4/13/16 24 02.044N 76 22.244W White Point, Great Guana
Cay 49.0NM
Unfortunately, like the last few days, Chris Parker's Bahamas forecast was more static than voice. We heard enough to learn that the weather would not be settled until sometime during the weekend, but couldn't decipher the details. Leonard pulled down the latest GRIB and WindPredict files and saw no mention of the W winds he'd seen in the forecast Tuesday evening. We could expect NE winds under 15, going lighter during the day, and the sea had had a day to settle after the stronger winds over the weekend. We were good to go.
So we put the dinghy on deck and pulled the anchor right after the
tide and weather information on the daily net. Upward of a dozen of
us departed, most heading N, up the Exuma chain. The Swedish boat
that had been anchored near us in Sand Dollar said they were heading
back to Sweden. Not sure I'd want to venture across the Atlantic
just yet - we've seen a lot of 40+kt winds on the GRIB files as the
fronts traveled up the coast to the Maritime Provinces. We swung
past Imanja to say good bye to Bette and Ernie who plan to head over
to Cat Cay.
By 0830 our sails were up and the engine off. We exited Conch Cut at 0900 and were on our way. Conditions were good - we could have used a bit more wind around noon when our speed dropped enough to revert to motor sailing, but filled in again after 1330, giving us a pleasant sail to Galliot Cut. As we passed Cave Cay Cut, I noticed a mess of white caps running well out into the sound, and realized they were caused by the current flowing out into the sound, fair warning for what to expect when we got to Galliot. The current was running a good 3kts, making 3' seas. Galliot is one of the easier cuts - no coral heads lurking just off the channel, and mercifully short.
Looking N at Galliot Cut
Once we got past the short down wind leg by Little Farmer's Cay, we
had a smooth sail up along Great Guana Cay to an anchorage for the
night off White Point. All in all, a really nice day. We'd
considered stopping at Lee Stocking to go exploring, but passed the
cut early in the day and didn't want to pass up the fair winds and
smooth sailing. With our luck, the morning would bring a N wind,
and we'd regret our decision.
4/14/16 24 05.861N 76 24.213W Black Point 4.5NM
Since it wasn't far to Black Point where we planned to stop, we had time to explore the long sandy beach and spit by the anchorage before we departed in the morning. With little underbrush, we climbed the sand dune and down to the beach on the other side of the point too. Being bank side, the beaches were of the boring variety, nice walking, but not many shells.
To our surprise, there weren't any dinghies at the laundromat dock, and the door to the store was closed, so we went in to see if it was open before stripping our bunk and taking the laundry to shore. Miss Ida, the proprietor of both the marine store and laundry wasn't around, but another cruiser said I could get tokens for the machines at Deshamon's, one of the restaurants in town. Clean clothes and sheets! The next chance to do laundry won't be until Marsh Harbor or possibly not until we get back to Florida.
With the weekend weather still a big question mark, but we'll get strong NE trade winds once it arrives. So we'll take it easy, and putter up to Staniel Cay and Big Majors, both of which we skipped on the way S, to have protection from the wind until it passes. If the weather is delayed, we might scoot up to Cambridge Cay to wait for the next window to cross over to Eleuthera. Since we've been in the Bahamas, the weather has been stormier in the Abacos (northern Bahamas) than further S, so we've escaped the worst of the storms. The weather tends to moderate during the spring, and hopefully we'll have better conditions as we continue on our way N.
This morning we shut off the wind generator and the inverter that charges the laptop, and had much better reception on our little SSB receiver. Interesting that neither caused interference earlier, but we're glad to be getting decent reception again. We've been listening to the 0830 Cruiserheimers Net to see if Zena checks in - we're hoping to cross paths with Todd, Beth and Doug as they head to Georgetown with their new boat. Last email indicated they'd be in Nassau tonight.
Lynnea
Unfortunately, like the last few days, Chris Parker's Bahamas forecast was more static than voice. We heard enough to learn that the weather would not be settled until sometime during the weekend, but couldn't decipher the details. Leonard pulled down the latest GRIB and WindPredict files and saw no mention of the W winds he'd seen in the forecast Tuesday evening. We could expect NE winds under 15, going lighter during the day, and the sea had had a day to settle after the stronger winds over the weekend. We were good to go.
 |
| View of the Monument and anchorage as we passed on our way N |
By 0830 our sails were up and the engine off. We exited Conch Cut at 0900 and were on our way. Conditions were good - we could have used a bit more wind around noon when our speed dropped enough to revert to motor sailing, but filled in again after 1330, giving us a pleasant sail to Galliot Cut. As we passed Cave Cay Cut, I noticed a mess of white caps running well out into the sound, and realized they were caused by the current flowing out into the sound, fair warning for what to expect when we got to Galliot. The current was running a good 3kts, making 3' seas. Galliot is one of the easier cuts - no coral heads lurking just off the channel, and mercifully short.
Looking N at Galliot Cut
 |
| Looking back at the the current flowing into the wind - the sea was calm on either side of the cut |
 |
| Sun down on the banks at White Point |
Since it wasn't far to Black Point where we planned to stop, we had time to explore the long sandy beach and spit by the anchorage before we departed in the morning. With little underbrush, we climbed the sand dune and down to the beach on the other side of the point too. Being bank side, the beaches were of the boring variety, nice walking, but not many shells.
 |
| Looking E from the top of the dune along the beach on the S side of White Point |
 |
| Skimmer and land snail on a twig |
After an hour's sail to Black Point, we joined the fleet of boats
anchored off the settlement. The supply boat was tied up at the
government dock, busy unloading goods onto a variety of vehicles -
golf carts to trucks - as the locals picked up their supplies. It's
interesting to watch all the activity on shore when the ship's in
port - it has to be the highlight of the week. It looked like the
kids had a day off from school too, as the beach across from the
dock was filled with kids swimming and sailing. It looked like a
holiday, and perhaps it was, since I heard the boat didn't arrive
last week.
To our surprise, there weren't any dinghies at the laundromat dock, and the door to the store was closed, so we went in to see if it was open before stripping our bunk and taking the laundry to shore. Miss Ida, the proprietor of both the marine store and laundry wasn't around, but another cruiser said I could get tokens for the machines at Deshamon's, one of the restaurants in town. Clean clothes and sheets! The next chance to do laundry won't be until Marsh Harbor or possibly not until we get back to Florida.
With the weekend weather still a big question mark, but we'll get strong NE trade winds once it arrives. So we'll take it easy, and putter up to Staniel Cay and Big Majors, both of which we skipped on the way S, to have protection from the wind until it passes. If the weather is delayed, we might scoot up to Cambridge Cay to wait for the next window to cross over to Eleuthera. Since we've been in the Bahamas, the weather has been stormier in the Abacos (northern Bahamas) than further S, so we've escaped the worst of the storms. The weather tends to moderate during the spring, and hopefully we'll have better conditions as we continue on our way N.
This morning we shut off the wind generator and the inverter that charges the laptop, and had much better reception on our little SSB receiver. Interesting that neither caused interference earlier, but we're glad to be getting decent reception again. We've been listening to the 0830 Cruiserheimers Net to see if Zena checks in - we're hoping to cross paths with Todd, Beth and Doug as they head to Georgetown with their new boat. Last email indicated they'd be in Nassau tonight.
Lynnea
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