Okay - enough already with the lightning storms in the area. After having been part of a lightning sandwich on our sail from Boqueron to the Turks and Caicos, then having almost been hit by lightning while moored at Turtle Cove Marina in the Turks and Caicos this past week (the crack of lightning was so loud and close that it temporarily shut down all AC power in the marina, to then be followed by lightning as we sailed from the Turks and
Caicos to the Bahamas. And, as I look out our port window this evening, anchored at Rum Cay, I can see lightning far off in the distance (towards Mayaguana).

Luckily, it appears from the latest weather forecast that the worst of the squalls are either to the north or south of us right now. One of my biggest fears is for our mast to be hit by lightning, especially after all my recent research on sail blogs, forums of sailboats having been struck.

Our "sail" from Turtle Cove, Turks and Caicos to the Southern Bahamas was, in a single word, frustrating. John and I holed ourselves up at the marina for 2 extra days to wait out the thunderstorms in the area and then departed yesterday morning - to be greeted by lightning as we were left the channel. Luckily, though, we had some decent wind (15 knots) just off our beam so we could pull out both sails and move along at a nice 7 knot clip. However, this did not last long at all and for the remainder of our trip the wind was literally off our nose (NW), even when we (moderately) altered course. And, the winds would also completely die and then pick up to 8-10 knots. When we did have decent winds (off our bow), we would take out the main sail, to then furl it back in again. Thus we had to motor for 31+ hours to get to Rum Cay - our original destination was Conception Island but we were behind schedule due to the weather and thus couldn't have made there to anchor before dark. The wind on our nose was largely 8 knots or less, except this morning when we motored into a huge dark cloud and the winds in the North Atlantic picked up to 22+ knots (no rain though), bringing with it some choppy waves that kept slamming us for several hours. Unfortunately, John's seas sickness temporarily returned. It was at this time that our trawling rod finally caught a fish (a tuna) but the big one got away as a weak spot on our 80 pound test line snapped (thus hambugers for dinner this evening....rather than sushi).

Then there was the current - we can usually motor at 7 knots at 16.5 RPM with our Ford Lehman engine but at times today we were only moving along at 5-5.5 knots (not helped by the wind on our nose). Wasnt the current supposed to be with us on the return journey ?? The only time we had the current with us - pushing us up to 7.5 knots - was as we moved beyond Mayaguana.

Nevertheless, this is our first trip to the Bahamas - and Rum Cay is beautiful....and unspoiled. There is very little here in the way of amenities and only one trawler in the anchorage right now. The water is so clear that you can easily see right to the bottom, in 10, 20 or 30 feet of water. As I was cooking dinner this evening, the largest manta ray I have ever seen moved stealthily along the sandy bottom beneath our boat.

We are "yellow flagging" it at the moment, with plans to check into customs via the marina on Long Island tomorrow (Stella Maria). Unfortunately, we were a day behind schedule so had to give Plana Cays a miss (on the way).