The next day, Monday, things started to get bad. We had gone about 150 miles away from land, and we were supposed to make a big turn, or tack as John said, to go in the right direction to Florida. But there was something about a "head current" and strong wind "on the nose" and we just couldn't seem to get going in the right direction. John and Cappy tried to tack several times, but the stupid boat just wouldn't go in the right direction. They kept trying all day, and I could tell that neither one of them was very happy about it.
That night, a really funny thing happened. John was down in the basement, I mean cabin, taking a nap, while Cappy was driving the boat. I was downstairs with John, but I was awake and I could see what was happening upstairs. All of sudden, this fish flew out of the water and hit Cappy right in the face! Then it fell into the cockpit by her feet and she kept jumping around trying to get it away from her. I never saw anything like that before. I thought it was a whole lot funnier than Cappy did. When John heard about it, he thought it was pretty funny too.
We spent the next two days still trying to get to Florida, but nothing seemed to work right. They kept trying to turn the boat and get closer to where we were going, but John kept saying something about currents, and wind, and slilding sideways. Apparently, those are not good things.
Finally, on Wednesday night, the wind was really blowing and the waves were huge. John told Cappy to put me down in the basement with my life jacket on, and he told her to put hers on too, and to bring up some things called harnesses and EPIRBs, whatever those are. Cappy was really in a hurry when she was putting my life jacket on me, and I could tell things were bad. She disappeared back up into the cockpit and I could hear them yelling, because the wind was blowing so hard that they had to yell to be able to hear each other; and I see them moving around and doing all kinds of stuff. And they were both tied to the boat, well, John said they were "tethered" but it looked like they were tied up by long leashes to me.
Sometime, in the middle of the night, this other boat, a really big motor boat called a work boat, called us on our radio and said that they couldn't see us on their radar and that we should be very careful because there were all sorts of other big boats out there and lots of these big building things called rigs. Earlier, I heard John and Cappy talk about trying to make it to a place called Grand Isle to get away from the bad conditions, but now they were saying that there was no way we were going to make it that night. The waves were so big that sometimes we couldn't even see over them. I could tell that both of them were kind of scared.
Then, this nice lady on the big boat, it's name was Bee Sting, told us that if we would follow them, they would show us the way to a place nearby where we could take shelter from the weather. So, we followed her for a couple of hours and finally got to a place that was not on the big ocean. They called this place Port Fourchon, and the wind was a lot calmer and the waves were almost gone. Boy, I was so relieved; I could finally stand up and walk around without getting tossed across the boat. We couldn't find a place to park the boat, so we would up putting down our big anchor. That's this big, heavy metal thing that John dropped into the water while Cappy drove the boat. It sank into the mud at the bottom and held the boat still. Pretty cool!
Oh, by the way, I found out later that those EPIRB things are some sort of little electronic things that can tell the U.S. Coast Guard where you are, in case you get into trouble out on the big ocean, and then they can come find you. Awesome!
That night, a really funny thing happened. John was down in the basement, I mean cabin, taking a nap, while Cappy was driving the boat. I was downstairs with John, but I was awake and I could see what was happening upstairs. All of sudden, this fish flew out of the water and hit Cappy right in the face! Then it fell into the cockpit by her feet and she kept jumping around trying to get it away from her. I never saw anything like that before. I thought it was a whole lot funnier than Cappy did. When John heard about it, he thought it was pretty funny too.
We spent the next two days still trying to get to Florida, but nothing seemed to work right. They kept trying to turn the boat and get closer to where we were going, but John kept saying something about currents, and wind, and slilding sideways. Apparently, those are not good things.
Finally, on Wednesday night, the wind was really blowing and the waves were huge. John told Cappy to put me down in the basement with my life jacket on, and he told her to put hers on too, and to bring up some things called harnesses and EPIRBs, whatever those are. Cappy was really in a hurry when she was putting my life jacket on me, and I could tell things were bad. She disappeared back up into the cockpit and I could hear them yelling, because the wind was blowing so hard that they had to yell to be able to hear each other; and I see them moving around and doing all kinds of stuff. And they were both tied to the boat, well, John said they were "tethered" but it looked like they were tied up by long leashes to me.
Sometime, in the middle of the night, this other boat, a really big motor boat called a work boat, called us on our radio and said that they couldn't see us on their radar and that we should be very careful because there were all sorts of other big boats out there and lots of these big building things called rigs. Earlier, I heard John and Cappy talk about trying to make it to a place called Grand Isle to get away from the bad conditions, but now they were saying that there was no way we were going to make it that night. The waves were so big that sometimes we couldn't even see over them. I could tell that both of them were kind of scared.
Then, this nice lady on the big boat, it's name was Bee Sting, told us that if we would follow them, they would show us the way to a place nearby where we could take shelter from the weather. So, we followed her for a couple of hours and finally got to a place that was not on the big ocean. They called this place Port Fourchon, and the wind was a lot calmer and the waves were almost gone. Boy, I was so relieved; I could finally stand up and walk around without getting tossed across the boat. We couldn't find a place to park the boat, so we would up putting down our big anchor. That's this big, heavy metal thing that John dropped into the water while Cappy drove the boat. It sank into the mud at the bottom and held the boat still. Pretty cool!
Oh, by the way, I found out later that those EPIRB things are some sort of little electronic things that can tell the U.S. Coast Guard where you are, in case you get into trouble out on the big ocean, and then they can come find you. Awesome!
