(There are lots of cays in the Bahamas - and Cay is pronounced Key - the pictures of the 4 couples were all taken on the beach at Manjack Cay)
Wednesday night, the crew of the 3 boats met on Southern Vectis for pre-dinner martinis (for those who drink ---- martinis). When we parted, no decision had been made for travel plans - where would everyone go, and on what day? Weather forecasts had not been promising - on the other hand - that very day had turned out to be perfect for cruising but we had missed the opportunity having gone instead on a bus trip to Freeport and Lucaya - neither really offering much to see except the sad aftermath of the 2002 hurricane which destroyed hotels and ended much of the tourism in the area. The highlight was a visit to the Freeport grocery store where we bought much needed perishables for our ships stores.
That night, back at our boat, Bob and I began to feel that it was time to get going. Th
e weather websites indicated that the following day might be a fair travel day. Winds would be blustery on Friday but we could always find a place to hunker down and at least we would be on the move. Our stay at Old Bahama Bay was beginning to remind me of when Bob and I were in the Chesapeake waiting for perfect weather and avoiding heavy winds. For a time we were not moving far or very often and had become paralyzingly cautious - until we remembered that we were on a sailboat and could handle wind - even strong wind if it came from the right direction.
After more talk following dinner, I walked over to the Mursells who turned out to be going through the same machinations. By then it was 9:30 and there were no lights on in the main cabin of Somewhere In Time, but if we were going to get going in the morning, the crew of SIT would need a heads up. I got John out of bed by knocking on the stateroom port (lights were still on in John and Eileen's cabin so I knew they weren't asleep).The next morning, Chris Parker's 6:30 weather forecast promised a good day on the water. The Mursells wanted to get away by 8 so that we could reach Great Sale Cay anchorage before dark (about 5:30). The crew of SIT were set to go as well so Bob and I hurried back to the boat and were the first out of the cut but only because we delayed breakfast until we were out on the water. As usual, as soon as we got up, we had made coffee in the insulated Bodum coffee maker we had inherited from Sean. Once on our way, I pulled out the banana bread that I had made a couple of days before. I used a recipe from my Cruising Chef cookbook (what a great book for a trip like this). The bread is made with honey, bananas, walnuts and dried fruit (I used dried cherries that I bought at a Farmer's market in the Chesapeake) - so as promised, it was a great "breakfast bread".
So we were on our way once more and after weeks of motoring on the ICW, we were finally back to sailing. We motored the first third of the trip, motor sailed the second third, and then continued under sail only - until we reached the anchorage. In the evening, when the group conferenced on VHF, we were joined by another boat offering advise on cruising in the Abacos Islands - specifically recommending Manjack Island as the place for our next anchorage. The group decided to continue on - we had no access to weather reports that night but aside from healthy winds there had been no scary warnings in earlier forecasts.
Today, we were ploughing through waves with the wind on our beam - an especially good point of sail for our boat which gave us very good speed for most of the day. Bob was quite enjoying the sail - it was a bit bumpy for me and I'm not a fan of fighting the wheel to keep on course but other than that - it was a good sailing day.
Tonight we are anchored at the recommended Manjack Cay - the wind is high and I'm campaigning for Bob to put on the anchor alarm in spite of his great faith in our 90 feet of chain anchor rode. (He finally did put on the alarm.)
We'll dinghy ashore tomorrow and do some exploring. I am going to give in and begin wearing bug spray - something I'm not keen on doing. I haven't really seen any bugs yet, but the no-see-ums have seen me and I have many bites from our stay at Old Bahama Bay. The bites look less fearsome than mosquito bites but itch more and from a quick google the other day, I learned they can itch for a week - good grief!
No-see-ums in evidence here - whew!
2 comments:
It sounds like you are all settling in quite comfortably for some real cruising. The snow continues to fall here but we are having many sunny days so it could be worse. Spent Friday at the boat show and saw Gordon and Margaret and the Newburys.
No one bought a new boat though. Betsy
hey, I spent all day today sunday plowing and shovelling snow and still have not done the neighbours or Jeff's! I think somewhere I have made a mistake with my life planning! Is it too late to change and buy a boat and go sailin?
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