Woke up before the 6 am alarm and Mark turned on Starlink to get weather. Then we got dressed and worked on getting the boat ready to leave. The timing would include high tide through the inside Don’t Rock Passage.

Mark hauled anchor at 6:30 am, while I manned the helm. We followed another boat on our route (called Dias). Robin made a call out to Hope Town and Mark talked to her. They were heading into the Don’t Rock Passage, as they looked at the Inlet and it was too rough on the ocean. They needed just over 4 feet and made it through okay. Mark had the jib up and one engine running. Our speed was 6 to 7 knots. As we got close to the entrance at Whale Cay, the waves were up to 5 feet high at times. We got rocked, which slowed us down and then the next big wave accelerated us. We passed the Don’t Rock on the Don’t Rock Passage and the water level dropped to 6 feet, the lowest depth we saw. We were both wearing heavy jackets, long pants and I wore my toque and gloves as the cold wind was blowing at 15 knots from the NE.

Mark calibrated the Knot Meter from Kilometers/Hour and changed it to Knots. We had to be moving to do the calibration.

I made a Whatapp call with a group of friends, but had to drop off early as Mark needed me at the helm while he furled the jib. We were close to the entrance to Marsh Harbor. It was just before 10 am. We motored into Marsh Harbor and there were more boats on mooring balls and anchored, than we expected to see. There was plenty of room for more boats.

Mark motored to the marina gas dock and got us close enough for me to toss the front line to the dock hand. Then I tossed the aft line as well and Mark was able to land us at the dock. We needed only needed 15 gallons of fuel.

There was lots of damage in this area of the Bahamas from the last hurricane. They completely rebuilt the docks at the marina. We found a place close to the marina and anchored. We planned to launch the dinghy and go to shore, which we did after eating lunch.

There were many ship wrecks along the shore line. We dinghied to the public dock and walked a few blocks to Maxwell Grocery Store. It was a busy place and big enough to have anything we needed.

We walked back and stopped for an ice cream, as the sun was hot on land. Then, Mark walked up to the boat store and I talked with some fellow Canadian cruisers who are anchored close to us. We dinghied back to Sunnyside and unloaded our purchases, before showering and starting a load of laundry. The bright sunshine topped up our batteries.

It’s nice and calm here as the wind dropped and shifted to the East. It should stay comfortable overnight. Mark is researching our next stop. We will most likely continue South tomorrow.