Picking up from Black Point, Exumas
We spent the night rocking and rolling to the extent that sleep was all but impossible. The plan was to wait until the afternoon when the wind was supposed to shift more to the northwest and then seek some protection on the other side of the bay or around the point to the south.
"Kokomo" radioed to say that they were swinging too close to Ida's dock and had to re-anchor. Since they were moving anyway, they decided to head around the point to the south to check things out. In about 30 minutes they called to say that things there we much calmer so the rest of the crew weighed anchor and moved around to join them.
Later, Kathy, Roland, Leta and I headed in to the beach....which is one of the nicest in the Exumas, and then over to the Ocean side. On our return we stopped at "Fine Lion" to say hi. Their dinghy was on their foredeck so they had spent the afternoon aboard.
In the morning the four boats that currently make up our fleet sailed south to Galliot Cut (about 12 miles to the south) to make our way out into the Sound. "Kokomo" led the way and reported that seas in the cut were confused and a little dicey. As we approached it looked worse than that. "Night Hawk" was in the middle of things at that time and we watched them drop out of sight behind a wave and then reappear a moment later... not a good sign.
Nearing the cut there were standing waves of about 6 feet. Kathy put her head down and shut her eyes as we entered the mess. "Sapphire" submarined the second wave ...and about every third one after that. I angled south to get out of the worst of the current a little too soon and took a wave over the side filling the cockpit. However, in a matter of minutes we were through the maelstrom and into open water where we found about 20 knots of wind behind us.
With our head sail and mizzen out we made about 7 knots.. ..lurching our way south. This is usually a great place for fish and both Steve and I had hits but failed miserably at providing dinner, "Night Hawk" caught a barracuda. "Night Hawk's" engine had overheated trying to blast their way out of the cut and had to sail into Conch Cay cut with its series of about 6 turns. Luckily, the wind was in exactly the right direction and they had no problems. We passed Hamburger and Volleyball beaches and sailed down to Sand dollar where there was enough room for all of us and to allow Barry to anchor under sail... (they did end up using their engine a little)
We stayed aboard that evening.
(Obviously days don't mean much to us... but by now it is a few days before Christmas)
The seas were still going to be up tomorrow and we needed to make a run into town so decided to spend a day in Georgetown before moving on.
It was a little bumpy on our way across Elizabeth Harbor to Georgetown but travelling with the wind kept us dry. I loaded up a little water while Kathy ran into the bank. We walked down to "Top to Bottom" which is a tiny store that serves as the hardware to pick up a new switch for our washdown pump and then back to the Exuma Market for a few groceries.
We were happy to find the winds had subsided for our return trip and we stayed dry again. After unloading, we made a little snack and then headed in to Volleyball beach... for a stop at the Chat and Chill. KB had given most of his staff the day off ... expecting windy weather, but it was calm and hot which brought out all the Christmas vacationers. He was working his rear end off, which is a little out of character. We sat around for a while ordering some food and enjoying the sun. We ran into a few friends who make this place their home for the winter and finally moved over to the volleyball courts to see who else was around. Before we even got there I heard one of the volleyball players shout "Hey here comes a Bridge player." I ducked behind a tree and made my way on the beach to a nice chair in the sun. We watched some volleyball....it was the old folks, nine on a side so no one ever has to move, and chatted with people that we knew from previous years for a while.
I did talk to Bill on "Nice and Easy" who is the bridge instructor here, to say that we were heading south but would be back to play in a month or so. Johnny was making conch salads on the end of the beach and before we left Kim and Kathy each got one to go. It was a great afternoon with temps in the 80's and no clouds or wind. We returned to the boat to read a while before dinner.
The next morning we weighed anchor and headed to the south end of the harbor. "Kokomo" decided to stay to spend Christmas here so our fleet was down to three boats heading for Thompson's Bay. The cut was rolley with left over swells of about 8 feet but there isn't enough tidal current here to make things crazy. We turned south heading for the waypoint at Hog Cay but there wasn't enough wind to sail. We continued to roll for a few miles until we got far enough from the sound and then motored the rest of the way to Long Island in perfectly calm seas. It was our first motoring trip since the ICW in Florida. Until today we have used less than 18 gallons of fuel since we left the States...we'll now be around 23 gallons, which is still good for us.
