It's definitely BETTER in the BAHAMAS. A few pictures on www.crsailing.com, more to come.
Cindy is not much of a morning person so you know something unusual is happening when we are snorkeling at 8AM this morning. It is our 2nd morning in the Bahamas, our first morning in the Abaco Cays. We couldn't have asked for nice weather here, sunny, warm but not humid and a gentle breeze blowing.
We anchored overnight at Moraine Cay and we had the place to ourselves. We found a reassuring 10 feet of turquoise blue water here with a view of a green, scrubby island and a few cottages to our north, large flat rocks shooting up out of the water to our east and small breakers on a reef in the distance. There are so many cays in the Abacos that it's hard to make up our minds about where to go next. Of course the weather is our first priority - the forecast is for stronger winds starting Sunday night and for most of next week so our first goal is to find some good protection. We also have to find an official port of entry so we can clear in to the county with customs and immigration. It looks like a 30 mile/6 hour trip to Green Turtle Cay should meet both goals and since the water looks fairly skinny into some of it's anchorages we'll want to be there with the sun high above. So that explains the early morning snorkel, it's now or who knows when.
We had an extremely pleasant passage across the Straits of Florida to our first Bahamas anchorage (even though we had to motor for much of the trip). Crossing the Gulf Stream was comfortable, sleeping while off watch was easy, and the trip went as planned. We departed West Palm Beach at 8PM in order to make the 50 miles to the Little Bahamas Bank by first light and allow us to cross the next 40 miles to the first protected anchorage at Great Sale Cay before our light disappeared.
Entering the banks is one of those hold your breath moments as you watch the depth go from off soundings to 40 feet to 20 feet. Having never traveled to the Bahamas from Florida we could only hope that our waypoints across the banks would keep us out of shallow water and away from coral and rocks. We had paper charts and our 3 cruising guides spread across our galley table plus our electronic chart open on the computer. We compared all the recommended waypoints from these sources: points to enter the banks by Memory Rock, the course to Great Sale Cay, the Great Sale Cay approach waypoints and the waypoints for the anchorage itself. We found ourselves entering the banks just ahead of two sailboats so we radioed them to introduce ourselves and wouldn't you know we find ourselves comparing their waypoints (from the one cruising guide we do not have on board) to ours. Fortunately it all worked out perfectly and we found ourselves toasting our arrival in the Bahamas with champagne along with our sailing companions.
That is how it is in this cruising life, all work and no play!
