In the Bahamas at last

3-11-214:  Lake Worth to Great Sale Cay:  A very long day; 118.5 miles.  We were up and ready and at the fuel dock by 07:30 waiting to get fuel.   We were finally on our way by 09:15.  We started out with 1 foot swells on the Atlantic and it was a beautiful, sunny, day.  About noon the swells were about 3 feet on our Starboard.  It wasn’t too bad and it was still warm and sunny; about 85 to 90 degrees.  We were finally able to contact Dream Chaser on the radio about 11:00 and he was about 8 miles ahead of us.  They left about 2.5 hours before us and was traveling with a sail boater; Star Dust.  By them we had reached Memory Rock way point and the water got more shallow.  We went from 2700' to about 15'.  The water changed to a beautiful green and we could see the bottom.  We were going to anchor at Mangrove Cay but every one else wanted to go all the way to Great Sale Cay so we went for it.  We passed Dream Chaser and Star Dust by Mangrove Cay and still had another 43 or so miles to our anchorage.  It was dark by the time we got to our anchorage; 20:15, and very difficult to know how many feet of chain that was going out so I just guessed.  I thought we had about 60' out.  We had very strong winds and waves and we hoped we got a good hold.  There were several other boats in this anchorage.  We had a quick dinner and were in bed by 22:00.

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CO’s comments: XO did a hell of good job of setting the anchor at 0 dark 30.  This was our first time anchoring after dark with high winds to boot. 

1st Mate’s comments: Pretty rocky ride! I got a little queasy and had to lie down for a few hours.

3-10-2014:  Watching Cruise Ship leaving port in North Palm Beach

3-11-2014:  First Sun set in Bahamas

3-12-2014, Great Sale Cay to Spanish Cay:  We had a very windy and wavy night.  Didn’t sleep very well as I worried about the anchor holding. There was some confusion as to the time this morning.  We knew we were on Eastern time, but didn’t know if the Bahamas were on daylight savings time; they are.  We were up at 06:00 and left by 07:30.  There was mass exodus from our anchorage in Great Sale Cay as the weather report was for storms this evening.  There were 10 boats in all.  It took us quite a while to get our anchor up so all that worrying about the anchor holding was for nothing.  We had a little rain storm about 09:30 by the “West End Rocks” but after that the sun came out again.  It was very warm but windy the rest of the day.  We got to Spanish Cay by 12:30 and checked in to Customs by 13:30.  We ate at the restaurant this evening with Dream Chaser; Steve and Mary.  We had conch for the first time and we liked it.

CO’s comments:   The winds during the night were 20 to 30 mph.  Our new anchor held just great.  I was only up once during the night to check it and was sound to sleep after that.

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3-12-2014  Sun Rise in Great Sale Cay

3-12-2014  Cleared customs, no longer need the Yellow Quarantine flag.  Now proudly flying the courtesy flag of the Bahamas; Kim Jo IV at Spanish Cay Marina

3-12-2014   Steve and Mary Chase and Keith, Bobbie, and Sharon at Spanish Cay Marina

3-13-214: Non-travel day; Spanish Cay, Sea of Abaco: We had a rockin and rollin night again last night with winds a good 30 mph.   Slept in this morning for a change; it was very nice.  Our friends in Dream Chaser left this morning and there were still strong winds.  Hope they made it OK.  It was a quiet day.  We went to both beaches and looked for shells and then went to the pool and hot tub after.  We will be anchoring out for the next 2 to 3 days so we will not be posting again until our next marina.

CO’s comments: I now know why Jim from Blue Angle would rather anchor out than be tied to a dock with 30 mile an hour winds.  The night before all we did is rocked and rolled and last night we rocked, rolled, crashed, banged, jerked, and the waves were hitting our stern instead of our bow making lots of noise.  The harbor break wall here is non-existent at high tide.

1st Mates comments: Interesting eating conch in the evening, then finding a conch shell the next day with the conch looking out at you, wiggling around.

3-13-2014:  Picking shells

3-13-2014:  Beach on the Sea of Abaco

3-13-2014:  Spanish Cay Marina