December 3
We coordinated weighing anchors with Nemo at 4:55 a.m. It is dark. We had our radar on and I stood on the bow with a spotlight. A mega yacht left the inlet ahead of us. I focused the light on unlit marks. As we exit the inlet, the marks are lit, so I returned to the cockpit. There is a sailboat following behind us and a pilot boat that flies by us to a ship waiting to enter the inlet. There is a sliver of a crescent moon visible. It is not long before the sun rises. Well, once again the wave height and swells are larger than predicted. I guess we can just always expect that. They got the wind right though. It remains around 12 knots all day. We unfurled the head sail. The swells are bigger and hitting us on our starboard side. The seas are a bit confused. Neither of us feels like eating much so we just had peanut butter crackers for lunch. We have heard a few boats "talking" but we haven't seen any, except one cargo ship, close by. About an hour off of the Little Bahama Banks, we see flying fish. They are fun to watch. Big ones and little ones with their "wings" a blur. It is amazing how far they can fly. Skimming the tops of waves for what looks like thirty feet or so, before diving into a wave. The water here is a deep blue. We go from over 2000 feet up to 200. Then as we can see the lighter blue water, the depths quickly come up to 50...25...and then 15 feet. The water is now a creamy blue green, made more striking by the contrast of the white foam coming from our wake. Before dark I made my way below to make us a sandwich. Soon it is dark and we are navigating by radar again. It is a beautiful evening. The waves settled down once we were behind Grand Bahama Island. Our entertainment for the evening is peering out at the bazillion stars and watching a light show of a storm in the distance. We reach our anchorage for the night at 8:50 p.m. We decided to raft together. After we're secured, everyone is ready for sleep. We bobbed around and the fenders squeaked all night. Usually, someone would make adjustments but we were all too tired to care.
December 4
Everyone is top deck by a little after 7 a.m. After coffee and cereal, Don and Judy untie our lines. It is a gorgeous day! The winds are light but we are anxious to get the sails out. We let the main out as soon as we are underway a little after 8a.m. As soon as we make a turn and are on course, we let out the head sail. The sun is hot but the Bahama breeze is nice!
Sailing always brings back fond memories for me. Today I am remembering a good friend who passed away last week. He loved the water. A former life guard on the Jersey Shore, a competitive rower, sailor and a fellow past commodore. He had a real gusto for life. He would have loved this. Many times I wish that I could bring all of my friends with me on this trip! Fair winds my friend, you will be missed by so many.
The winds were light all day, forcing us to motor sail in order to make the best time to Green Turtle Cay. We had been watching some clouds developing and moving closer. As we turned up the channel it started to sprinkle. We were in our slips by 4:15 p.m. The clouds looked threatening but it didn't rain much. After our showers, we had dinner at Green Turtle Club.
December 5
We left Green Turtle a little after 9 a.m. It is only about three hours to Treasure Cay. We are trying to get there before a cold front. We are watching approaching clouds. They reach us just as we go through the Whale cut. The Sea of Abaco get too shallow for our boats here, so we have to go through this cut to the Atlantic Ocean around Whale Cay and then back into the Sea of Abaco. The wind and waves picked up just as we went through. After we got around to the other side of the Cay the waters settled down. We were in the marina at Treasure Cay by noon. Nemo and Bay Breezin' are in slips next to each other. The customs and immigration officers met us at Tipsy's bar by the pool. We enjoyed a Sands Pink Radler while we filled out paperwork and answered questions. Now that's the way to clear in! The winds were gusting to 25 in the afternoon as we walked across the street to take in the view of the beach at Coco's. It's still as beautiful as we remembered. We are all happy to call this home for the winter!