On Monday, we arrived in Great Harbor Cay of the Berry Islands of the Bahamas. We spent the afternoon getting the paperwork completed to clear in through customs and immigration. Since we had done an overnight sail to get there, it was an early bedtime.
On day two, we needed to get SIM cards for our phones so that we can communicate with all our friends and family. We rode the dinghy in to the government dock and asked the locals for directions. We began walking in the direction that they told us but we were a little unsure. We flagged down a car to double check that we were going the right way and he said he would give us a ride since it was pretty far. When we got to the phone office, we thanked him but he offered to wait for us and give us a ride back. His name was Chester. He was off work today from working on the island where the cruise ships land. They call it CocoaCay(the charts call it Little Stirrup Cay). The people of these islands are so nice!!
The afternoon was spent on sewing projects that we brought along. Soon, we will have all new cockpit cushions. It’s nice to have something to work on because the weather is supposed to get messy for the next couple of days. Rain and wind are forecast. At least there isn’t a weather alert for iguanas falling from trees like there is in south Florida!!
And then the winds and rain came! We knew when we left south FL that there was some bad weather coming in the middle of the week and it did! The cold front that caused all the falling iguanas in FL made it here in the afternoon and it blew like a madman all night and into midday on Wednesday. Several boats were unable to maintain their anchor position. Some drove around in the dark all night rather than trust their ground tackle. We had put out a second anchor in the afternoon in anticipation of the blow. I wasn’t going to have a repeat of what happened to me in Cocoa!!
After the weather settled down, we rounded the corner of Great Harbor Cay (pronounced key) for a place in the southern Berry Islands. We anchored in a place called Bird Cay to wait for one of our buddy boats to catch up. Then, we sailed across Northwest Providence Channel to New Providence (Nassau). Generally, we try to limit our time in marinas and particularly in Nassau. Next day, we were off the dock. And in two days were in the Exuma Islands of central Bahamas. Paradise!!
A day of relaxation, snorkeling, bottom cleaning and enjoying the scenery! That night, the winds went from zero (glassy calm) to twenty knots from the west south west at around 20 knots with very poor protection! One of our buddy boats drug anchor at 2 AM (thank God Ann was awake to see them) but suffered no damage. Needless to say, Ann was fully awake for the rest of the night. Next morning, finding a calm spot to anchor was a priority.
The cold fronts of the US bring us winds clocking around and blowing like stink. They do the same thing in the FL Keys. Here, one must be vigilant about finding an anchorage with wind protection from directions other than prevailing winds. The waters are relatively easy to read for depth because the visibility is so great and with mostly sand bottoms the holding is excellent (if you have the right ground tackle and enough scope).
On board S/V Alibi is a beautiful carved wooden box. Our third crew member was promised to be released on a beautiful sandy beach for never ending joy. That will be a bittersweet day but we made a promise that we must keep.....
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