By the time we woke up in the morning the wind was blowing out of the south and small waves were building in the anchorage. Since the forecast said the wind would clock through the west to the north all day and not get to the north east (where there is good protection there) until late tomorrow morning, our decision to leave was confirmed. We hoisted the main at anchor and were out of the anchorage before 7 AM.

We ended up motor-sailing almost the whole way back. Our route took us northeast and then directly east. The wind was south-southwest when we left and kept moving more westerly all day, so it was always off the stern. It was also stronger than we expected and blew from 15 to 20 knots all day. It was fine sailing, but we don't think it would be any fun in that anchorage. Between Long Island and the Jumentoes is a huge area of shallow sand flats. Some of it even dries at low tide. Leading through this is a wide, shallow channel that runs close to east-west. That's called the Comer Channel. We noticed that the waves on the Great Bahama Bank were building all day. As we approached the Comer Channel they were probably in the three to four foot range. Then as we got into the shallows they decreased and never built back up east of the Comer Channel. We think that anchorage at Flamingo Cay is pretty uncomfortable now, and will be all night long. We're very happy to be back at Thompson Bay and just hope our friends are all right back in the anchorage.

We came 58 miles by the log today. The mile difference in the measured distance is due to current. We had no trouble and were anchored and buttoned down by 3:30 this afternoon. We're in just about the same place we were two days ago, but now we're facing the west. The wind is blowing and it's wavy here, but the wind is already behind the point of land that forms the west side of this bay, and the waves are not much more than a foot. There is excellent holding here (anchors tend to stay where put) so we feel very secure. It was rough taking Fuzzy ashore, we both got soaked. If the wind is closer to the north in the morning it will be better.

It was a lot of work sailing 60 miles two days in a row, so tomorrow we will rest. Monday, if it's not too rough (and the wind is supposed to move to the east, so this bay should be fairly calm) we will replenish the water and fuel we've used and if the forecast looks OK we will head back to the Jumentoes on Tuesday. Since the Long Island Breeze isn't open on Sunday or Monday I may not get to post any pictures before we take off again. I didn't take many. You really can't capture the vast expanse of water and sky with a camera, and the distant shores which are interesting as you sail by are just lines and dots in a picture. Hopefully we'll get back to the Jumentoes and stay long enough to see a bit of it and get some pictures to post.