Sometimes it’s nigh impossible to craft the perfect video title. After our struggle with last episode’s title, we think we nailed it with this one. Let us know what you think. ;D
Storms threaten, and a dragging anchor one evening puts us on edge. The next night we mix up a drink fitting the mood to calm our nerves while we wait. Will the wind be as strong again? Will the lightning get too close this time? The following day we have a very chill daysail, experiment with a new anchoring technique to keep the boat from rolling in the ocean swell, and explore the underwater world. All part of cruising life in the islands.
Hope you enjoy!
Lauren & Kirk
FILMED: May 2019
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THE ABACO ISLANDS, POST-HURRICANE DORIAN:
This footage was filmed prior to the utter devastation wreaked by Hurricane Dorian in September 2019. Dorian hit the Abaco Islands as a category 5 hurricane, with sustained winds of 185 mph, flattening most structures and leaving 70,000 people homeless. They are still rebuilding — and will be for a long time.
If you’d like to help the Abacos, check out PERC https://www.percabaco.org/. This is a 503c organization which supports a number of Abaco-based charities and is tax-deductible for U.S. residents.
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SOCIALS + BLOG
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sailingsoulianis/
Kirk’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kirkhateswork/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sailingsoulianis/
Website: https://sailingsoulianis.com
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CAMERA GEAR
https://sailingsoulianis.com/shop/camera-gear
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MUSIC
Theme song: “Adventures” by A Himitsu — https://youtu.be/8BXNwnxaVQE
All others: https://sailingsoulianis.com/artlistio-music — Use this link to get 2 free months of Artlist!
We’re always looking for music! If you, or a friend, relative or acquaintance makes original music and would like to feature it on our channel, give us a shout at hello@sailingsoulianis.com.
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SUBTITLES
by REV: https://try.rev.com/H2dsg — Use this link to get $10 off your first order!
Thinking About Buying a Boat?
Episode Dialogue
– Mm. Oh man.
– Goes tink, tink tink. .
– Oh.
– Oh. Oh.
– What?
– [Kirk] For the past 10 days, we had camped out here just outside of Hope Town, on Elbow Key, very much enjoying all the island had to offer.
– [Lauren] Okay, I love.
– I love you.
– Have fun.
– [Kirk] Thank you.
– I wanted to say how much I really loved Hope Town, how it was just the perfect little spot that had everything you needed all wrapped up into a beautiful town with colorful cottages, and pretty flowers in every corner, and tiny little streets. There’s tons of little kids running around and it was a very like family oriented place and…
– [Kirk] You’re nesting.
– Maybe. I think it would be weird to raise a family just because it’s almost, I don’t want to say perfect, but can you not live in a…
– Now you’re just getting weird.
– I know. Can you not live in a place that’s too good to be true? Too good to be true. Unbeknownst to me, this would become a tragically ironic statement. This footage was shot last year, before Hurricane Dorian devastated Elbow Key and the rest of the Abacos. Hope Town looks drastically different now, and they’ll be rebuilding for a long time. If you’d like to help the cause, check out the link we’ve provided in the description below.
– Yo.
– Yo.
– [Kirk] What are we doing?
– We’re going back into town for our last little stint to get some groceries. We’re gonna go to a coffee shop, use their wifi, and download some files, and I’m gonna go around and take pictures.
– I’m gonna check the surf.
– So, the first couple of days we got to Hope Town, I was on the hunt for a post office and found out that they were located on the second floor of, I think the police station, but that the whole building had evacuated due to mold, and so they were closed and we didn’t know when they were gonna reopen. Finally, they reopened in the library, like at one table in the library. It’s the smallest operation, with a bunch of boxes, and a few hundred envelopes. I got my stamps. That’s an expensive yogurt serving.
– [Kirk] After moving a few miles south down Elbow Key, a squall caught us by surprise that evening with winds coming out of the total opposite direction than what was forecasted. The wind was forecasted to come out of the southwest and then the west, but not until tomorrow. This was earlier in the day, and then the wind shifted about 180 degrees as our anchor dragged about 100 feet before it reset. The next evening, brought a chance of more thunderstorms.
– This isn’t the fun part about sailing.
– No.
– This is the nerve wracking part. Also ’cause we didn’t really know what we were in for last night.
– [Kirk] Yeah.
– [Lauren] And then it ended up being worse than we expected.
– Yeah, and we’ve had the last, like three hours to ruminate over this one ’cause we know it’s coming. We just didn’t really know what to do. There was no real good place to go, and we knew that our anchor was in pretty good here, so we just stayed. But we’re still a little unprotected and the shore is only a couple hundred feet behind us.
– The one good thing is that we’re not near any other boats. That’s about all I can think of.
– Yeah, that’s about it.
– The other good thing is the uncertainty, as far as if we’re gonna get hit or not. It’s not certain that we will. We might miss it.
– We probably will get hit.
– We’ll get something.
– Yes. We might get lucky. This is either gonna go over the top of us or just south of us. Lauren’s decided to go down below and make us some Dark ‘n Stormys to take the edge off. She felt like it was an appropriate drink. I don’t know what makes me more nervous, the lightening or the wind. Last night with the wind out of the opposite direction we were expecting, so we sort of knew the anchor needed to spin around and reset itself. But lightning, man, that shit’s unpredictable. I guess so is the wind, but the wind is sort of like just a long slow wear you out type of thing, because it’s all just pretty nerve wracking. Oh, that was a big bolt that hit the ground. One for the ship.
