23 Feb 15 Day two into the Exumas

We got up this morning after a non restful night with warm comforting breezes wafting us to sleep helped out by a couple of shots of Ricardo Gold Rum (one of the best rums you can buy by the way. Ian and Robin, if you are reading this, we intend to bring a bottle of this home for you). If you believe that I have a bridge to sell you, the night not the rum.

I dove on the anchor yesterday and was happy to see it half dug in. Anchors, under the gradual pressure from wind and tide will dig in even more so I was initially confident that as time went by with strong, but not overly so, winds the anchor dug itself even deeper into the sand bottom. Even so, with the idiot lurking in the background I had a restless night worrying about the anchor dragging. The wind didn't actually even start to lie down until midnight, and then it was only temporary. I got a few hours sleep until about 22h30 when I happened to get up and check on things and found that we had swung about 90 degrees and the wind was still at around 15 knots and competing with the current. As I mentioned, the idiot is in a multihull so we are far more affected by the current than he is so we weren't lying the same to conditions. I was awake for several hours watching him and the other boats. We might have had too much rode out which seems on the surface to be a bit of an oxymoron but with too much out it can take longer for the anchor to properly set as the boat tends to sail around the chain rather than the anchor. As it was at about 01h00 we had swung so close to him that I wasn't comfortable, especially as he struck me as the type that would like to get a nice insurance claim to support his lifestyle. So, in the wee dark hours we raised anchor and poked around the anchorage to find a better spot. As it turned out and after about a half dozen different attempts we went up to the north end of the cay where a couple of the late arrivals had made a bee line for and anchored in about 12' of water. Just to be sure I stayed up in the cockpit for the rest of the night just in case. Turns out we got a better pick in with about 2/3 the amount of chain. We decided against going ashore again in the morning or at least decided to recover the dingy so that if we had to move, move now, we wouldn't be towing it along behind us. Suki Suzuki worked great yesterday. No more problems with the transmission and the idle speed was way way better.

We got the day started early and yours truly, as is my job and mission in life, made breakfast and got ready to go. We were away at 07h30 and down the coast taking the Exuma Sound side of the islands to make for a shorter distance, an seven hour trip all at a motor sailing close reach. Most annoying! However we did have one real highlight - Troubadour saw and alerted us to a pod of whales on a reciprocal course to our own. Half an hour later they passed us, clearly on a mission to somewhere. We tried to identify them from a whale book that we happen to have aboard but that one was entitled Whales of Canada so??? Then I got the brilliant idea of calling the Exuma Park ranger and asking him. "Pilot whales", he said. Apparently they are not uncommon. Still it was exciting. Then we came into Staniel Cay through Big Rock Cut and boy was that an adventure, but not as much as it would have been if the tide was moving in the other direction. We picked up a mooring right opposite of the Thunderball Grotto, the one they have filmed several underwater movies in. That'll be a spot for us to go snorkelling for sure.

Troubadour has taken a dock for the two days and we will stay on the mooring. I am really happy that the Suzuki is working again. I don't think that the Yamaha would have the umph to push us back against the current. We are about to have a cup of tea and then we will launch the dingy and go in to see them. When we did we were struck by two basic things: first, the Sharks and rays in the water at the marina docks, and second, how little you got for $2.50/ft, and I thought that Spanish Wells was inconceivable! No showers, the laundry is off site, the power is intermittent, you pay for water, Internet is way extra, I ripped my shorts on a protruding nail on the dock on my way in to visiting Troubadour etc etc. I can't imagine why anyone would want to pay that much. I paid $2.50/ft in NYC but than included water and power and phone and cable TV if I had it. Sheesh. Tourism Bahamas I understand is very nervous about the US opening Cuba and with very good reason. On a more positive note the on site restaurant looks great. We will be finding out from Barry and Marcia who had dinner there and we will pass on the details if they will permit. One thing that was a real eye opener was the number of nurse sharks in the water at the marina, all sizes, just cruising around waiting, for what I don't know. The only thing I saw that looked like there might be offal from fishing were lobster heads lying on the bottom but clearly he sharks didn't want those. The local say that you could go swimming with these things but I did note a lack of a enthusiasm for that idea from the other visitors that were there.

Tomorrow we will grocery shop and go to Thunderball Grotto. Hopefully pictures to follow.