Miles: 30Time: 5 hoursAvg Speed: 5.5Max Speed: 8.4 March 21st, Thursday: Our night at Hawksbill Cay had been quiet, no rolling. We both slept in a bit (until 8 AM) as we were still recovering from the “beaching” earlier this week. Our stress was still high as the “BIG BLOW” was coming tomorrow night and we hoped our plan of staying on a mooring ball would work out. This morning we found a 4′ baracoda under our boat. He had been around yesterday and Stew…Continue Reading “Staniel Cay, Exumas”
Miles: 22.61Time: 3 hours 42 minsAvg Speed: 6.1Max Speed: 7.7 March 20th, Wednesday: We were still quite shaken from yesterday’s experience. All we wanted to do was go home and get out of the constant wind and storms. We felt like all we had done is seek wind protection constantly and yesterday’s disaster was the last straw. Unfortunately, there was another “big blow” coming this weekend and we were in a state of panic as to what to do. Plus, honestly, we did not know…Continue Reading “Hawksbill Cay Mooring: Exuma Land and Sea Park”
Miles: 36.27Time: 6 hours 32 minAvg Speed: 5.6Max Speed: 7.7 March 18, Monday: Up with the sun we headed to to the Exumas. Technically this was the third try- Saturday we had tried twice to cross but turned around both times. The wind was in our face again but it was not torture and the swell was minimal. We arrived at Allen Cay (also spelled Allan Cay) in the early afternoon. We anchored between Allen and Leaf Cay just north of the entrance. We first…Continue Reading “Crossing to Exumas: Second Attempt (Success)”
To Rose IslandMiles: 10Time: 1 hour 55 minsAvg Speed: 5.2Max Speed: 8.1 To Athol IslandMiles: 7.8 Time: 1 hour 30 minAvg Speed: 5.5Max Speed: 8.3 To San Succi in Montague BayMiles: 2.9Time: 1 hour 7 minAvg Speed: 2.6Max Speed: 5 March 16, Saturday: We awoke at the crack of dawn to leave Junkanoo Beach anchorage for the Exumas. We were super excited! But it was not meant to be! We got just outside the harbor and it was very unfavorable conditions. We did not want…Continue Reading “Crossing to Exumas: First Attempt (Fail)”
Miles: 3.1Time: 1 hour 43 minsAvg Speed: 1.8Max Speed: 9 March 14, Thursday: We finally got the propane filled by Chico at the Nassau Harbor Club marina and as soon as the deck hands were available to help us shove off – we left the slip. We did need to wait for high tide as we were in a very shallow slip, hitting the bottom during low tide. We headed to the fuel dock at Brown’s marina and filled the diesel and the gas. We…Continue Reading “Junkanoo Beach, Nassau”
Miles: 40Time: 5 hours 55 minAvg Speed: 6.8Max Speed: 10.2 March 11, Monday: After rolling all night at Whale Cay we were exhausted. The wind and sea were unrelenting. We knew that we could not remain at Whale Cay. After studying the wind apps and the swell info we decided that crossing the Nassau didn’t look horrible. The wind would be in our face (coming out of the South East) but the swell looked low, unfortunately, the period was low as well. But Nassau was…Continue Reading “Nassau, New Providence Island”
Miles: 32.8Time: 5 hours 25 minAvg Speed: 6.1Max Speed: 8.5 March 10th, Sunday: After making water at Great Harbor Cay – East we decided to use the North wind to head south. The wind was going to be changing overnight so we needed to be sure to find a place to tuck in. We were anxious to explore a few of the smaller islands in the south Berries. Our first thought was to head to Cabbage Cay or Bonds Cay. We stopped at each to…Continue Reading “The Berries: Whale Cay”
Miles: 17.5Time: 3 hoursAvg Speed: 5Max Speed: 6.8 March 7th, Thursday: Around noon the wind finally changed so we could go north around the top end of the Berries and to the west side of Great Harbor Cay. We were a little frustrated with all the engine issues and weather issues and ready for a change of scenery. The sail north was actually very nice and we enjoyed scoping out Little Stirrup Cay and Great Stirrup Cay where all the cruise ships port. Little Stirrup…Continue Reading “The Berries: Great Harbor Cay East”
Miles: 53.9Time: 8 hours 30 minAvg Speed: 6.3Max Speed: 8.1 February 29th, Thursday: We left Mackie Shoal at 6:30am (twilight) after a great night at anchor. We had to motor into the wind, it was not a pleasant ride, very little unfortunate sailing. Yesterday had been such a great day of sailing! We were very pumped to get to the Berry Islands. We arrived at Cistern Cay, just north of Bullocks Harbor, and decided to anchor there. It was behind a small piece of land…Continue Reading “The Berries: Cistern, Rat, and Great Harbor Cay”
Miles: 55.8. *sailed most of the dayTime: 10 hours 15 minAvg Speed: 5.5Max Speed: 7.9 We left Brown’s Marina around 8:00 and headed for Blue Water Marina fuel dock. The tide was going out and wind was blowing against it. We were able to get out of the slip with the help of our neighbor Carl and with the help of several boaters we landed at the fuel dock. After getting diesel we had to figure out how to get off the fuel dock –…Continue Reading “Heading to Mackie Shoal”