Oh no. A thousand bees on the furler

[team karst]

A mile offshore at anchor. Dinked in for ice and diesel. Returned in an hour to find this event.

[team karst]

So, We cant even raise anchor with bees at the bow. Maybe spin the furler from a distance, hide in cabin?

Its 90 deg right now. No obvious sign that these are Africanized. We have some xtra no-see-um screen to cover my face. But i have no real plan to convince the queen to move except to deploy the jib

[McBrian]

Probably best to find a local keeper to move the hive/queen so the rest follow her. Good luck!

[team karst]

am in rock sound bahamas.

Update: they left the furler in about 60 seconds. Currently swarming at the stern

[Chotu]

Hose down the sail and let it drip on them encouraging them to move on?

But maybe wait a little while because they are probably just tired from flying that far across the water.

[JPA Cate]

You may be able to locate a bee keeper there in Florida who will be willing to come out to the boat in your dinghy with you to take care of things while you huddle below. That would be the best, really. If they're "good" bees they can be saved. Otherwise it will be a pest control guy who will kill them. I'd take the family ashore, in either event, no point in risking everyone being stung. Invite the beekeeper and his partner back to the boat for an afternoon beverage after the job's done, it might be an inducement.

Ann

[fstbttms]

They are swarming while looking for a place to build a hive. They won't stay long.

[team karst]

I raised the jib. 3 kts of wind here. Turned on the genset and a/c to make the boat livable. They are now on both ends of the sailbag. Thinking of raising the mainsail. Not enuf wind to cause luffing tho.

Ouch forgot that i tied up the sailbag nice and secure. Not going to raise anymore sails.

[h20man]

Originally Posted by McBrian

Probably best to find a local keeper to move the hive/queen so the rest follow her. Good luck!

absolutely!

[jordanbigel]

I had bees take up in my mast in Mexico a few years back. They were inside the mast somewhere and swarming at the masthead, and some were popping out the bottom through a small vent hole in the mast step.

We found a guy who came to the boat - 3 guys actually - and "the sucker" (as I like to think of him) put on a yellow exposure suit and the other 2 hoisted him up the mast with a large gas pumping fumigator. He pump that crap into the mast from the top, with bees swarming all around him. In an hour we never saw another bee...

Until 3 years later when we un-stepped the mast to re-do the standing rigging - there was a graveyard of bees in the mast step must have been 10 deep, hundreds of them. Got out the ole hoover and that was that. Viola. Fun times!

[Lake-Effect]

Can you get closer to the coast? Doing that, plus making the boat mildly unwelcoming, might encourage them to move along.

[team karst]

Originally Posted by Lake-Effect

Can you get closer to the coast? Doing that, plus making the boat mildly unwelcoming, might encourage them to move along.

Yeah. I released the boom preventer. Now all thousand are on the headboard.
My daughter says to sweep them into a box with a soft brush. But the instructions get thin after that. I dink to shore with a thousand bees in a box??

[HopCar]

I’m a bee keeper and I agree with Fstbbtms.

What you have is called a swarm. This happens when a hive gets crowded. The Queen will take about half of the worker bees and fly away. This is a swarm.

The swarm will land somewhere nearby with the Queen in the middle of a ball of bees. The swarm sends out scouts to look for a new home. Swarms are very gentle as they have no home to protect. They should move on it a day or two.

If you see them building comb, they have decided to move in right there. It isn’t common for them to make open air hives but it happens.

See if there is a bee keeper on the island. He might charge you to remove them or he might be glad to get the free bees.

[JPA Cate]

i guess that means you have to brave the bees to get the main halyard shackle on. If you try, the bees will probably try to sting you and chase you, I suggest the water's a place to get away from them--swim under water. Don't know if they'll continue to chase you. BUT, thing is that multiple bee stings may cause a serious allergic reaction whereas you've received single stings before without reacting. Furthermore, if you were non-reactive as a child, but became reactive to bee stings later in your life, each sting intensifies the reaction, so you should totally avoid getting stung now.

Call the beekeeper. You can still get this done before dark tomorrow, if you're lucky. I guess luckier, still would be fstbttms notion that they will move on. The problem is that they can set up a hive inside your mast. if they're still outside, they can be rescued.

Ann

[Tetepare]

Hit them with a fire extinguisher. Then hose them away.