So I think we left you with our passage and the Coasties coming to visit...

Well it has been pretty exciting since then. We motorsailed to the anchorage in Sapodilla Bay where we were anchored with 7 other boats and it was Easter. We got there the evening of the day before. We got fuel at Southside Marina which sounds benign enough but for the 3 miles to get in there I was on the bow telling Spencer how to avoid the coral heads. This was our second time there, but whenever you are dealing with coral heads, and you can't remember every freaking coral head from country to country, you have to treat them with respect. So I was out there soaking up all the UV rays and pointing which way to go, not where the coral heads are which is what I used to do. Really, anytime you are dealing with something that may rip a hole into your fiberglass (which wouldn't hurt ours) or you could get stuck on a reef and lay sideways and take on water the skipper needs to know what the person on the bow means by the frantic pointing. Every time we think we have it down either one of us changes the signals or the meaning, so I vote next time we use the handy dandy marriage savers, a head phone device that looks dorky but saves the yelling and exasperation. So we were very happy that the marina was open for fuel because we wanted to leave very early the next day and the only way to get in and out of that marina with anything over 5 ft of draft is to go near high tide. And right now that is nearing the after noon. We got fuel and I got some palm fronds for Mauri. I was trying not to ask what we were going to do to get off the dock because it looked tricky! We were very glad that Bob the marina owner was on hand when we needed to leave because there was an unusual south wind which was pushing us onto the dock at about 15 knots and I wish I had filmed it but it was too busy! Our bow was starboard of a shell, rock, sand bar and there was a big, huge launch to our stern and we had to turn to port. Spencer had asked the dock guy "H" if he could help us and he totally ignored Spencer so we were on our own or so we thought! Bob hopped on the dock and took charge and suggested to Spencer that he get a long line like 70 ft and asked hapless "H" for a boost onto the bow of the giant launch and after a keystone moment of Bob hopping and "H" not giving him a boost Bob our hands-on-60-something dock owner pulled with all his might our bow while our stern line was attached to the dock. Spencer gunned the engine and hapless "H" didn't really know what to do, so Spencer, while the engine was running, had to run out of the cockpit get off the boat and untie the stern line and fly back on board as Bob is swinging the bow around to the left and then I am pulling 70 ft of line back on board so it doesn't get sewn up in the prop! Whew!! We did it and Vicarious was motoring out of their tiny, shallow channel and everything was fine! We went back to Sapodilla Bay and KNEW that that night was going to be icky. We KNEW that the wind was forecast for the SE and we KNEW we were wide open to the banks from that side. We KNEW this and yet complacently dropped anchor to wait for the winds AND we were very surprised that the Easter bunny had NOT left a basket floating in the water ANYWHERE for us! What we SHOULD have done instead of relaxing and enjoying the little internet we were able to procure was to stage Vicarious around the north shore of Provo and then we would have had a peaceful, but maybe a little windy anchorage. Instead it was the screaming-Mimi-things-banging-in-the-night sort of night! There was something that was banging so badly that S and I were up for more than an hour trying to diagnose the bang. We couldn't! Finally at about 3 am I heard Spencer tearing everything out under our bunk and he found the culprit. Just that day he had moved some files and the plastic bins were knocking. We slept a bit until it got worse at about 4 am. All I could think about was the fetch (wind builds and makes water form waves over an open space which grows exponentially especially) over the whole freaking bank (a shallow [8-14 ft] expanse of water). I knew we had good scope out, but there was a huge mega yacht that had anchored earlier and I dreamed that they were dragging on us. Also it was crazy warm because of the SE wind! It was hot, I was a ball of nerves and the banging noises were enough to keep me awake! Not to mention that I didn't know what a SE wind of 20 was going to do with a NE swell of 6-9 with a 9 second period for our next leg in the morning!. All I knew is that NOAA models assume that 1/3 of the waves are double what they forecast. SO 12-18 ft waves??? Yeah, I didn't sleep!

So, luckily the next day wasn't horrific, just confused. But the swell was mainly from the NE which made it all the more confused. Spencer poled out the Genny on one side and the big staysail poled out on the other side. We had SE winds of 15-28 knots the whole way and Vicarious sailed beautifully the whole way! There are always squalls everywhere and they are always attracted to us! They go nowhere else! We were headed to Mayguana, Bahamas, the last outpost of the Bahamas this far south. We also had a knot of current with us the whole way! We figured that the south anchorage wasn't the best place to be because of the SE wind forecast, but that the wrap around swell in the west coast would be worse since Abraham's bay on the south had at least some reef protecting it! We did the whole girl-on-the-bow-looking-for-coral-heads thing again and we were fine and I enjoyed the carnival ride I got on the bow in that crazy swell! We got to the "anchorage," S put out the "birds" (the side stabilizers) and it was as bad as the night before. Both Spencer and I felt sea sick! By the time we finished dinner and a movie it was worse. The wind had shifted from the SE which was protected by the reefs to due east which means we had miles of fetch building. Before we went to bed I asked the captain to download another weather forecast to see what the seas were going to be. After the anxiety-ridden-alien-taking-over-the-planet movie we saw and me mistakingly going up to the bow to film and realizing that the fetch was building into 3ft chop, and that we were so isolated and there was no protection unless we went even farther into the coral headed bay to a settlement I was feeling very agoraphobic and panicky. Needless to say I was feeling very apprehensive about the next day's journey. He got the weather info from the sat phone and the seas were supposed to be better than they had been that day! Whew! What a relief! I was worried that they were going to say that they were going to build since that is what we were seeing with the wind!

It was I can't say a breeze but, it was certainly not bad at all! Spencer poled out the sails the same way as the day before. I couldn't make what Spencer wanted for lunch, but I was able to make cheese toast and he was happy!

We made it to the Aklins. Specifically, Atwood Harbor and there is NOTHING here, but beautiful beaches and protection from SE wind and weird waves! Yeah, the swell turned SW. Large SW swell with a confused NE component. We have decided to stay here for another day even though there is no wifi, no provisioning, no lights at night , no trash burning, no other boats, just us swinging on the very well dug in anchor. We swam and the visibility is amazing, the water is GREEN, not blue and we are going ashore to explore tomorrow!! It is a vacation from our rush north! YAYAYAY!