Thursday, April 28, 2016

Off to the Abacos

4/26/16    To  26 21.457N,   76 39.144W    Lynyard Cay    58.1NM   


Predawn Departure from Royal Harbor
The weather forecast hadn't changed, so we were up before dawn and underway by 0630 to tick off another ocean segment on our way N.  Once through the Eggs, a couple of small cays with a short channel through the reef, we raised full sail and were on our way, the first boat out of the harbor.  We saw several more sails behind us once we were clear of the reefs on N side of the cays, taking advantage of good weather and wind angle too.

Sunrise over Spanish Wells as we head N
If you ever wondered if we get exercise on board (beside walking when we're ashore), we do.  Leonard has been weighing anchor by hand with some assistance from the manual feature of our windlass since the gears broke at Allens Cays the first morning we were in the Exumas.  Fortunately it's come up relatively easily, but it is work retrieving 60' of chain and 35# of anchor.  Then there's reefing the main, which happens when conditions are less than ideal.  With more weather helm than we wanted, we put in a single reef right after the 0700 log entry.  Then a 2nd reef after the 0800 log reading, providing chance to stretch and use core muscles.  The wind is rarely consistent, so it wasn't long before we shook out the 2nd reef, got things settled, and decided to undo the 1st reef  5 minutes later, working more muscle groups.  With a 6' swell we worked on balance for the rest of the trip.  Maybe not quite the same as a workout in the gym, but not couch potatoes either.

It was a beautiful day, no squalls or thunderstorms around to spoil the day.  Other than about 5 minutes of motoring when our speed  dropped below 2 kts around 1300, we sailed with our speed varying between 3.1 - 5.8.  We entered the Sea of Abaco by Little Harbor at 1720, having rolled in the jib and motor sailing through the cut and up to the anchorage off Lynyard Cay where we joined a fleet of boats for the night.  Other than a Bahamian freighter in the distance and a few boats behind us there was little to see once we were out of sight of land, and equally little chatter on the VHF.  After  an 11 hour day, we were happy to relax and have an early night.

Fleet off Lynyard Cay
4/27/16   To  26 32.325N,   76 57.585W    Hopetown    Mooring #186    12.7NM

Wednesday we took the back way to Hopetown.  With a rising tide and a watchful eye, going behind Lubber's Cay cuts 2/3's the distance than if you take the deeper (slightly) water around the shoal on the other side of Lubber's.  We arrived early and had a choice of moorings, which now fill the little harbor, and a gentleman came in a boat out to collect his $20 fee.  It's amazing how many moorings have been packed into the harbor, most holding much larger yachts than Antares.  We had a couple of 50' charter cats near us, with just enough room to swing clear (our mooring had a max of 45' posted on the ball).
Looking at the town from the mooring
The S half of the mooring field
The N half of the mooring field, including the iconic red and white stripped light house
We walked through the town after lunch, equally small and tightly packed with motorized vehicle restrictions (golf carts are the way to get around).  The town,  as well as other parts of the Abacos, was settled by Loyalists around the time of the Revolutionary War.  With grocery stores closed for the lunch hour, we walked the streets and looked at the beach until they opened at 1400.  Once again, we found fresh homemade bread at Vernon's, and I couldn't resist a loaf of coconut bread, a real steal for $4.50 since bread in the Exumas was $6.  There was an interesting sign in town by a breadfruit tree - the tree photo wasn't as interesting as the sign.

Historical sign by the breadfruit tree
We spent the rest of the afternoon watching the goings on in the harbor.  Between the arriving boats, ferries and dinghies there was plenty to see.  A supply boat had arrived while we'd been ashore, and we were glad we hadn't met him when we arrived since the harbor entrance is both narrow and shallow.  It took him a while of backing and filling and dropping his boom before he headed out.

4/28/16    To  26 40.036N,   77 07.291W    Fisher's Bay, Great Guano Cay    15.2NM

What had looked to be a good weather window early next week (depart the Bahamas Sun/Mon) catching the gulf stream and heading to the St. Mary's River, had shrunk when Leonard pulled down the GRIB files Thursday morning and the forecast extended to Wednesday.  A front crossing the N part of Florida had appeared on the horizon, likely bringing squalls and N wind along our route.  Rather than spend another 'white knuckle' night offshore dodging thunderstorms and fighting head winds, we may head to Cape Canaveral and let the weather blow past.  We'd still get a significant boost from the gulf stream, and the winds should be favorable.

Rethinking our options, we motored over to Marsh Harbor to replenish the larder (I don't remember it ever being quite this empty in the past - a single port tenderloin in the freezer and a handful of veggies), pick up a supply of  'Fire in de Hole" rum, and top off the fuel tank (9.9 gallons and 294NM since Georgetown). We'd planned to spend a night in the harbor, but decided to get our errands done and continue N, and were underway by 1430, with everything accomplished.  We chatted briefly with a young Canadian couple at the fuel dock who're also heading N to Nova Scotia and thinking about tucking in at the Cape Canaveral as well, although he didn't think the storms would be bad.  We'll see - last trip we were past the Cape when the weather went south. 

We stopped at Settlement Point Harbor on Great Guana Cay, and when we couldn't get the anchor to set (grassy bottom, small harbor) we picked up a mooring.  The moorings are, once again, closely spaced and in shallow water. While there's enough water to float the boat at low tide, it's unclear if we'd clear the big cement mooring blocks, hopefully the light wind would keep us from passing over one.  It's an interesting little harbor with a marina in one corner, a ferry dock and a small community on the other side, and lots of turtles.  After trying unsuccessfully to locate and pay Dive Guana, who manages the moorings, we rowed ashore and walked over to Nipper's, an ocean front bar with expensive drinks and beach access.  We skipped the drinks and went for a short beach walk.

Walking the beach by Nipper's on Great Guana Cay
Rather  than use a mooring we hadn't paid for, we moved to the Fisher Bay anchorage, just to the N, joining a number of other boats.  While we could have just anchored here originally, we would have needed the outboard to get to shore, and we were too lazy to put it back on the dinghy.  We could hear the music from bar at Grabber's, the resort just S of us, but we were far enough out that it wouldn't be an issue if it continued until the wee hours.  Another long day. 

We'll do the Whale, the shortest ocean hop of the trip, in the morning and continue on our way.  It's always amazing how far it is to the edge of the Bahama Bank.  It will take us 2 days to reach the anchorage off Great Sale Cay, and the best part of another day to reach deep water and the gulf stream beyond that.  I'd hoped to have a few days to explore some of these more remote cays, but it doesn't look like the weather will cooperate.  We could wait, but there is no guarantee that if we do, there will be another weather window soon.  This spring, most windows have been for a few days at a time, with a week between them (we didn't get that many provisions).

Sundown from Fisher's Bay on Great Guano Cay



Lynnea


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