MIDORI ADVENTURES

We departed Nassau on Tuesday, January 24th, having stayed an extra day. Decided that while we were here, we might as well take advantage of it, and went to the Straw Market. Also caught up on some boat chores, laundry, groceries, email and blog.

We are heading southeast across the Yellow Bank. Depths on these banks can drop to 9 feet in the area sprinkled with coral heads and the colour of the water becomes noticeably yellowish. Depths can be as shallow as 3 ft. atop the coral heads. We have E winds at 15 mph and easterly seas - two feet and choppy; the jib sail is out and the mainsail has one reef. The engines are running too - in order to maintain speeds of 5.4 knots over ground. Not a fun ride on our catamaran, but we only have 34 miles to go and are anxious to start traveling the islands of the Exumas.

Spread out for 90 miles or more in an irregular chain heading southeast between Exuma Sound and the Tongue of the Ocean, these 300 islands are located in latitudes below even those of the Florida Keys.

When cruising in the Exumas, we have the option of sailing either side of the chain. If the wind is easterly, we stay on the shallow banks and cruise in flat water. When the wind is westerly, the ocean side will be smooth. The many cuts in the Exumas can experience "rage" conditions. The cuts between the cays and islands can have a stiff, steep chop with strong winds from the east or northeast, and an ebbing tide, so careful planning is required. Especially a low powered boat like ours - we need to arrive at the cuts at slack tide or when the tide is with the wind.

During prevailing easterly winds, cruisers anchor in the lee of the many islands, the most daunting part of anchoring being the approach through many shoals and banks.

We arrive at the Allan's Cay group (Allan's Cay, Leaf Cay, SW Allan's Cay) at 2:10 p.m. and note only one sailboat anchored in our favourite spot at SW Allan's Cay, so we go in fairly close to shore. LIVING WELL follows and before dropping his anchor, the sailboat hails him and says he is departing. So, we have our favourite anchorage all to ourselves! There might be room for another shallow draft boat only.

We love this place because we can swim and snorkel in the shallow protected cove right off of our boats. There are maybe a half a dozen boats anchored between Allan's and Leaf Cay and some dinghy over to "our" beach to see the iguanas whose curiosity brings them out in numbers. They are not to be fed, but I suspect they have been and that is what they are looking for. The local conch fisherman bring their bagged catch into one of the shallow bays and leave them behind while they go out to catch more. We also don't feel the affect of the surge here as much as the northern anchorage.

We spend four nights here, snorkelling, and bathing (suds up in the salt water and rinse with fresh on the back sugar scoop), moving anchors (went in a bit too close to shore), adding anchors (getting ready for a shift in the wind), going ashore, sharing meals and, of course, boat chores/repairs. Captain Brian gets the stinky job of unplugging the lines of the head! Yesterday, we made a bumpy 2 mile dinghy trip to Highborne Cay to visit the full service marina, store and restaurant. It was an expensive day - including the $5.00 spent to get rid of one bag of garbage!

There is some fairly strong northeasterly wind forecast for early next week, so we have decided it may be time to move on to a better protected spot. We will move to Warderick Wells, the Headquarters of the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park and pick up a mooring ball in the western mooring field known as Emerald Rock. There is WiFi there and that is how I will post this blog.

Stay tuned,

First Mate Lynn