The morning following our Gulf Stream crossing dawned bright, warm and beautiful but before we could all enjoy the day the engine on Tranquility needed repair. So Derek and Laurence got to work and within about 45 minutes had the problem fixed. It turned out that the electrical connection to the fuel pump was faulty and a quick re-wire was all that was needed. So with that problem out of the way we all started to enjoy all that West End had to offer and so we puttered on the boats, walked on the beach, swam in the pool, played billiards and generally did a lot of nothing for the day. To cap off a great day Joan and Laurence treated us to a lovely dinner at the resort of cracked conch chowder and red snapper with rice and beans in the traditional Bahamian method. Mmm...good.

While walking around the resort we met Pat and Tutti Phelan off Keltic Kat whom I had met in Indiantown and we discussed transiting the very narrow and shallow Indian Cay Channel. Pat has made the trip many times and assured us that our boats could make the passage and that it would significantly reduce our travelling time to Great Sale Cay. So at 7am Tuesday morning we all rendezvoused in the channel and followed Keltic Kat onto the Bahama bank past Barracuda Shoal. This was my first real experience with the Bahamian buoyage system (or rather lack of) because the entire Indian Cay Channel is unmarked and you must rely on your GPS and visual piloting to make your way through it. Thanks to Pat and Tutti's assist we made it safely over the shallows and set our sails on the turquoise water that are so striking on the bank towards Great Sale Cay.

Once we were clear of the shoal we started motor sailing in light winds from the SE. We were all enjoying the brilliant sunshine and were fascinated by the shallow, crystal-clear water beneath. It is rather unnerving to be sailing at 6+ knots with 2-3 feet of water under the keel for hour after hour. Slowly Mangrove Cay came over the horizon and we got our first look at an uninhabited Bahamian Cay which was low, covered with scrub vegetation and, in this case, a lonely outpost on the bank that some cruisers use as an overnight anchorage in settled weather.

We carried on and over the next few hours Great Sale Cay came into view and we sailed into the crescent shaped anchorage by mid-afternoon. We anchored in sand and mud just 300 feet from south and we were well protected from winds from the north and east. We spent a beautiful night at anchor and were amazed how much brighter the stars were with no ambient light around to dilute their effect. I continued to try to find a water problem on board that was causing the bilge pumps to cycle on but a solution was not to be found this day. We tried to barbeque dinner but now I realize why so many cruisers give up on BBQs because the strong winds made getting dinner ready outside impossible.

The next morning we raised the anchor at about 8:30 and headed for Great Sale Rocks and Carter's Bank where we would leave the North Atlantic Ocean and turn the corner into the more protected Sea of Abaco. A couple of miles north of the anchorage the bilge pumps once again cycled on and the high water alarm sounded. So I dove below to try to sort out the problem and soon discovered that the bilge hose was actually siphoning water back into the bilge when we were motoring on a flat sea. So my day was spent with my head in the bilge re-installing the one-way valve that was removed when the Indiantown mechanics installed the new bilge pumps.

Meanwhile Derek and Sue enjoyed a glorious day motoring along with Tranquility off the stern they passed Hawksbill Cay, Allan-Pensacola Cay, and a succession of others along the eastern shore of Great Abaco Island that made for picturesque sailing. We had originally thought about going to Crab Cay to anchor for the night but we heard on the radio of several other boats headed there so we decided to press on to Powell Cay for the evening so that we would have a quieter anchorage. We arrived at Powell in the mid-afternoon and anchored on the west shore of the cay in about 7 ft of water. Powell Cay is uninhabited and as soon as the anchors were down both boats splashed their dinghies and headed ashore. The group of us spent a pleasant couple of hours walking the pristine beaches, crossing over the Atlantic side of the cay, and splashing our ankles in the water. It was marvellous to beach comb on a truly deserted tropical island. We spent a somewhat choppy night in the anchor but nothing very severe.

The next morning we left before 8 am so we would have a rising high tide when we reached our next destination at Green Turtle Cay. In order to get into either of the harbours on Green Turtle one must do so when there is, at least, half tide because of shallow sandbars at the entrances. Leeway, being the larger and deeper boat, felt her way in along the dog-leg channel into White Sound without incident and anchored about 500 ft from shore between the two marinas located in the harbour.

Green Turtle was to be our base for a while because a new low front was forecasted to bring high winds for the next couple of days and so that we would find the right weather to transverse the Whale Cut. The Whale Channel Cut is where deep-draft boats must go outside into the open ocean through a narrow cut and re-enter the Sea of Abaco miles further south. Good weather is important for two reasons: 1) you are venturing onto the open ocean and the breaking waves can be highly dangerous, and 2) the tides create rip currents as the water moves on and off the shallow bank. So care must be taken in making passage even though the trip is not a long one.

So our little flotilla settled in for a few days stay on Green Turtle. Green Turtle is a moderate sized cay and New Plymouth, founded into 1780s (and not much has changed), is its main settlement. Our anchorage was well protected on all sides and it was hard to believe that on a couple of those days 25-30 knot winds were raging outside as we enjoyed the bright sunshine and toured the islands.

A couple of days were overcast and rather nasty but that didn't stop us from jumping in the dinghies to check out Black Sound (the other harbour) and explore New Plymouth for a day. Unfortunately the weather remained unsettled and the reports on the Whale Passage were not good so we were forced to remain in Green Turtle longer than we had planned.

In fact, the time was drawing close for Derek and Sue to return home to Canada and it appeared that we would not be able to make it any further south within the next couple of days. So on Sunday, January 29 they took the Green Turtle Ferry over to Treasure Cay and got a taxi from there to Marsh Harbour for their flight home on Monday.

It's hard to believe that our time together had gone by so quickly. I really enjoyed having them aboard and appreciated their help as crew. Good friends are hard to come by and they're the best.

Now I'm alone.........wonder what kind of trouble I can get into now. Mmmm!?!