Saturday, February 28, 2009

What a positively benign evening... the winds died down and shifted to the east so that we swung towards shore for a change instead of a violent shift North then South with the current changes and winds. It was a good sleeping night except for Wayne being in pain. He took a spill in the cockpit last night and jammed his toe so he had a rough night of it.

It's hard saying goodbye to Aurora this morning but this is better for us. As much as I'd like to hang with them, we'd both like to cross the deep water in lighter seas and according to our weather forecasts - today is it.

Originally we were going to head over to Andros. We were going to skip Morgan's Bluff and head directly to Fresh Creek with Aurora (the 3rd largest reef is located along that stretch) but the more we both thought of it - it made more sense to cross the Tongue of the Ocean or the North West Channel with the smaller waves instead of going over to Andros and then getting bogged down for another week waiting for the right conditions to cross again. The clincher was when we pulled out our snorkel gear and discovered that both breathing tubes had deteriorated beyond repair (I originally thought - hey we can duck tape the broken seams, only there were to many in the grooves). In order to dive around the reefs, we'd need new equipment so all we could do is watch them dive. As much as I wanted to continue our travels with Aurora, it just didn't make sense. I radioed Brigid to let her know. It really made me sad to do that, but after sitting here for a week it was time to head south. We'd really only be going there at this point because they were. I'll have to email the pictures of them to them when we get home and I have reliable (and faster) Internet service. I followed their sail on the horizon as we left for Nassau until they winked out of sight ... I'm truly going to miss those guys...

Leaving the Berry Islands Club I watched the water change from the various shades of green I'd become accustomed to into the darker sapphire blue as we hit the deeper water again on a heading of ~125 degrees magnetic. It looks like the deepest part that we're crossing is a little over 2 miles deep (10,782 ft).

I saw some flying fish again - they're something else to watch! Wayne hung our yoyo over the side once we got into deeper waters. He's hoping to catch a mahi mahi or actually almost anything. This is our first fishing try so we'll see. So far we've managed to catch some Sargosa weeds - but that's about it.

No fish for us today but he did get the feel for how the yoyo works. We approached Nassau Harbor and requested and were permitted entry then went about trying to find a marina for a couple of days. The Nassau Harbor Club Marina was the only one to respond to our hail and told us to call/check back in half an hour - they had 2 boats leaving. It took us about a half hour to get there - they're the last marina in the row along Nassau Harbor and when we called again they told us where to head - east dock, starboard tie-up. Right after that another boat called and were turned away for the night - call back tomorrow - so we were lucky to get in and tucked away a little after 4pm. It seems strange to pay for water. They charge $6/day for water here at the dock - whether you use it or not I guess.

It's been a long time since we've been here - since the late 70's or early 80s. This time we're here on our little boat as opposed to last time when we were headed to Eleuthera. Our hotel burned down and we were stranded here in Nassau at a hotel that was not so stellar for a week. We both kind of wonder if it's still here - I thought I might have seen one that could have been it as we entered the harbor. It was across from the beach area we passed. We'll have to check it out. There were several cruise ships in port that we passed. What huge monstrosities! Looking up at it from below and beside it - it looks like a huge wall of ports with people hanging over the sides looking back at me... We're totally dwarfed riding next to them.

Distance traveled today 41.6 miles. End point: N25*04.493 W77*18.748 Nassau Harbor Club, New Providence Island. Wayne's in a great deal of pain - his toe is really aggravating him - hope he didn't break it.