Invited Guests That Don't Show and Uninvited Ones That Do!

As Heather and I begin the process of readying Australian Kiss for the 1000mi journey home from Marsh Harbor Bahamas to New York City and up the Hudson River to Catskill NY, I am taking a moment to document work.

It started 4 weeks ago as we advertised the opportunity to join us during the passage. It is a fun mostly uneventful 6 day ocean sail heading north for 2 days, then northeast following Nemo's super highway AKA the Gulf Stream until we are south of NY and then turning north once more for another 2 days. I say mostly uneventful as that is what I am hoping and cautiously watching the weather to ensure my plan comes to fruition.

I met someone at the Toronto Boat Show who answered my call and said he had a friend who would also like to join. I checked their experience and verified their references and said, "welcome aboard". Plans were made, plane tickets purchased and the Admirals bribe of red licorice was requested. All things were GO.

As we were finishing our last charter on Apr 6 and proposed departure was the next day, it would be a task to change the boat over from liveaboard local cruising to offshore passage making but we were set. Offshore communications were established with InReach and Iridium Satellite phone; Chris Parker, our weather router and meteorologist was engaged; spare fuel jugs which were stored at a marina were retrieved and a plan for stowing gear was made. The checklist started to have checks.

Unfortunately, no one told mother nature of our plan and she decided to not cooperate. As with any activity we must operate in a comfortable or at least safe environment. Being outdoors on the ocean 500 mi away from shore, this takes planning and only sailing at the right moment. True sailors know this and recognize that our schedule operates on a different time than those set by the circle with numbers on it. (OK kids born after 1980 - I'm referring to a clock). A major storm was moving across our path and our departure is now delayed until the 12th. Our original crew abandoned ship, leaving Heather and I with the need to draft a new sailing plan if we were to sail shorthanded (just the two of us). A new plan was made which would follow closer to the coast (approx 20-50mi), take 2 days longer but give us an out should we have to reach land sooner for any reason. Plan B was my good friend Bob to fly down and join us along the original route. Plan B IT IS with a planned departure of Apr 12 and arrival Catskill Apr 19.

While sitting in the cabin last night going through our checklist and watching a movie, Heather spotted something run across the cabin sole. She first thought it was a small lizard but it moved again and it was clearly…. A RAT! (ewww) I like nature and animals but I believe in a division of the species. I don't play in your neighbourhood so don't you bother me in mine! Is my philosophy.

We needed a PLAN! The rat was in the aft, port cabin. LOCK IT IN! check. Now what? How do we get it out? I created a barier by holding up a towel against the floor with my toes and hands. We could then look in to see if we could see it. No luck. OK close the door and think…. Yes its there, we hear it.

Lets empty the cabin piece by piece and then try and catch it. Throw the towel over it and then cover it with a bucket. Awesome we had a PLAN!. We suited up for battle! Shoes, towel barracade, gloves in case it was close enough to bite or scratch, frying pan if I saw it to club it, barbeque tongues to extend my reach. About 10 bags were in the cabin and carefully each one was taken out by quickly reaching in and pulling it out - hoping to not have the rat come out with it to escape to another room. The cabin was now empty and no RAT was visible. We would have to sleep with this intruder on board until the morning when we could buy proper rat traps. Heather was not a happy sailor. Plan B was to wake our neighbour and have their cat sleep on our boat. We stuck with the first plan, whilst creating our own trap. A bucket half filled with water and a paper towel across the top and a dab of peanut butter in the middle. Should the RAT walk across the paper to reach the food, it would surely fall into the bucket. Heather concluded the bucket wasn’t deep enough so she oiled the sides above the water line, just to make sure it wouldn’t escape. We put the bucket by the stairs so it could reach the edge. We went to bed hoping to find a dead or at least water logged RAT in the morning. Upon inspection in the morning…. NO RAT but rat poop up the steps!

Off to the store in the morning for proper RAT TRAPS - we intended to show NO MERCY!.

First Aisle was the hardware section… It appears that we are not the only ones with rat issues. NO RAT TRAPS only mice. While I never saw the RAT, Heather swears it was giant (see side picture) and not just a mouse and mouse traps were too small. Off to the hardware store. We found the supplies and RAMBO was gearing up. 10 glue trays and 4 traps. This rat, now named Victor was going down!

Back to the boat and now the traps are set. It looks like a scene from Home Alone. Note to self, Caution do not enter in bare-feet. Tonight its out for dinner at the marina for steak night and then hopefully back to find Victor with its neck snapped or feet stuck in a glue pad ready to be drowned.

We returned from dinner to find the glue pads moved and Victor droppings by the companionway. The RAT is still here but wants to leave. We set up for a stake in (dinner was steak out) with a movie in the cockpit. 20 minutes into the movie we heard the glue tray sliding along the floor as Victor was clearly saying to himself, "feet don't fail me now". The lights are now on and the 8" RAT is in a bucket of water. Upstairs on the swim platform, Heather is yelling "drown the monster".

"I need a picture first"

Then I see his beady black eyes peering over the glue tray. In one motion I grab the bucket and toss it into the ocean. In doing so Victor falls out back onto the swim platform - still on the boat. Then, I hear him splash into the water. I look at the glue tray floating without any stowaway aboard. Victor escaped and I'm sure scampered up a spar back to the safety of the dock.

Australian Kiss is safe from intruders and in the end… no RATS were injured in this episode. I am safe from PETA for another day.

#passagemaking #Bahamas #RatsonBoats #gonesailingadventures #AustralianKiss