Day 11: Sailing Weather!
28 May 2012 | Fisher’s Bay to Cistern to Man-O-War Cay / Dickies Cay (back and forth across the Sea of Abaco)
Finally some wind and some sun!
Nothing too crazy happening this day. In a nutshell it was sunny, hot and the winds were blowing between 16 and 20 knots! Finally, perfect sailing weather! We set out with full sails and were zipping around the Sea of Abaco at about 9 knots. It felt so good to stretch the boats legs again as this was the first day that Soul Purpose saw real sailing wind all trip. We checked out a spot we considered anchoring at, Cistern Cay. It turned out to be unprotected with rocks all around. Fine for a day anchorage, but no reason to stay there overnight. So we sailed back across the Sea of Abaco and dropped anchor at Man-o-war cay. Anchored like pros...missing the underwater power line by about 200 yards, genius... We jumped in the dinghy and checked out the surrounding shallows. Rach saw something black in the distance. I assured her with my keen intellect it was a rock but that I would humor her and drive over. Of course it was a ray which decided to put on a show and jump clean out of the water right in front of us. Rachel is always right. Before heading to bed, while there was still light we drove into the harbor to check out the marina and nearby businesses. We drove through in the dinghy and it reminded us of an old New England fishing town? Very rustic, nothing fancy with a purpose built look and feel. Getting low on gas we decided to fully break in our new dinghy and opened it up for a 15 minute ride back to our boat. We took a route in the Sea of Abaco instead of the inner channel that runs though the harbor that we had come in on. We surfed the 2 foot waves and put the dinghy through its paces. The new Tohatsu engine has started to earn its place among us. Compared to the Yahama that it replaced which came back from the dead after I flipped it in 2010...the Tohatsu has a long way to go, but it's growing on me.