Guess Where We Are!
21 May 2009
Yes, 100 conch shells!
Guess where we are! In Eluethra? In Nassau? In the Exumas?
No, no and no. We are in the Abacos.
Plans change. They always do. And they certainly have for us during this trip.
The original plan was to sail from Canada, through the Bahamas on our way to the Caribbean. In the first 6 months of traveling, we had so much to do on the boat, that we were in the States a lot longer than planned. Getting through the Bahamas was becoming less of a possibility.
So, our next plan had been to bypass the Bahamas and go directly to the Caribbean, to the island of St. Martin. Two days into the passage, we had trouble with Gromit, forcing us to come to the Bahamas - a pretty wonderful place to have to bail out to!!! Then, Lauren, our crew had to leave, so I was unwilling to continue on an 8-10 day ocean passage, just the two of us, with the kids.
Then, the latest plan, that I mentioned in the last blog entry, was to head south through the Exuma Island chain and southern Bahamas. We were aiming for Puerto Rico. Our friend, Matthew from Bolton near our home in Ontario, said that he could meet us in Puerto Rico at the beginning of June to help us continue our journey to the Caribbean. It is around 900 miles from the Abacos (northern Bahamas) to Puerto Rico and the direction is south-southeast.
Our news from Matthew came on Sunday. In preparation, we went to Marsh Harbour on Monday, to shop for fresh fruit and vegetables. As we got closer to our Tuesday morning departure for Eluethra, the weather was looking more and more unfavourable. We were facing strong winds from the south-southeast, building through the end of the week. The forecasts were telling us that the earliest we could leave would be at the beginning of the following week. That meant that our 3 week window to get to Puerto Rico, was now down to a 2 week window. 900 miles in two weeks against the wind!?! Wind and waves 'on the nose' are no fun and make for slow progress (not to mention seasickness!).
Now, a week later, the weather is even worse than they had predicted it would become. Even if we had thought last week, that we might still be able to make it to Puerto Rico over a two week period, this is what we would have had to start our journey with:
TODAY...E-SE@15-20K becoming 25-30K by tonight/Atlantic seas 7-10 feet will build to 10-18 feet by tonight/ Breezy and cloudy with rainfall to include a couple of showers and t-storms throughout the day/ High temp 80F, low 72F(Tuesday, May 19, 2009)
WEDNESDAY...E-SE@25-30K/ Atlantic seas 12-18 feet/windy with rain or t-storms around the area/ High temp 82F(Wednesday, May 20, 2009)
THURSDAY...E-SE@15-20K/ Atlantic seas 8-10 feet in NE swells/mostly cloudy (some sun) and warm with the chance of rain and t-storms around/High temp 84F(Thursday, May 21, 2009)
For parts of the way, we would be on the ocean. Can you imagine 10-18 foot seas???? And 25-30 knot winds (39-49km/h -- 25-30mph)!!!!
So, here we are, in the Abacos, working on a new plan!