Weather: Warm and sunny!!! (Finally) The weather this week has been phenomenal! And it looks to continue that way.
South East Trade winds have begun to blow bringing temperatures in the upper 70s
Update: Headed back to the States this weekend and eventually up to the Vineyard for the summer. It looks as if we wont be doing our normal spring circuit this year. Plans are to stop in West Palm Beach to collect some provisions, crew, and stored gear, then head straight to Martha's Vineyard for the summer months.
(Subject to change. keep checking back for more updates)
Ship's Log: For those of you that were asking... here is an abbreviated look in to our Bahamian excursions. As you know, or don't know, When And If draws 9ft and the Bahamas are a shallow draft playground at best. Basically we were very limited in our choice of harbor. After studying charts and cruising guides, we found many places, surprisingly, that could take a 9ft draft. Most of them requiring a bit of crafty navigation and larger than normal "cojones." We decided from the get-go to keep it simple. We also needed to stay close to Nassau to receive and drop guests.
Here's our basic cruising schedule... with commentary
1/31 - Nassau arrival
2/2 - Sailed from Nassau Harbor very deep and well charted due to Commercial shipping traffic and Cruise Ships to Hatchet Bay, Eluethera.
Heading: 075 degrees magnetic: through Fleming Channel, south of Six Shilling Cay. Very wide and deep, but not marked. The banks of Eleuthera are fairly deep, 16-25ft, as is Hatchet Bay Pond. which we found to be an excellent all-weather harbor. Free moorings, which are not maintained, but held our 50 tons in 20+ kts, and decent holding.
2/10 - Sailed back to Nassau Harbor to pick up the owners for a week of cold sailing. Still warmer than New Jersey. ;)
2/14 - Back to Eleuthera. This time we anchored off of Gregory town for one night. Eleuthera has a gorgeous coast line. Lime stone cliffs and lots of caves to explore! We also sailed to Current Island and found a deserted gem of an anchorage on the South East corner of the island. Here we found 11-14 ft of water up to 200yds off the beach. cuttting it close, but thats where the cojones come in.
2/18 - Back to Nassau to say goodbye to the Ruitenberg Girls - attempted Current Cut, but chickened out at the depth sounder reading 9.8ft. Instead took Fleming channel again, and every time since.
2/20 - Motor-sailed to Lyford Cay Bay, New Providence. Beautiful, sandy bay with good protection from anything but Westerlies. The trick is getting through the reef in and out. With the help of a friend with better local charts, sending Lyle Ahead in the tender with the lead line to take soundings, and Seychelle up the ratlins eye-balling the way, we squeezed in with 12-20ft of water beneath us. The perks being getting out of Nassau harbor, yet still being near by if need be, and great snorkeling off of Goulding Cay.
2/22 - Said good bye to our good friend Lyle Zell. Then spent a week as a guest on the dock at Lyford Cay Marina. very lavish.
2/26 - Back to Nassau to pick up a part for the perpetually broken generator. Got stuck in Nassau with some bad news, bad weather, bad hangovers, and the like.
3/12 - Back to Current Island, Eleuthera for a couple days of R&R and then to our old stand-by Harbor of Hatchet Bay. If you have never heard of Hatchet Bay, by the way, it is an interesting story. It used to be a Pond surrounded completely by lime stone rock. An 'cut' was blasted through the rock in the early 1900s creating a 70ft wide entrance and one of the safest harbors in the Bahamas.
We are back in Nassau now, like I mentioned., making plans to head back to the states. We did explore lots of places with our tender, places we could not get with. When And If. Please feel free to comment and ask questions. There is a lot of the last two months that I have left out, of course, I can't cram it all in to one Blog posting. (My fault for falling behind)
All in all, our draft would have been an issue had we been trying to cruise the bahamas as most people do, moving freely form one island to the next, but because our cruising was limited to two islands, we did not run into too much trouble. You know the ol' saying..."Keep it simple."
We do plan on stopping for one night each in Great Harbor, Berry Islands; and Freeport, Grand Bahama on our way to West Palm Beach this weekend. Wish us well. It is just the two of us.
Thanks for your inquiries. It keeps me writing.
Cheers!
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