Had a pretty rocky night on the hook with wind gusts to well over 25knots, which brought out all kinds of groans from the boat as we twisted back and forth in the wind. The noise from the wind in the rigging is also a constant that gets kind of annoying. I can see how the farmers in the plains during the dust bowl of the 30's went mad because of the relentless wind (ok and they had dust too) and it makes it difficult to sleep with all this going on. We also had a guy in a catamaran who anchored just up wind from us when we were on out George Town trip that I was concerned about should his anchor drag. Are had the whole anchorage to pick from as there were only 8 boats here, vs the 30+ that we're here a week ago, but he has to drop less than 100' in from of us!

So, with our visa extensions in place we can now start planning the rest of our time here and trip back to Canada. We have done a total of approx. 2200nm (3900 kms) since leaving the dock in Brighton. We're only 130nm from Cuba at this point at a latitude of 23° 47' N latitude for you mariners/cartographers (Brighton is at 44°) so a long way to go. It may not sound like it's that far if travelling in a car or plane but in a boat that is lucky to cover 50-60 miles a day, it's like we're a million miles from nowhere with a lon, long way to go!

https://youtu.be/rTFqVDee8Q8?si=oQ9loqEaB7Ia-RN5

Tide tables locations are a best guess prediction and are very few and far between in the Bahamas vs the US and Canada. We consulted 2 sources and determined that high tide was at 4am and low tide just after 10 am. We had 2 very shallow passages to make at the East and West Pimlico Cays so we wanted to get through there before low tide. Contrary to rational thinking, I didn't want to go through at high tide because going aground at that water level means you're stuck until a higher tide comes along, which could be hours - days! Going aground just before low tide was a compromise of still having some water higher than the lowest depth shown on the charts, and if you did get stuck you would have a few hours before the tide went slack and then started to come in and float you off.

We managed to get through with about 1 foot to spare in the shallowest sections at a point that was 6" above the low tide level for the morning. The depth charts over here have varying degrees of accuracy and sand moves around due to current and storms here as well. So at some point you just gotta believe in your knowledge, application of logic, your instruments and in your heart that you're gonna make it through unscathed! SPF was at about 75 for this passage as we knew that we made it through here on the way down without grounding, but it still is a bit of a white knuckle experience.

https://youtu.be/nQwSklKTgic?si=dUDjOi_HpGRbhqlO

We managed to motor sail doing just over 7 knots and would have sailed for most of the day except we needed to make close to 50 miles today as we were heading for a fairly well protected anchorage for the heavy weather headed to the area on Tuesday. We also had to stop at Staniel Cay to refuel and get some groceries as it was the last source for quite a ways on our way north. We got everything ready in advance and rehearsed what all we needed to do and in what order. We dropped the anchor in a very windy anchorage, splashed the dinghy out of the davits, loaded it up and headed ashore. I had 2 diesel jerry cans and the dinghy outboard gas tank to fill, which I loaded on our handy dandy folding 2 wheel cart and Sam trekked to the pink store for food.

Upon arrival both the Blue and Pink stores were closed as it was Sunday, but she ran into the owner of the Pink store who was decked out in her Sunday best returning from church and she invited her in to make her purchases. All told we were completely done in just under an hour and hoisting the anchor for the past 12 mile leg to get to Cambridge Cay. The equivalent marine version of a NASCAR pit stop?

https://youtu.be/pyGhezuY_Ns?si=r4D5nhmgQz7NqR6K

After leaving Staniel we had to run the gauntlet of mega yachts anchored off shore. There were 7 with the smallest being +200' according to their AIS info. Mark Zuckerberg's yacht Launchpad as 1 of them along with it's support vessel Wingman carrying all the toys...you know, jet skis, motorboats, helicopter, etc. A few other there as well including 1 named Bold but it looked like a workshop vs. a superyacht and we actually saw the helicopter take off from it! Expensive toys!


https://www.yachtworld.com/research/zuckerbergs-yacht-a-300-million-launchpad-for-controversy/

We made it to Cambridge Cay by 4 pm and got our anchor down. It is supposed to blow up into a pretty big storm over the next couple of days with strong winds out of the south and west so we needed a spot that had protection from all sides. Cambridge should be a good spot for this!

Today's shot is of our route back home following the ICW once we're in Florida. We can't start north in the states until the beginning of April as it will still be cold and the Erie Canal doesn't open until May 16th so we'll have a more leisurely pace heading back north than coming down here. The trick will be in getting to the right place in the Bahamas to take advantage of a good Gulf Stream crossing day which only comes along every 1.5-2 weeks these days.