Bahia Honda

Bahia Honda
What a magical place, so lush, and calm at least until our last night.
Genevieve cut her finger pretty badly just as we were preparing to go to a pot luck supper raft up. I was in the shower, Michel and Josee were pulling up
the anchor. Chantal let out an remarkable scream louder than any howler monkey. Michel piped up with "Lynda" I need your help out here….don’t panic get the First Aid kit.
I scramble for the first aid kit and Genevieve is standing on the transom with blood gushing out of her paper towel covered finger…apparently, she did not want to mess up the boat. It’s a horrible feeling being in the middle of nowhere having to perform first aid on your kid. I had steristip sutures but the cut was so severely serrated and deep I couldn’t close the skin, the strips were useless. To complicate matters Genevieve was not all too cooperative in having me examine the wound. Thankfully Denis helped out- he is a chiropractor but had some surgical experience as well. He had a kick ass first aid kit with stuff that I never even knew existed. She got great care and a real head start at beating off infection. We made it to our pot luck just before after dark and met up with some new cruisers ( ) really nice down to earth folk who have lucked into a cruising position I never dreamed possible. For the last 10 years they have been on Salary to crew on 45 foot cat. The family uses the cat about 8 times a year for a week or so, then the cat is their home free for them to use.
They were a really great source of local information and we are grateful for their help in charting an exit for Genevieve.
We really had a nice dinner chatting with 3 other cruising couples ( we are the only ones not retired, having a schedule of some sorts, confided by the return to work program.)
I was a little envious that they had so much time and no schedule- however, having said this I am not sure that I could sell up and sail for endless years either. "Sea Whisper" had just returned from 4 year sailing adventure all the way to the Med and back.
I enjoyed their photos and really got excited about cruising Croatia, and Turkey.
The following morning we removed Genevieve’s bandage and were disheartened to find that she needed to go to the hospital as the bleeding had not stopped.
The hospital was 12 hour sail up a river however, as luck would have it the tides were cooperating. Against …….advise we shaved 10 miles off our journey by transiting the shoal areas in the entrance of the river on the lee side of and Island.
We were sailing and making great time as the current was with us. All hell broke loose as we approached the sand bar we needed to take the sails in to have better control of the boat. The gib jammed and we had a hell of a time trying to free it. It’s one of those scenarios that the "salty" old time sailors say they never trust those new fanged furling rigs. Michel was freaking out and we all tried our best to get that damn sail in. We unfurled it completely with the option of ripping it out of the loose fitting track for the luff tape. It’s a rather noisy adventure and I was beginning to wonder why we have such bad luck.
Michel solved the problem by loosening the halyard to take pressure off the top furler. It freed and we were able to furl up the sail completely.
(Later investigation showed that the bearings needed attention.