Cruising on Ondine

Eleuthera is a big island or archipelago, nearly 60 miles from Spanish Wells to Rock Harbour Sound. We weighed anchor at Current Cut at 9:45 am on Monday December 20. The Cut has a reputation for high current of up to 6 kt, which is our top speed! The best advice was to add 1.5 hours to Nassau's slack tide to estimate the slack at Current Cut. High tide in Nassau was 8:30 am and we planned to go through at 10 am. Coincidentally, the trawler that was adrift earlier that morning passed us as we weighed anchor and they entered to the Cut. We followed them in and the water was nearly perfectly slack. You have to love arithmetic.

The weather was excellent, but there was a 5 kt wind in our face, so we were motored the 49 miles to Rock Harbour Sound. Waves were 1 foot or less, so we made good speed, 5.8 kt, and the autopilot worked like a charm.

The only negative is that the late start meant that we arrived around 7 pm, and it was dark. We carefully entered the empty anchorage and set the anchor without a hitch. We awoke to the bleating of sheep and a view of a rocky shore. Calm winds prevailed in the morning and we expect them to shift. We will move midday to an anchorage that is further north in Rock Harbour Sound to protect us from the expected strong west wind.