24 31.79 'N:076 47.75'W
We waited and waited then waited some more! After thirteen days in Lake Sylvia we were definitely ready to get moving. This has got to be a record for 2 Outrageous. We usually only last about four or five days before moving on to a new location. Our stay in Lake Sylvia was not without some adventure. First of all, the lake had over thirty boats anchored where about a dozen or so would have been ideal. We hosted a Christmas dinner and were joined by the crews of Godspeed and Mystic V. We served a traditional turkey dinner complete with all the fixings!
Paul, joined by his band of pirates, Eddie from Dagenais, Glen from Gandolf, and Joe from Godspeed headed out on an excellent adventure to deliver a Catamaran to a freighter in the cruise port. The owners of the boat had booked passage for their boat on the freighter to Mexico but because of the high winds and bad weather the loading of the boat got pushed out. They had purchased airline tickets that couldn't be changed so they asked Paul to move the boat for them. I don't think I can do justice to telling the story of this adventure here. The reader's digest version would be the boat had very limited (read no) steering. It was extremely windy, 25 to 30 knot winds. The port was very busy with cruise ships and ships which meant a heavy police presence in the port. Multiple forces were out and about.... Sherriff's boats, Lauderdale police, Broward county police etc etc. Many of which would cut off the pirates on the catamaran and start yelling instructions at them using a bull horn instead of the radio, which of course couldn't be heard above the howling wind. The band of pirates arrived at the ship on time for the scheduled loading however they were told to hover for another hour or so. Easier said than done in a boat with no steerage! This lead to more trouble from the port director and police. Finally, after what felt like a full days work they were told to come along side the ship. As soon as the boat was secured, they departed in our dinghy and skedaddled outta there as quickly as possible. Glen said he wasn't going anywhere with Paul ever again!
Our friends Harley and Janice on Folly were ready to move to Lake Sylvia from the marina they were staying at in the New River. Paul took an Uber to meet them and help them navigate the notoriously challenging New River. This too sounded like quite the adventure and the three of them were quite relieved when they rolled into lake Sylvia and came alongside 2 Outrageous. I had stayed behind ready to catch their lines when they arrived in the lake. We rafted the boats together since there really wasn't any more room for them to drop the anchor.
I don't think we've experienced such a string of cloudy, windy, rainy days in a row! Finally, on Dec 30 we raised anchor and headed out the Port Everglades inlet at sunrise. Our four-boat flotilla consisted of 2 Outrageous, Folly, No Limits and Mystic V. We can agree this particular gulf stream crossing was the most uncomfortable one we've experienced yet. I guess after thirteen days of high winds it takes awhile for the seas to settle. As such we were met with some very uncomfortable square top waves. The waves weren't huge just a strange shape. We did have the occasional larger wave and even took a couple over the bow and straight into the cockpit! The boats pounded violently for 10 hours or so. I have to say though as uncomfortable as it was, almost everything inside the boat stayed where it was stowed. I only had a couple of boxes of crackers shake loose off the shelf. Still, we limited our movement around the boat. The motion inside the cabin was unpredictable and you certainly needed to be hanging on to move about! I did manage to make us some lunch but didn't spend a lot of time at it. We were so happy to make it to the Bahama bank and more settled waters, we continued on for another 5 hours or so until about 10pm when we stopped for the night on the Bahama Bank at Mackie Shoal. It was a bit lumpy in the anchorage but we were so tired a rain shower overnight with the hatches open didn't even wake us up!
We woke up the next morning to beautiful sunshine, warm temperatures, crystal clear aqua blue water. It just made the torture of the previous day's passage seem, well, distant. We made it and we love this beautiful country!
We had a pleasant day motoring in calm waters across the bank to Great Harbour Cay Marina in the Berry islands. I had prepared our customs clearance documents in advance and the process went very quickly. I sat outdoors at a picnic table with the officer enjoying the warm sunshine and breeze. That beats an airconditioned terminal office any day!
We found Ti Amo already at the marina! They had arrived at the marina a couple of hours earlier. It was New Years Eve but the crews were tired out from the journey. We gathered in the waterfront cabana for an early happy hour to celebrate our collective safe arrival in the Bahamas. I can tell you none of us saw midnight. I think most didn't even see 10pm.
Right on queue a windy weather front was approaching. Should we stay or go? We decided to do both. We moved from the marina to the anchorage outside the harbour for three days. We took a couple of fantastic dinghy tours through the mangroves with Ti Amo and No Limits. We had to time the tide in order to make it through the narrow, twisty turn path spotting sharks, rays and sea turtles along the way. Finally, when we broke out of the narrows into a wider bay. We could see the water colour changing to that beautiful aqua blue telling us we had made it to the oceanside and soon we found the beach! We moved back to the Marina on Jan 4 for two days while the front moved through. There would only be two days of settled weather before the expected arrival of the next front so we pushed south on Jan 6 to Cabbage Cay. On Jan 7 we continued to New Providence Island (aka Nassau) where we entered Coral Harbour and the narrow dredged channels leading to Wardles private dock. Here Nick and Caroline provide dock space, at very reasonable rates, where up to nine boats can raft up three deep alongside the dock. This was a good find and one to keep in our book of knowledge. On route that day we landed our first ever Wahoo! What a beautiful fish and very tasty. Ti Amo joined us for dinner with the warning being I had no idea if the fish was going to be good or not.
We stayed for only one night, electing to push further south the next morning. The winds were building throughout the day but we had a great sailing day to Shroud Cay in Exuma Park where we dropped the hook and settled in for what we expect to be about 5 days. Here is the weather forecast:
Jan 9/20 AM, Northeast then East winds 20 to 25 knots. PM, east winds 25 to 30 gusting 35. Jan 10/29 East winds 30 knots gusting 35 to 40 knots during squalls. Jan 11/20 East southeast winds 25 to 30 gusting 40. Jan 12/20 East southeast winds 18 to 25 gusting 30 knots. Jan 13/20 East southeast winds 15 to 20 gusting 25 knots.
We are well protected here at Shroud Cay and I guess the only complaint would be the lack of internet access. Our new riding sail is working great to reduce the swinging of the boat at anchor, making it so much more comfortable in the high winds. We are tucked in close to shore and can take the dinghy to the beach with access to a couple of hiking trails. In addition, there are a couple of mangrove tours we can take which should offer some protection from the crazy winds.