On to yet another Exuma expedition
06 March 2008
Day 52 - Sunday, 3-02-08 - Highborne Cay Marina to Warderick Wells (SBS)
We took our time leaving the dock on a beautiful day. The guys quickly put up the jib and soon found they could actually go over hull speed because they were surfing. They hit 9.8 kts at one point with most speeds over 8 kts. Only problem... they had to keep going more and more SE; i.e., closer to the direction of the wind. Reefing the roller furling head sail worked for a while but when they finally turned to the heading to get us to Warderick Wells they had to turn on the motor and slog the last hour or so through pretty rough seas. We were assigned a mooring ball just one boat down from our buddies on Hannah I and we quickly got hooked on. In the mooring field, we saw several boats that we had been in anchorages and marinas with previously.
We rested awhile and then headed over to Hannah I in our dinghy. We took the gin, tonic and limes that they had brought to us at Highborne Cay. Discovered they didn't have ice, so Gerry & Roger dashed back to Last Dance to collect some.
Frank, a retired physicist, is a fulltime sailboat captain. He captains for free and gets to use nice boats with minimal liability and expense. The owners only fly to the boat periodically in whatever exotic port Frank has sailed it to. Frank gets to recruit free crew as well and they all have a neat time, except when they have to make the usual repairs as all boaters do, or replace a stolen dinghy & motor. John & Suzanne had had big sailboats of their own. John is a retired civil engineer and Suzanne was a physical therapist.
We headed back to the boat after a few drinks and snacks and stimulating conversation. Enjoyed a light supper and called it a day...another day in paradise. (SBS)