Sunday, February 26, 2012
Spanish Wells
Kismet picked up a mooring in Spanish Wells on Thursday. Bandit is the man who manages the 7 balls, and they are $20.00 a night. We wanted to take the ferry to see Harbor Island so that's what we did on Friday. The town is quite picturesque and the beach is beautiful. Said to have pink sand and if you use your imagination, the grains are pink! We had lunch at Sip Sip, very good although quite pricey. Jim tried lionfish, and enjoyed that. Yesterday we went lobster hunting and snorkeling. The snorkeling was impressive but we went back with no lobsters. Today a cold front is passing through, but we are safe and sound on the mooring. It is blowing around 20 knots. We have decided to head back to Florida at the next weather opportunity; probably the middle to end of this week. We will make landfall in West Palm Beach.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Marina Weenies
Well yesterday we were up bright and early in order to time our passage through Current Cut - but! Jim miscalculated and we really didn't need to leave Hatchet Bay til noon - but! We still left early and were able to sail up to the Glass Window before transiting the cut. It was well worth it - very interesting. This is the narrowest spot in Eleuthera (supposedly on earth) the natural bridge was destroyed by a rogue wave in 1991, and has been replaced by a manmade bridge. The Bahama Bank is on one side and the Atlantic Ocean is on the other. We went through Current Cut close to slack ; but still on the ebb - we flew through at 9 knots! We then sailed another 6 miles and anchored for the night at Meeks Patch. Today we went into the Yacht Haven Marina in Spanish Wells for a night to do laundry, get water, wash the boat, charge the batteries, etc. Tomorrow we will get on a mooring here for a few more days.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Broad Reaching (A Point of Sail)
Today the wind was perfect for a 38 mile sail up to Hatchet Bay, Eleuthera from Rock Sound. So we left the anchorage at 6:45 and averaged 5 plus knots the entire trip. We arrived at Hatchet Bay at 2:00pm. The entrance to the very protected harbor was very hard to see until we were less than 1/2 mile from it - then we entered the narrow channel (about 75 feet wide) flanked by rock walls. WHEW - we made it! Put the anchor down and had a drink! Pics will follow tomorrow when we take a dinghy ride out to the channel.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Sailed NorthEast to Eleuthera
Yesterday morning we left Warderick Wells early (6:45am); and sailed to Rock Sound, Eleuthera. Actually, we motored half the way and sailed the rest. We dropped the hook with 10 other boats in a huge anchorage. We had planned to stay here for several days til a cold front blows through, but the forecast changed some (for the better), and it looks like we will leave tomorrow to sail to Hatchett Bay about 35 miles away. Today we walked to get groceries; very nice store with lots of fresh produce (albeit expensive). We also had lunch out by the anchorage with two other cruiser couples.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
The Prettiest Place
On Tuesday, Valentine's day; we left Big Majors Spot by Staniel Cay and had a great sail 20 miles North up the Exuma Chain to The Land & Sea Park at Warderick Wells. We had reserved a mooring ball there - no anchoring is allowed in the North field by the Park Headquarters. There are only about 20 balls here so it is not crowded. This is a spectacular spot. Clear, aqua water, great hikes, and snorkeling (we went today). We also hiked up to Boo Boo Hill where we found the driftwood signs of many of our cruiser friends; including "Passages" & "Speranza". We will be here til probably Friday when we will sail over to Eleuthera.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Daysails & the Lost Birthday
We left Georgetown and began our trek homeward(where ever that is). The first day we ran with the spinaker as the boats with greater ambitions than us passed us by. The unfortunate part was that we watched old friends on "Passages" and new friends On "Majiks" head south. We did say hello and make the cruiser promise to connect later. Arriving in one new favorite anchorages we spent the night under a nearly full moon. The big sail was out again the next day and low expectations for distance was a good plan. We arrived at Cave CAy Cut at the ebb tide and experienced a minature Hell Gate. It was exciting for me and for Laurie, not. I wouldn't want to do it with any seas. Ended up anchoring near Big Galliot cay. (very nice). The next day the Code Zero seemed a better option as we headed to Black Point for laundry and Lorraine's mom's Coconut bread. The front was coming and we needed to make it somewhere for a west component wind. Off to Staniel Cay area, Another short daysail but I think the impending chronological change clouded my judgement . We anchored in Big Majors Spot where we had been brutalized earlier this season. That leads us to the lost birthday, the wind didn't switch as fast as we hoped and the boat did quite a dance all day. Enough so I didn't feel well until late that day. Laurie had made a wonderful chocolate cake which I consumed half of as soon as I felt could stomach anything and then I left this world for the land of Sugar Plum Fairies. Not much of a birthday but some very pleasant travelling, I will take sailing anyday over getting older.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Monday, February 6, 2012
About To Turn Around
After spending two days at the North end of Long Island in Calabash Bay with "Mutual Fun", we sailed back to Georgetown where water is available and living is easy. Can't believe that we have been here for a week. Watched the Super Bowl last night at St. Francis Resort, been playing volleyball, weaving baskets, filling in on provisions, playing dominoes in the evening with Randy & Jeannie, hiking the beautiful trails on Stocking Island, doing some unsuccessful fishing, and enjoying the ocean beach. Tomorrow we will sail in a SE wind northwest to Lee Stocking Island. We will SLOWLY make our way north seeing places that we missed coming down the Exuma Chain.
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