Escapes
07 January 2025 | En Route New Providence
Sunday 5 January 2025
A lovely, slow sail had us arrive north of Devil's Cay in the Berry Islands after a short overnight to spend a few hours extracting ourselves from the bottom. Having misjudged (that would be me) a huge inbound current and subversive wind we were pinned sideways onto a ridge. Tide was still rising, but no help as flow just moved us farther up the mound. Held fast as starboard side of boat was in three meters with port side depth at a meter (draft two point one) we used dinghy to deployed anchors upstream and eventually requested help from nearby cruiser with twenty horsed dinghy to help push bow off so Jan could power forward into deeper water.
Therefore no nap to recover, but nevertheless friends, Mark, Kathy and her son Derek, sailed in midday so we proceeded to blue hole on Hoffman's Cay. As water is still in low twenties C Kathy was only soul crazy... I mean brave enough to swim. Although water extremely clear, the hole has vertical sides and is very deep with no fish, so little to see snorkeling. Kathy soon discovered the joy of wrapping a warm, dry towel around her very trim, goose-pimpled torso.
Monday
Invited the gang over for drinks and munchies Sunday night during which we functioned with admirable acuity until cruiser midnight (about nine thirty) when they kindly went home and we crashed.
After a sleep-in followed by an extended rest-in further followed by re-anchoring off of shallow area where current and wind had carried us we sailed north several miles to a bay better protected from forecasted west wind veering north. In afternoon unsuccessfully searched for a bar ashore. Nothing open. This probably due combination of covid lockdowns and recent hurricanes. Retreated to SV Sea Stray, Mark's Lagoon 40 catamaran, for minimal alcohol abuse, which ended early due long day-sail today to West Bay, New Providence. This keeps us far away from Nassau, a generally good thing except to see a truly wonderful aquarium on Paradise Island across from the only real city in Bahamas. Really always enjoyed it, but there are mo' bettah places that are less crowded if you don't need parts and such.
Tuesday
Now underway in fine downwind conditions, wing and wing with poled-out genoa. Depending on wind tomorrow may or may not sail across Yellow Bank to Highborne Cay in Exumas where on Thursday we may or may not continue to Norman's Cay from which on Friday we may or may not... you get the idea. Besides a tolerance for spending heaps of money, motorboaters (stinkpotters) are mostly governed by sea conditions. Sailboaters, by contrast, are less limited by the sea, but more reliant on a useable wind speed & direction and patience. That last thing sometimes escapes me.
Jack & Jan