Cruising the Abacos
13 April 2007 | Cormorant Cay, Abacos, Bahamas
Jim Lea
Today is Friday the 13th. On Monday, we left, with about 15 other boats, from Royal Island for Little Harbour, the southernmost cut into the Abacos. The Abacos consist of one large island, Abacos Island, and a large number of off-lying cays on the eastern side, with the Sea of Abacos between. The "Sea" is, at its deepest, about 15', and mostly well under 10', with lots of areas where we would easily run aground. So in spite of its relatively small and protected nature, navigation is still important. Our crossing was quiet, with only enough wind to keep us going, so we motor-sailed for the first part of the trip. No mahi-mahi, although another boat hooked one only to lose it as they were bringing it on deck. Pulling in to Little Harbour, we just anchored off the cay for the night in the company with the other boats that had crossed. But the weather forecast called for strong squalls Tuesday night and Wednesday, so we decided to head for Marsh Harbour and pulled in to the Conch Inn Marina. We decided to go into a marina, our first (except when we left the boat for skiing) since December. It allowed us to go ashore easily for re-stocking (which is getting more like US grocery stores to get ashore for walks and to use internet (which didn't work very well). Also with the forecast for 50 knot squalls (which came true) we decided against anchoring in the very crowded anchorage. While we are confident about our anchoring, we are less so about others, and just one boat dragging during a squall at night could easily degenerate into chaos. So the marina won out. It turns out that with only a few minor problems, everyone survived in the anchorage. But we had a nice (but windy) day (Wednesday) in Marsh Harbour, and took the bikes ashore for a ride. Then yesterday (Thursday), we had a major decision to make. There is a 36 hour weather window for heading back to the US, and no potential window next week. So to go or stay... We decided to stay. We decided to stay for a few reasons. One is that 36 hours is just enough with little to spare. We average 6 knots so in 36 hours we should be able to cover 216 nautical miles (6*36=3D216), and the distance from here is about 195 miles. There is a strong cold front moving eastward across the southern US that will arrive over Port Canaveral (our destination) late Saturday bringing with it strong north-west winds (our course would be north-west) that defines the end of the window. So we would be sailing towards, not away from, the bad weather and any increase in the front movement would be very un-helpful. Plus, to leave today (Friday) would mean we would see nothing of the Abacos. And starting a voyage on a Friday is bad luck, not to speak of it being Friday the 13th! So we decided to stay, and sailed back down to a Pelican Cay Sea Park and did some snorkeling on some very nice coral reefs. Then we anchored for the night off a small cay where we had fresh grouper in a Creole sauce for dinner with rice & beans and cole slaw (the previous night we had cracked conch, a favorite of ours). Today (Friday) we will head back north, and spend the day and night at Hope Town, a small harbour on Elbow Cay. And from there, we will work our way north to the top of the chain to be ready to head across in the next weather window, not expected until late next week at the earliest.