Sailing Through the Abacos

We left Sunrise Marina in Lucaya on Sunday morning at 0730 with Grey Hound. After a calculated exit from the dock and out the channel, we had a good sail North to West End, and entered the Little Bahama Bank just south of Memory Rock. Then headed East to anchor in Great Sale Cay at around 2100, in the pitch dark. Dick and Anne had arrived about 3 hours earlier (even though they left after us!) We wanted to make tracks, so we left Grey Hound on Monday morning and headed further East. A great sail but we only made progress to anchor for the night by Yankee Cay. We launched the dinghy (that had been on deck for the crossing) and tried out the new 6 HP motor. On Tuesday we sailed to Allans-Pensacola Cay. We had a fun walk on the beach with fabulous shells everywhere. Then spent the evening with friends on The Great Catsby - We had met them two years ago in Hampton, VA. On Wednesday, we had a good sail (with 14 tacks!!!!) to Green Turtle Cay. The water is sooooo beautiful - an aquamarine color. We decided to tuck up in the Green Turtle Club & Marina for 3 nights because a front was expected to come through with 25 knot winds. They also offered a deal that all of your dining expenses are applied to your dockage - so basically we are eating well and the slip is free! Today we rented bikes to explore the island - about 2 miles out Jim's tire went flat and he had to walk back! So we decided to forget the bikes and went by dinghy to New Plymouth, a settlement on Green Turtle.