There are good reasons not to choose the bay I chose. Plus some thought on batteries.
“What’s on My Mind” (2008)
Despite how it looks in the guide and things you might have heard, this is a pretty lousy anchorage unless you’re just blowing through on your way elsewhere. A handful of yachties asked me to tell you that. The bay has a commercial port, derelict ships, slicks on the water, trash floating by, an occasional loading ramp screeching back and forth across a concrete dock all night long and, sometimes, all-night machinery. And ships shortcutting through the anchorage. The once sandy bottom is now algae over loose sediment from marina dredging and ship prop wash. All-night lights from a construction sight obscure most stars, and light up the interior of my yacht through un-curtained windows… as do intense anchor lights or occasional strobe lights. Outboard motors blast through the anchorage day and night, both local boats and yacht tenders. And, of course, there are occasional slapping halyards, barking dogs, and once in a while someone thinks everybody should listen to their morning net on the cockpit speakers. And rattley gasoline generators. And diesel stink and noise when someone runs their diesel off your bow. I’ve been asked to tell you this by a quorum of yachties I was partying with aboard a forty-some foot retirement yacht in an increasingly crowded bay that was once one of my favorites. These folks are aboard some of the yachts that regularly inhabit the bay. The bay is one of their favorites. We all feel that there are already enough or too many of us here, and that the deterioration of the bay should keep other yachties moving on. Viva yo! Or something.
So, I’m telling you about this place, blowing the whistle on an anchorage once thought (by some) to be paradise… still thought by some…. No need to name it, these bays are all over this part of the world. And elsewhere, I suppose. The difference is that this is the bay that we are in. So, stay away.
One of said yachties said I could also mention their whooshy wind generators, as long as I mentioned the rest. Most models of wind generators are quiet, some silent. But all the three-bladed wind generators that I know of are, for some reason, “whooshers”. The most popular of the three-bladed wind generators is far and away the whooshiest and can be heard at two hundred meters. They are often the dominant sound in the early morning hours that are my favorite time of day, before and as the birds awake.
Some environmentally minded friends get nervous when I come down on whooshers: “I’d rather those than engine-driven generators.” But most wind generators don’t make noise. And the ones that whoosh are not necessarily the most powerful. I’d put my money on one of the many-bladed “daisy wheel” generators, which seem to work better in the lighter wind and which range from quiet to silent. And there’s a new wind generator on the market that claims to blow the whooshy one away in output and is quiet enough not be heard by the neighbors. Wind generators don’t have to be noisy.
But whooshy wind generators aren’t the biggest noise (or stink) from the modern yacht. Its propulsion and generating engines sometimes are, but mostly it’s the tender, the “dinghy”. “I simply won’t tolerate a dinghy that won’t get me to the dock in less than three minutes” – that’s a quote. “Can plane two couples and their gear” is a common criterion for these Sporty Utility Vessels (SUV) that make possible all the running around that the modern yachtie needs to do. And it seems to be common knowledge that outboard engines should be run flat out.
But, strangely, in this particular bay, the yachties seem to drive more slowly. Quite a few even row. And there are several sailing dinghies. More reasons not to name the bay.
The secret of generating enough power with the wind and sun, by the way, is to size your system (and your usage) to actual conditions, not to their rated potential. And the less up and down your batteries get, the longer they last.
[2022 update. My little yacht is on the hard and for sale now, looking for someone who wants to live like I did. Her batteries are heating the regulator’s dump ballast and staying at 13.98 volts thanks to small solar panels on top of the dodger. I put somewhat larger panels on deck at anchor, where I used and charged devices, and for running power tools off an inverter when working on my dinghies – both of which were built aboard.
The batteries are now fourteen years old. (Premium gel batteries kept charged.)
Caribbean Compass
© 2008