Day 9 Exuma Cruise

It almost seems as though the Bahamas doesn't want to let us go. Yesterday we were making plans to make another jump North then over to Nassau and on to Bimini prior to waiting for a It to lie down to cross the Stream and whammo, last night the wind blew as badly as it ever had on this entire trip. We were safe and secure here at Wardrick Wells on a very secure mooring with 360 degree all round protection but still the wind howled! For much of the night the norm was 20 knots gusting to over 25 but two or three times a squall front moved through in which the wind went up to more than 40! We had to shut down the wind generator for fear it would damage itself but before we did I noticed that it was putting out nearly 30 amps.

At the beach cruiser's standup last night, which was a lot of fun, by the way, and we met a lot of really nice and interesting people, some folks were prophesying that the forecast Sunday blow was going to be a non event. Well, perhaps it wasn't for those of us here in the north anchorage but yesterday when we went out around Emerald Cay in the dingy we noticed that there were two boats anchored out there. I don't think that they had a good night at all! Andrew, the park ranger was saying that he was hoping for some weather so he wouldn't have to take his small Carolina skiff over to Staniel Cay to put some packages on the mail boat. I guess he got his wish.

We listened to the weather forecast and have decided that today will be our day to make a small jump North to Robert's Cay in preparation for a hop over to Spanish Wells. We can just as easily do our banking and grocery shopping there as in Nassau. As we go past the cell tower at Highborne Cay we will call the marina in Spanish Wells to get a reservation for tomorrow night and who knows, perhaps even the night after too depending upon the weather. But sadly that will most likely be where we part company with Troubadour for another year at least unless we can persuade Barry and Marcia to drive up to visit us in Shelburne this summer.

Our trip was in bright sunshine with gusty winds departing Wardrick Wells at 10h00 and arriving at Robert's Cay by 16h00. En route we contacted and sailed past Sampatecho from Shelburne and it was great to have a chat with them. We won't see them until we both get back to Nova Scotia but still, it's a small world.

Robert's Cay is privately owned and you need permission to go ashore particularly as most of the shoreline is 10' high coral cliffs. So, we decided that we will just be anchoring, no exploring and no dog walking. Sorry Peri. Tomorrow we will get off early at daybreak for a trip in, hopefully, lighter winds on a close reach for Spanish Wells where we have already booked a slip for Nelleke. Once there we will be updating the blog and dealing with banking requirements and emails.

You know what? Rant coming on. This lifestyle seems to have more that it's fair share of entitled people. So far on this trip we have met several people who seem to think that once they anchor somewhere it becomes their personal domain. Here at Robert's Cay there was a fellow in a cat who heard Troubadour and Nelleke talking and jumped in to announce that we better have our anchor lights on since he plans to be leaving under sail at first light and he will avoid us if he can see us. .??? Seriously!? I mean we are both easily 200-300 meters away from him and he is commenting on being "boxed in". In order to be in shallow enough water to be able to anchor we couldn't be any further away. Some people need a serious attitude adjustment.