27th November

25 01 N
77 33 W

Weather: sunny, wind 5 to 10 knots NE, waves less than 1 foot

After a bit of an uncomfortable night due to a lack of breeze we got up, ate breakfast and prepared to get underway. Our plan for the day was to get to Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas and more specifically to Cliffton Bay anchorage where we were planning to spend the night.

We began motoring but soon as we cleared the anchorage at Chub (we were almost the last ones to leave, I'm not sure what it is with sailors but they all seem to leave at the crack of dawn) Gerry began by putting up the jib and stay sail, we were then moving along at about 5knots. The engine got turned off to see what we could manage with just the sails as the wind seemed favorable, our speed dropped to 4 knots without the engine so then Gerry suggested that we might be able to fly the main.
The motor was re started (we need to have the motor running to hoist the main), the jib and stay sail were furled away and Gerry went out on deck to sort out the halyard for the main whilst I kept the boat steady, turning us into wind to facilitate the hoisting of the main. Once the main was up I put the boat back on course and Gerry began fiddling with putting the jib and stay sail back out. The motor then got turned off again and we were on our way with all the white flappy things doing their stuff! We managed to maintain an average speed of 5knots under sail alone which we were quite happy with.
For the entire day Gerry tweaked the sails as he didn't need to check and empty the bilge as frequently without the engine running causing no water to leak out of the muffler.
It was a comfortable passage, if somewhat boring as there was little to see - I can't believe the lack of dolphins, flying fish and turtles to be seen so far, normally we see loads of them.
I took advantage of the calm, boring passage and went below for an hour's catch up sleep, only to be woken by the sound of the jib being furled away. I went back on top and Gerry told me that the wind was gusting a bit and as we were now just an hour away from our destination he thought it prudent to furl the sails away. We tucked away the stay sail, started the motor, turned into wind to drop the main, got that stashed away and turned back to our heading doing the final half hour of the passage under motor.
We arrived at Cliffton Bay at 3.30pm where there were several boats already at anchor but plenty of space for us to tuck in and drop the anchor. A couple of sail boats - one of them a 3 masted schooner, were at anchor much further out, in fact nowhere near the anchorage really, and I thought they would make a good sunset picture unfortunately it turned out they were too far away without a telephoto lens. Our closest neighbor was a nice-looking motor boat which had a good size tender that the guests on board were using to waterski around the anchorage. As I went to take the sunset photo they just happened to zoom into the picture, making the photo a bit more interesting! Again, there was no green flash as the sun set so the quest continues! For the first time this trip someone on one of the boats had a conch shell and we had the obligatory sunset blowing of the conch announcing that it was time for "sundowners".
The usual routine of dinner, shower and bed followed.

28th November

25 01N
77 16W

Weather: Sunny, wind 5 knots NNE, waves less than 1 foot

A VERY HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL OF OUR AMERICA FAMILY, FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES, WE ARE THANKFUL FOR HAVING YOU ALL IN OUR LIVES. ENJOY THE TURKEY!

Up before the sun this morning, well only just! We had breakfast and Gerry started up the generator - there's always one in an anchorage that disturbs the peace and quiet and this time it was us (makes a change to get one over the stink boats!). Just as I was getting out of the shower the generator went off, I thought Gerry had stopped it but no, it had cut off by itself. Tweaker went into investigation mode, he thinks that it got too hot, so cut out to cool down, we opened the lazaret that it is in to allow the air to circulate through and gave it a while before trying to start it up again. I'm glad to say it seemed to solve the problem but now we have to think of a way to get more air circulating through that lazaret.
Everything got stowed away and we prepared to take off for the day, intending to travel a short 15 NM to our next port of call where we planned on checking in and spending a while fixing some of the things that need attention.
The wind wasn't quite right for any sailing today, apart from which our course for the day took us through a whole load of coral heads which we wanted to be able to avoid and motoring is far easier to control in a hurry than sailing!
On our track we came across quite a few very large pleasure crafts, the likes of which must belong to drug runners as they must be worth squillions of dollars! One in particular we were impressed with, it was called Fountain Head, was 279foot long and had so many "toys" along the sides that it would make anyone envious, we took a picture of it but really needs something to be alongside it for comparison but I'm sure you'll get the idea!
We made good time, arriving at our destination, Palm Cay Marina, 3.5 hours after leaving the Cliffton Bay anchorage. We had an issue with trying to get them on the radio and Gerry ended up using the Satellite phone to call them ahead of time for a berth.
We tied up at the fuel dock and topped up our fuel tanks with 36.5 gallons - which is about what we have used between Miami and Palm Cay.
We were moved onto a T head slip and given all the forms to complete for checking in, the customs officers would be down to see us a little later. They finally arrived to check us in at 3.15pm at a cost of US$300 plus their transit to Palm Bay fee of US$50 each officer (there were 2!) So now we are all legal in the Bahamas, can fish to our hearts content and go ashore.
Gerry set to and pulled out the muffler that has been causing so much grief and found the split where it is leaking, the next step will be finding the tools and fixing materials which is going to mean pulling out every cupboard I'm sure, will let you know how that goes in the next post!