– [Lauren] One for the ship and one for the anchor. Well, this is nice being able to sit and watch it from a short distance.
– [Kirk] A very short distance. It’s not quite overhead.
– [Lauren] Yeah. Whoa.
– There are definitely streaks of lightning that are getting close to being overhead.
– [Lauren] Yeah. Oh.
– [Kirk] Like that one. That one shot way out here.
– [Lauren] Oh really, over there?
– [Kirk] Yeah.
– [Lauren] Oh, that was beautiful.
– [Kirk] Oh.
– [Lauren] I don’t know, love, it looks like it might be south of us.
– Yeah.
– [Lauren] That’d be pretty sweet. Do you think we would be in worried anticipation if we were at a dock?
– [Kirk] Depends on how many sailboats were around.
– [Lauren] The more masts, the less worry?
– [Kirk] Yeah.
– So we got lucky, the storm skirted us and it is now serenely calm. There’s a beautifully soft breeze. It’s like the absolute perfect temperature. All you can hear right now is Rahm back there gently bobbing. Looking forward to a really good night’s sleep.
– No little sprinkles happening, there’s no wind to whistle through the rigging. It goes when all the raindrops hit the water. It’s cool. After a short sail, a quick jaunt at the beach resulted in our first ever coconut harvest.
– [Lauren] How freaking cool is that?
– [Kirk] Mm. Oh.
– What?
– [Kirk] I got some. Try some.
– Mm. Wow. It like, not tart, what is that, like kind of acidic?
– [Kirk] Yeah, it’s got fizziness in it also.
– Yeah. So my mom got us this coconut augur, piercer thingamajig, four years ago now, when we first told her that we wanted to buy a sailboat and go sail the islands, for the next Christmas. She’s like, “You’re all set to go.” We’ve had the boat for two years now.
– [Kirk] And now we have this.
– And
– This is our first coconut.
– we finally found a coconut to use it on. Thanks mom.
– [Kirk] Okay, you want to chill that?
– Oh my gosh, there’s like cup, there’s a cup in there? That’s it, that’s all we got.
– That’s the meat, yep.
– [Lauren] Do we do anything with this?
– No, you can make a…
– Coconut bra.
– Coconut bra. It can become a drinking vessel, which is what I intend to do with it. Cheers.
– [Lauren] Can you tell me what you put in there real quick?
– Coconut rum, coconut, pulp, that I shredded right in the food processor and pineapple orange juice. Pretty peaceful.
– Yeah. We’re on the move again. We’re going nine miles today. This is gonna be our biggest jump in…
– Two weeks.
– [Lauren] Nine miles South from Tahiti Beach to Sandy Key. What’s up with this thing?
– I don’t know, it’s just getting all sticky, making all sorts of angry noises.
– Our autohelm hasn’t really been working right ever since our Gulf Stream crossing. We think he got really, really salty, and now he’s really sticky and he won’t hold onto the wheel, so we haven’t cleaned him yet, ’cause we really haven’t, we haven’t needed him, because every sail that we’ve done, has been like three hours. We’re just going sailing
– [Kirk] Sounds pretty angry, huh.
– Oh man, that does not sound good.
– [Kirk] Oh, it’s only six feet here. Says it’s supposed to be 10. I’m hoping that gets deeper. It looks deeper. Yeah, it just dropped off.
– [Lauren] So what are we in now?
– [Kirk] Now we’re in 10.
– Sandy Key is supposed to be a really good snorkeling, slash diving spot, so we’re gonna go for a swim. It is a right beautiful day.
– [Kirk] Yeah it is. All right, I’m losing our sail.
– [Lauren] Yay, you want to pull it in?
– Yeah.
– Okay. This is very rolly right here. We’re exposed, pretty much to the Atlantic Ocean. There’s a reef out there blocking some of this swell but probably only be here for an hour or two, just long enough to hop in the water, and snorkel, and take a look at what’s underneath, and then take off again, south to Lynard Cay. I think that’s what we’re gonna spend the night tonight.
– [Kirk] Keep us into the waves?
– Yeah, that is much better. Kirk, just rigged up a mid-ship line, running to the chain to try to force our boat into the waves, because right now the current is wanting to push us beam on, and rolling back and forth from side to side is the worst motion.
– [Kirk] Should we go for a little swim?
– Sweet, love.
– Yeah, that’s pretty awesome. Now, we’re just lightly bobbing up and down.
– Oh man, it’s so beautiful under there. How was your day today.
– It was pretty good.
– [Lauren] Look at that. Man that goes way up there.
– [Kirk] Yeah.
– [Lauren] Hey Rahm how you going? Okay. You were telling me about your day.
– Yeah, it was a good day. We sailed 10 miles or so, we snorkeled, I had a boat beer, a cocktail, I hung out and read in the cockpit for like an hour and a half, I screened some potential new tenants for our property in Chicago. Pretty good.
– [Lauren] Pleasant, enjoyable, and productive.
– Yeah.
– [Lauren] Now I gotta get some photos of this moon back there.
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