SOUTH BIGHT, ANDROS The entrance and anchoring in the South Bight were picnics compared to the tight, shallow and very small anchorage at Kemps Harbor. So up the creek we went and rode out 2 days of 20-25 knots from the NW as the biggest front of the year slowly blew itself out. Plenty of current, used just the single primary anchor, our trusty Delta 44. Day 1-could not leave the big boat due to wind so we just hung around snacking, playing cards and puttering among the thousands of little chores available. Lisa painted the guest head floor. Day 2---We just had to get out. The choices were go to the south side of bight and see South Andros or go north side to Lisbon Creek and see Mangrove Cay, the middle cay of the 3 cays that make up Andros. The 20 knots from the NW led us to Lisbon Creek, Mangrove Cay. We walked, and walked past Victoria Point and ended up in Grant at the Mangrove Cay Inn and Restaurant. Had a great lunch. Pat, the owner, surprised us with a big chuck of banana bread as a parting gift. Things like this are huge for desperate hungry cruisers whose cupboards are beginning to look very lean. We hitched back to Lisbon Creek, snuggled in. The Bahamas may be one of the last safest hitch hiking areas. The morning was still blowing from the north but it was supposed to move NE so we headed out a day earlier than we planned, and had a spinnaker run south to the Grassy Cays. Arriving at 1pm with settled winds bright sunshine and plenty of time to fish the current running cuts from the dink. I gotta say?in places this remote, with the strong currents, winds shifts etc., being a mile or 2 from the big boat in the dink really gives you some concern. Not at all a good time for a plug to foul or fuel to clog. These places are where one should carry the handheld VHF (so you could at least yell help), the handheld GPS (so you could at least tell someone where on earth you have drifted to) and perhaps the E-Perb (in case you somehow found yourself in an upside down position). We caught fish. I caught a gray snapper and Lisa caught 2 red snapper. We moseyed back to the big boat for a nice settled sundown and a good night's sleep. It was lovely?until, of course, sundown when the wind decides to not only freshen considerably but decides to back NW 20-25. Darn?where's the NE wind we had counted on. There's nowhere to hide now. We had anchored in a nice little cove in the soft white sand snuggled right up close to the picturesque iron rock shore which had now suddenly lost its allure. The seas were building and our ass was now just a horseshoe toss from those picturesque rocks. With the minutes of light left, we pulled up anchor and headed for deeper water (giving us more room to drag if we happened to drag), reset the hook and slept little during the bucking bronco evening. With the catamaran, it's up and down only, not so bad really, but noisy. You imagine yourself dragging with each passing wave. We did however leave on, all night, our chart plotter with anchor alarm set to alert us for any drag over 50 ft. The next morning, still blowing NNW, we followed our bread crumbs out and back into the Tongue of The Ocean. We were busy over the charts and weather as we plotted our strategies and options for a run to Cay Sal Bank. Every plan has a back up plan, even if the back up plan means heading to sea in a comfortable direction and sailing all night. Averaging 8-10 knots with the spinnaker for the first half of the day and 7-8 knots with reefed main and jib the second half was propelling us west faster than expected. We wanted to arrive in Anguilla Cay in the SE corner of Cay Sal Bank around noonish for best light heading west. So, instead of the all-nighter (which Lisa likes to plan to avoid if at all possible) we sailed like mad till 9pm then dropped the hook in 17 ft. in the middle of Hurricane Flats on the Great Bahamas Bank. It was a bit of a bronco ride but I slept great cuz I didn't care if we dragged the hook for 50 miles?we were not going to hit anything. There is nothing anywhere. A fishing boat from the Spanish Wells fleet called us to say hi, make sure we were all set. It's lobster season. With a few hours sleep, we woke up and set sail at 4:30 am and timed it perfect for a noon arrival to Anguilla Cay. A message for Bob, from Autec Site No. 7?, you were right, the Bank is awesome and the fishing is great. The minute we rounded the bend we were greeted by some kind of baby bird. I think it was his first flight. While he wobbled around on our railing, George was checking him out and then he left us. As we were pulling into our anchorage we could see a dozen or so big fish feasting on a school of hatch lings. As much as I wanted to nap, Lisa wanted to fish. So off we went in the dink. In no time at all she caught a very large bar jack and another barracuda. Today we hunt lobsters. The plan now is this. A front with strong SW-NW winds is coming?perhaps by Friday PM or Saturday AM. It's so nice here right now we want to stay as long as we can yet wouldn't want to sit out 30 knots from the west at this spot?so this morning, after the 6:30 am weather on SSB 4045.0 from Chris Parker, the hero of most Caribbean and Bahamian cruisers, we hatched our plan. Stay here tonight (Monday March 8) and tomorrow. On Wed. sail 50 miles west to Cay Sal, the only island with inhabitants. Explore the island and anchor off it for a 4 AMish departure Friday and ride on what we hope will be a south wind for a 70 mile run north west to Sisters Creek Marathon, Florida. So long as we beat the west wind all will be good. More later. Cheers