There were two boats in the anchorage when we arrived and with room for about 100, space was not an issue. Steve and Kim ran into Salt Pond to check things out but we stayed aboard to get the boat squared away.
The next morning was too windy to dinghy down to Salt Pond so we went to shore here in Thompson's Bay and walked a couple of miles to the Hillttop grocery. I returned from there while the others continued in to The Island Breeze for lunch.
I worked on boat projects the remainder of the day.... Wiring in a new wash down pump switch and replacing one of our bow rollers. That evening around nine... reading in the cockpit thanks to the LED Christmas lights that Ellie and Matt found us, we got a VHF call from Jay on "Far Niente." They were a couple of hours out and wanted to know how many boats were in the anchorage. They had planned on stopping at Georgetown but continued on to Long Island to spend Christmas with friends who live here in the winter.

The following morning (Christmas Eve) was calmer so we did go into the Breeze to check email and do a couple of loads of laundry. We had lunch and ran across the street to Harding's Grocery to pick up a few things for our Christmas dinner. In the afternoon we all hiked down the road to telephone pole 103 and then across the island to the beach. No one had been there this season and the sea bean hunting was good. We returned before dark.
On Christmas we had a late breakfast and then started cooking for our main meal at 2pm on "Fine Lion." Our responsibility was escalloped potatoes, green bean casserole and butternut squash. Everything turned out fine except the squash. We ate a bunch of them from Dave's garden throughout the fall and they were all excellent. We saved this one for either Thanksgiving or Christmas and it just wasn't sweet like the others so we ended up putting it back in the refrigerator. We did take a pint of bread and butter pickles that Mom and Annie made last summer. There are a hit with everyone except Barry, who never eats pickles.
Steve cooked a ham and some hors d'oeuvres while Susan baked some excellent rolls that were still warm, a lemon meringue pie and put together a nice salad. It was a great meal...
That evening there was a party at the Breeze so we dinghied in a little after six. There was a $5 cover which paid for the food that none of us could eat and a band that had some marginal musical ability, but we did met quite a few folks who spend their winters on Long Island. Many of these were ex-cruisers who wanted help us out with anything we needed while here on the island.
Another cold front was forecast for Sunday night so we stayed on board most of the day as the wind clocked from the SE to S to SW to NW picking up velocity as it switched. Thompson Bay offers protection from the NW all the way around to the S, so the SW where we are exposed and even from that direction the waves are knocked down by a sand bar about 10 miles away. The holding is excellent so most cruisers look at this anchorage as a good place to ride out a storm.
We bounced around most of the afternoon but when the front came through the wind switched to the NW almost immediately putting us in the lea of the Indian Hole point. The only squall in the area slid by to our west but the wind increased to about 30 knots and stayed there for about 30 hours. "Sapphire" has so much rigging that winds above create lots of noise. I didn't get much sleep and was up and down checking on our position as well as the boats around us.
On Monday we read most of the day and I caught up on some sleep. I did make some bread and then ate so much that all we had for dinner was salad... the wind finally subsided that evening with and almost eerie silence. We both got an excellent night's sleep.
It was calm enough on Tuesday morning that Barry and I took the dinghies to Island Petroleum. They have a dock with gas and diesel and most of the time there is someone around who will come down and to unlock things. We found Basil who helped us out and after filling our jerry cans walked up the station to pay. Jay had followed us over so they made some money before we left with diesel at $4.54 a gallon.
Although it was cloudy and breezy everyone needed to get off the boats so in the afternoon we dinghied to the end of Indian Point and walked the beach there. It's not an ocean beach so there we no treasures but we did get to stretch our legs. During the afternoon seven boats showed here in Long Island. Three anchored in Salt Pond and four here in Thompson's Bay. One of them was "Kokomo" who had spent Christmas in Georgetown. Jay put a call for a beach party so at around 4pm we went in to collect wood for a fire. It has been really cold here with temps getting down to about 60 at night. Chris Parker promises that it's going to warm up soon, but for now a fire on the beach is a necessity. There was a good turnout at the party and everyone ate enough that most of us didn't need dinner.
There don't seem to be any cold fronts in the forecast that will have enough energy to get this far south so the next couple of weeks will probably be great in the Jumentos. We're just not sure when we'll take off....