid-night watch. Our intentions
were to pass the Dry Tortugas and continue on to Trinidad to refuel. As luck
would have, we ran into a bit of weather as we approached South Florida. The
seas kicked up to about 12 to 15 feet and we took some really good blue water
over the bridge. This was ok, but when the A/C crapped out it was time to head
for the docks. We found a commercial
dock at Stock Island (1st island North of Key West) and pulled
in for a few days. The captain called the local A/C repair service and we soon
learned how harsh the salt-water environment was to our new A/C. The A/C is
located above the pilothouse and was a brand new unit, not 6 weeks old. Seems
the salt spray disintegrated the electronic control module. A new module was
going to take more than a few days to receive so, no problem, he just bypassed
this unit and the A/C was working like new.
After a few days rest we departed Key
West for Trinidad via the Old Bahama Channel. The Old Bahama Channel borders
the Southern Bahama Islands and the Northeast coast of Cuba. Two days out of
Key West we awoke to an eerie silence. The engines weren’t running and we
didn’t seem to be making way. I got dressed and went topside to discover we
were anchored off a beautiful cay with a lighthouse called Cay Lobos. This cay is
located about 25 miles from Cuba and is about the lowest cay in the Bahamas.
Now you are thinking, why are you anchored? Well, it wasn’t because the captain
gave a swim call. Actually, the hull had split at the V and we were taking some
water into the forepeak. While the forepeak is a watertight compartment, it
nonetheless holds a considerable amount of water. The captain and engineer made
repairs shoring and sealing the leak as best they could. After repairs were
complete they went ashore for a little exploring while we stayed aboard. Later,
we continued our journey with periodic pumping required of the forepeak until
we reached Trinidad.
Entering Trinidad was a milestone
in our journey. We were now preparing to cross the Atlantic. Since we carried a
satellite phone the captain was able to have all work lined up ahead of our
arrival. We stayed for three days in Chagauramas, (2) (3) which is a mix of
pleasure boaters and oil field boats. There are many (pleasure) boat yards in
Chagauramas, which is a crossroad for cruisers. We even saw a couple of boats
from the U.S.
We departed Trinidad on April 23rd
for our next and final destination, Calabar. The final leg was around 2300
miles or about two and one half weeks. For a trip of this length you really get
into a routine. Our Engineer
made the most of the long hours reading books. Actually, we all were looking
for reading material by the end of the trip. I spent many hours on the radio talking to friends
in Mississippi and Georgia via the HAM bands. There is also a Caribbean net
that meets daily and they kept us up on the weather, which was rather benign
that time of the year. Of course I was able to talk a lot on the radio because
Marie stayed on the helm!
We saw very little shipping and the weather was good. Once and awhile we received
some rain but nothing severe. We did, however enjoy some beautiful sunsets. Not to have a
perfect crossing, our Air Conditioner crapped out once more time about 5 days
out of Calabar. Seems all the salt build up in the condensing coils put an
adverse strain on the fan and burnt the motor up. As if that wasn’t bad enough
in the tropics, two days out our autopilot went south so we had to hand steer.
This boat does not have a wheel, but rather uses an older system consisting of
a handle about 8 inches in length resembling a tiller.
We arrived in the Cross River on May 11th
and anchored off Parrot Island. As we were off watch at the time of arrival, we
again awoke to silence. Our first view of Africa found us looking at a real
jungle. Alongside was a dugout canoe with two native boys. They were
looking for handouts. After a brief conversation between the Captain and the
Port Master we proceeded upriver to Calabar. There were a few villages along the way,
which gave one the impression of going back in time. Nearly all of the
fishermen we saw were in some type of canoe, we even saw a sailing ketch canoe. As
we approached the town you began to see more up-to-date craft, such as a large motorized taxi canoe!
Tuesday found us touring the city with
our guides ? and ?. With our guides we toured the city and saw the sites. We wound up at the
market, which is where
everyone usually winds up at sometime during the day.
On Thursday we were preparing to
depart. We left the boat and drove to the airport. We arrived almost as the
plane was departing. We rushed through security (ha ha) and onto the plane
whose engines were already running. After an hour flight to Lagos International Airport
and a brief encounter with security
we were checked into Air France for our flight to Paris. We arrived in Paris at
the Charles DeGaule Airport
for a four hour wait. At 11:00 we departed for Atlanta, Ga, USA! We finally
arrived in Tallahassee around 10:30 that night and were weary, happy travelers!
Now I hope you don’t think this short
story covered our whole trip however, I didn’t want to bore you too much and
there are more pictures than I have disk space. So I hope you enjoyed this
little adventure of ours.
