That resounding crash you heard last night followed by a clap of Thunder was our weather window slamming shut.
Yesterday morning we watched as two of the boats anchored over at Frasiers Hog pulled out. I occasionally read the blog of the one boat so I knew they were headed across the banks to go back to the US. The last weather we had looked at indicated that the day was to be squally. Our forecast was that the squalls would clear by early Monday, leaving light winds which would build from the East on Tuesday.
Apparently the frontal system moved a bit slower than expected and stalled. We awoke to very gray skies. I hopped on the SSB to get Chris Parker's weather but the propagation was dismal. Fortunately we had good cell signal and some data plan left so I logged into the webcast. Yikes! Chris was reviewing the radar which looked downright ugly with bands of squalls moving from Southern Florida eastward right across the 25th to 26th latitudes. Right where we were slated to travel. The predicted wind in the squalls could be from any direction and in the 30 knot range. The southern gulf stream crossing on Tuesday would start out in the 12 to 15 knot range from the East and build up to 25 gusting to 30 with seas in the 6 to 8 foot range with a 3 second interval. In other words nasty, by 4 or 5 PM.
I pondered this for a bit. If we got up and left fairly quickly we could probably make Ft. Lauderdale before the sea state became too horrible, but I was concerned about the bands of squalls we might encounter on the banks. Time for a discussion with the captain. He was of the mind we should not try to cross. We don't have any commitments that require our return. We did both agree though we could not stay where we were. The anchorage was miserable in a South wind and we had already spent 3 days of tossing from side to side. Every time the tide changed the current switched and we rocked and bobbed like a carnival ride. Add to the fact there was no place to be able to get to land and have a break from it had us whining like school girls. (ok so me mostly)
We had three choices, travel the 50 nm to Bullocks Harbor in the Northern Berrys, cross the 35nm of the Northwest Providence channel to Nassau in the Southeast, or go 15 NM southwest across the Northwest Providence channel to Morgan's Bluff. The other islands in the Berrys chain that were closer offered no more protection than what we currently were enduring. The weather was coming from the Southwest direction. Bullocks Harbor appealed in that we would be traveling North and supposedly the weather got better the farther North you got. We also would not lose any westward progress we had made. However 50 nm is a 10 hour day at best and in not so good weather, kind of unappealing. Nassau would be a 7 hour trip and we'd have to find a dock. A look at the sky in the direction of Nassau made us nix that idea. The least distance, the fact we knew the harbor and would be able to get protection from the South and some from the east made our decision to head to Morgan's Bluff.
Scott got the topsides cleared to haul up the dingy and motor (in the rain) while I got down below ready for travel. We were getting ready to depart when a squall with thunder and lightning came through so we paused and made coffee. At 0909 the anchor was up and we were underway. Seas were a bit confused once we got into the channel and the wind was on our nose. It was lumpy but not undoable and the further south we progressed the seas calmed. Wind was on our nose so we didn't bother with the sails. It was slow going battling the waves and current. We had no issues finding a spot with only 3 other boats in the harbor. The anchor was down and set by1320. Three other boats have arrived after us two of which were at Frasiers Hog Cay.
The anchorage is blissfully quiet and we are sitting calmly at our anchor. The blasted green head flies are still here. I was hoping they had a season like the black flies back home but if they do it's not over yet. We have the dingy deployed but haven't been to shore yet. It is still raining off and on and more than likely we won't go ashore today.
Looking at the forecast I am not seeing a weather window for quite a while. Chris was frustrated this morning because it looks to be a squally windy week, not good for travel. It may be a week or more before we can leave here. We will limp by with the generator helping out the batteries. Our provisions are still in good shape but we are out of fresh produce. We certainly won't run out of breakfast cereal or crackers! It might not be the healthiest diet but we won't starve. If we can get a ride into town and back we can supplement our stock. Most importantly we have beer LOL. The captain was anxious about that until I showed him the last stash.
This Schooner came in shortly after us, her crew seems to be a large group of teens, sea scouts perhaps?