We woke at 7 am. Mark and I walked to Solomons grocery store and picked up a few things – mainly fresh vegetables and bread. We walked back and put our veggies in the fridge.

Mark walked up to the marina office and checked us out. I stayed with the boat. Mark returned and took the spinnaker out of the storage locker on the starboard side of the boat. He got all of the lines set. Our plan was to leave at 9:30 am.

We flagged down the dock hand to help with lines. Mark also asked Valkyrie for help getting out of our slip. Mark started both engines and was able to back out of our slip and out to the channel.

Mark called the Port Control to let them know we were leaving. They thanked him. There were several boats in the harbor on the move, putting out lots of wake. We motored under the highest peak of the bridge to Paradise Island. There was a freighter parked to our the left, sticking out into the channel. Mark had just enough room to go under the second span and miss them. I took the helm while Mark removed all the extra lines and fenders and stored them in the port forward locker.

There were four cruise ships in port – two Royal Caribbean, one Disney and one Carnival. A ship coming into the channel with a barge in tow, chose to past us on the starboard side, so that meant we were motoring very close to Allure of the Seas. There were several guests sitting on their balconies and most of them waved to us.

There were waves breaking over the rocks on the starboard side of the channel in front of the lighthouse. There was also a large freighter enter the port. The captain radioed Mark and Mark verified we would pass Port to Port. Once clear of the entrance, the waves were around 4 feet high.

Mark set up the spinnaker sail and we were making speeds of 7-8 knots with the big waves coming from the starboard aft. We had to hang on when moving around the boat. Our speeds increased at lunch time and we were making up to 12 knots, which was way too fast for timing our arrival at Bond Cay.

By 1 pm, Mark took the spinnaker down. The wind was gusting at 23 knots and the seas were 6-8 feet. I was grateful that Mark stayed with the boat, as it was difficult to do anything. Once the spinnaker was packed away, Mark unfurl part of the genoa sail. We were sailing at 5 knots, which was still too fast.

So, Mark reefed the genoa to almost nothing and we were still making 3-4-5 knots running down the swells. He started doing a zig-zap pattern to slow us down. The waves felt more gentle at the slower speed of 2-3-4 knots.

The waves were breaking on the rocks on South end of Bond Cay. We motor/sailed around the and to a more protected location. It was low tide and we saw depths of 5 feet, but eventually got to over 6 foot. We saw the sailboat, Calypso, already anchored and received waves from the people onboard.

The water was flat and very colorful greens and blues. The gusts reduced to 13 knots. It was such a relief after being on the open water with such huge waves. At times the waves reached up to 8-10 feet. Ugh. We didn’t see any other boats on the water after the Nassau Harbour area.

So happy to be in calm waters. Mark said he’s ready for a drink and for sure it’s time for a long rest.