We had a 56 mile day today and it started out as a cloudy morning with east wind of 10 kts with a 1 foot chop. We had hoped to get more accurate weather information for today but were unable to get Chris Parker’s Caribbean Weather on SSB radio or the VHF weather from Marsh Harbor. The Atlantic Ocean is just on the other side of the reefs surrounding the Abacos and the ocean forecast noted a gale about 300 miles away.
We thought that crossing over to the Bahamas would be the only hard part except for transiting the Whale (to be discussed later), but today, we had winds of 15+ knots on the nose with 2-3 foot waves with whitecaps. Even the sailboats traveling east were motoring which was usually the case for us when we were sailboaters doing a long passage with inhospitable wind. Here’s a picture of the trawler, “Escapade” with a riding sail which they could use as they were heading west. They contacted us on the radio and gave us helpful information about the frequency and time for weather information as well as anchorages that they had tried.
After about 40 miles of more open water, the channel narrowed somewhat and we could see Crab Cay, Powell Cay, Spanish Cay etc. to the north and Little Abacos Island to our south but watch out for Center of the World Rock. We started see sailboats anchoring off Powell and by 4:30, we were glad to be heading towards the entrance to Green Turtle Cay.
The boat was encrusted in a thick layer of salt and this needed our immediate attention after docking, then we could take showers. We decided to dock at Green Turtle Club Resort and Marina as you can “eat your dock fees.” That’s right—it is $1.75 per foot and you can eat and drink your bill away at their restaurant. Peggy has a few nights off from cooking.
We thought that crossing over to the Bahamas would be the only hard part except for transiting the Whale (to be discussed later), but today, we had winds of 15+ knots on the nose with 2-3 foot waves with whitecaps. Even the sailboats traveling east were motoring which was usually the case for us when we were sailboaters doing a long passage with inhospitable wind. Here’s a picture of the trawler, “Escapade” with a riding sail which they could use as they were heading west. They contacted us on the radio and gave us helpful information about the frequency and time for weather information as well as anchorages that they had tried.
After about 40 miles of more open water, the channel narrowed somewhat and we could see Crab Cay, Powell Cay, Spanish Cay etc. to the north and Little Abacos Island to our south but watch out for Center of the World Rock. We started see sailboats anchoring off Powell and by 4:30, we were glad to be heading towards the entrance to Green Turtle Cay.
The boat was encrusted in a thick layer of salt and this needed our immediate attention after docking, then we could take showers. We decided to dock at Green Turtle Club Resort and Marina as you can “eat your dock fees.” That’s right—it is $1.75 per foot and you can eat and drink your bill away at their restaurant. Peggy has a few nights off from cooking.
