We left Royal Island with Chances and Malakai in the dark at
5am for our 50-mile run to the Abacos and were greeted to a wonderful sunrise. It
was great sailing with a beam reach for the entire distance, winds were
forecast 16 knots with 5-6 foot waves but it was more like 20 knots with 8-9
foot seas. We had one wave break over the side bringing water into our cockpit.
We sure appreciate our wind vane
(self steering) in these types of conditions! It was rough enough to have
Richard a little green around the gills…
No
dolphins today but we did see lots of flying fish, it’s amazing how fast and
far they can go! As we started to see land we were surprised to see so much of
a difference from the rest of the Bahamas. The vegetation is lusher and the
houses are bigger and more North American looking.
Our plan was to go through Little Harbour Cut at slack tide at 145,
Malakai arrived on time and reported the cut was calm with no issues. We
arrived at the cut at 230 and it was anything but calm, there were a lot of
standing waves, but we made it through with no issues. We had planned to go to
an anchorage for the night but after the long day and high winds still forecast
for the night we headed into Little Harbour to treat ourselves to a peaceful
night on a mooring ball. We didn’t quite make the recommended high tide for
entering into the harbour but we slipped in with 4 inches still registering
under our keel…
After tidying up the boat and each of us having a quick shower to get
the salt off we headed to shore for a bite to eat at Pete’s Pub. Dennis met us
on shore and apparently we had just missed the restaurant as it closed at 4 and
didn’t open for supper until 6pm. After paying our $25 for the mooring ball and
looking at the menu prices we headed back to the boat for supper.
Our plan was to head further north in the morning but the winds were
high all night and still very high in the morning. We watched a few boats
coming in through the cut and decided to stay for another night. This is a
beautiful hurricane hole and we were delighted by all the sea turtles popping
up all around us. Little Harbour was the home of an American professor/artist
who settled here in the 50’s with his wife and 3 children and lived on their
sailboat and in the caves on shore. We had a nice walk around the harbour and
visited the gallery, which is still run, by one of his sons. The Sting rays
shown here are just outside of his studio.
It was nice to
have a quiet day although Richard did manage to find something’s to tinker with
on the boat.
just a heads up I am going to Calgary on April 5th until June 2nd, if I think David has Shadow spoiled it will be worse while I am gone, Shadow gets up on the bed with us but when I am there it is like he thinks that there is not really enough room but while I am gone in will sleep with David and Heidi on the bed every night, he is such a good dog, just not used to all the shedding, when do you guys plan to head back this way, was talking to Scott Young and he said that you told him you would like to get a bigger boat so you could take Shadow with you next time, I love reading your blog and it sure sounds like you are having an amazing time, the pictures are so pretty I am so jealous
ReplyDeleteHi Pat, thanks for the update, hope to be back second or third week in April - hope the snow is gone!
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