4/1/ 2004 Abacos to Georgetown, Exumas

It’s about time for another update to our annals and the good news is that we are in NEW territory! We are presently in Georgetown , Exuma, but how we got here is what you will hear about!  The weather in March continued to be miserable (but warm!). We left Marsh Harbor about 2 weeks ago and went down to Lynyard Cay to stage for our crossing to Eleuthra but after a bouncy night behind the cay and with more bad weather on the way we had two choices....back to Marsh or try to make it in to Little Harbor. The entrance there has 3.5 feet at low water and the tide was predicted to be 2.6 feet so we decided to try to cross in at dead high tide. We bumped twice in the channel but made it in to deeper water and sheltered on a mooring for two nights in a wonderful little pond of water while the wind blew 20+.

We decided to leave on a morning high tide on the tail of the front and had a boisterous sail down to Royal Island in Eleuthra under main and staysail going about 7-8 knots in 6- foot seas which were very confused but arrived safe and sound at the head of the pack. The entrance to Royal Island Harbor is about 30 feet wide with boulders on either side but then you have 360 degree protection inside a mile long skinny harbor with good holding. We needed it as we sat out two more days of heavy winds but had a good time with friends on Raven (Vagabond 47) and Bodacious (trawler). Leaving Royal, we headed 6 miles to Current Cut which is another narrow cut which allows you to pass onto the sheltered (relatively) Eleuthra south coast. The current flowing in and out of the cut is tidal and strong and we jumped from 5 knots to 9 knots under motor as we popped through. From there, we had hoped to make Rock Sound (about 50 miles) by nightfall but the easterly winds dropped our speed to 5 knots with the seas on our nose except for about an hour when we got the sails pulling as the wind veered north. So...we had to pull up in Tarpun Bay for the night in 15 knots of wind from the northeast. There was no protection from this direction so we rocked and rolled pretty good all night till the wind died down sometime in the wee hours. We pulled the anchor at first light and proceeded to Rock Sound in windless gin-clear water...WOW!! As we turned the corner into the sound (about 2 miles square), we were hailed on the VHF by Chris Dingle who runs the local Esso station, convenience store and cruisers hangout. He welcomed us to Rock Sound and gave us anchoring directions and invited us to the cruisers pot-luck/happy hour at 4:30 in the afternoon. This was an unbelievable place...economically depressed...but just beautiful and everyone is so very friendly...even cars wave and say hello as they go by. We wandered around town, did our banking, grocery shopping and internet access (for the first time in a week...410 messages...408 spam!<grin>), had lunch and then attended the cruisers bash with about 20 other boats of which 19 were returning north from the Exumas. We've met more interesting people in the last two years than in 20 years on land!

We sat tight awaiting a front that was supposed to blow for 3 days and bring 30 knots of wind by midnight. Meanwhile the wind was dead calm, and we saw the bottom in the moonlight and there were more stars in the sky than I've ever seen.

The weatherman was wrong. We were stranded in Rock Sound for the 6 days with high winds that reached gale force several times. I think our anchor was dug in half way to China. There were about 20 boats like us in the same situation and the town is the friendliest place on the planet so we all had a good time in spite of the wind.

We joined Jack & Jo of Bodacious as they rented a car to tour the Island. The Island is nothing much to look at in most places and very economically depressed but the water is gorgeous. There is one place called the Glass Window where the island is only one car lane wide and on one side there are cliffs over a hundred feet high that look down on the 600ft deep Atlantic Ocean with huge waves crashing and on the other side there is clam, turquoise blue water without a ripple in it. Pretty spectacular...the  first mate hung out over the cliffs to take some pix so you'll see em on the website soon. After our trip 32 cruisers agreed to go to a restaurant owned by a native woman about 5 miles away on the other side (Atlantic) of the Island. They came and picked us all up in a van (4 trips) and then took us to the restaurant (house) where we were served a buffet dinner of chicken, ribs, conch (ugh) and all the veggies & salads for 10 bucks a piece including the ride over and back! We all had a great time.

We finally picked up the anchor on Monday and made the 45 mile passage to the Exuma chain, coming in at Wardrick Wells Sea Park. It was a beautiful and fast crossing and we arrived several hours earlier than planned so we decided to keep going to a little cay called Big Majors where we anchored in protection for the evening with several other boats. Of course, as we pulled in, a squall arrived so we anchored in pouring rain and 20 knot winds after a perfect day!

In the morning we got up early and took the dinghy over to the famous Thunderball Grotto (from the James Bond movie…remember!!??). It was spectacular as you snorkel through the tiny entrance and emerge in a 30 foot high cave that is sun-lit from the holes inn the ceiling. We brought some bread to feed the fish and we were immediately surrounded by thousands of beautiful tropical fish of every size and color. There was also some unusual, almost fluorescent, purple pipe coral that was quite neat. Back we went to the boat for a quick shower and a couple mile trip to the Staniel Cay Yacht Club (marina) where we would fuel and water up for our upcoming travels and get a good meal off the boat to stay on the cook’s good side! We did have a wonderful meal from soup to dessert amid a packed restaurant with photos of a young Sean Connery on the wall. The Exumas water is the clearest, most beautiful we have ever see and even at the docks, we could see the sharks and rays circling under the boats in the moonlight...pretty awesome! We were anxious to move on though,  so the next morning we filled the tanks (water is 40 cents a gallon here…I can remember when I paid less for gas!!)…and headed on down to Galliot Cay which put us further south by 20 miles.

Today we traveled the last 40 miles to Georgetown in a moderate westerly breeze and Camaraderie kicked up her heels, hitting eight knots under main and genny at times and averaging over 7 for the entire trip… way good!