Off to the snowy mountains!
03 March 2008 | Santa Maria Marina, Long Island, Bahamas.
Jim Lea
This picture is of an abandoned Loyalist house dating back to the American Revolution when a number of the colonists who sided with the British left for the Bahamas.
We were up early and off the anchor in Georgetown and worked our way through the fleet heading for the Eastern entrance when we spotted Seabird with Bruce and Nancy Montgomery aboard. We have cruised with them both last year and this and so we stopped to chat with them for a few minutes before heading out. With winds outside the protection of Stocking Island blowing 20-25 knots, we tucked 2 reefs in the main and moroe-sailed out the entrance back into Exuma Sound. Our course was a bit closer to the wind than yesterday, so we were close on the wind and with a small amount of jib out, we ran down the shore of Great Exuma and out of the sound and onto the banks. And with the banks, we left the big swell behind and were left with just a 3' wind chop. But that was enough to send just about every wave across the foredeck. After a couple of hours it was time to tack over to lay Long Island, and as we did so, we sailed into a squall. But it was just rain and a bit more wind, so not a lot to worry about. As the squall cleared, Long Island's Bains Bluff, a large headland, came into view, marking out anchorage just to its north. Beating up to the Bluffs, the seas lessened as we got into the lee of the cliffs, and in the now comfortable seas, we decided to carry on to the marina just a couple of miles, and an easy sail, up the shore. When we arrived off the channel to the marina, we dropped our sails and began to motor in. Stella Maris Marina has excellent protection, but has a very shallow approach. Even though we were entering at high tide, we still listened to the depth alarm and watched the depth sounder as it showed less than 1' beneath our keel. But we made it in without any problem and with no one around to direct us, just chose the berth that we thought was best for us. This morning (Monday), no one showed any surprise at our appearance, and we used the day to get ready to leave the boat for 2 weeks, closing up all openings, including small vents (to prevent unwanted critters) and cleaning up, doing laundry, etc.
Tomorrow we're off to Vancouver and Banff for skiing and family visits! We'll be back on March 18th and off again. We'll look for a weather window to head south for a couple of weeks, then begin the trek north. We'll head back up via Eleuthera to the Abacos then back to the US in late April.