We are back at Green Turtle Cay again.
We were down at Spanish Wells on Eleuthera Island preparing for the jump to the Abacos. Our plan was to move out to Egg Island, anchor for the night and leave for the 60 mile jump to the Abacos. It didn't work out that way. About twenty minutes into the move the engine quit again. We had enough wind to sail over to Meeks Patch and set the anchor. Once the engine cooled a bit I started troubleshooting with the help of Jay on Minks. They anchored nearby and came over to help. With his having experiencing the same problems we finally found the bad connection that was causing the shut down. We were ready to leave in the morning.
About 2:00 am Cori was up and restless so she talked me into leaving early. We pulled anchor, motored around the Egg Island cut and set the sails. I went back to bed. We had almost prefect sailing conditions showing speeds of 7-9 knots. As we got closer to Little Harbor inlet the seas were beginning to build. Our early start gave a a great trip. We arrived at Lynyard Cay and dropped anchor near Jera who we had met earlier in the season. The next morning we pulled anchor and moved up to Hopetown. While at anchor at Lynyard Chris and CC on Safari sailed past to say hello. They had rented a mooring in Hopetown for the month and offered it to us for the night. While in town Cori took care of several loads of laundry, got a haircut, then we spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out at the pool at the marina and inn visiting with several other cruisers. The next morning we dropped the mooring and stopped at the fuel dock to top off the tanks and jerry jugs. We sailed up to Scotland Cay to visit Rita who was our basket weaving teacher down at Hog Cay. Fortunately for us they have a dock we could use for the night. After a nice visit, tour of the island and a great meal we headed back to the boat. At high tide the next morning we slipped the dock and headed for Whale Cay. We went around the Whale and continued on to Green Turtle Cay. We refer to "crossing the whale" as you are forced to go around Whale Cay going out one cut into the ocean and back into another due to shallow water. If timed with the right sea and wind conditions it is a pleasant ride. If the conditions are not favorable it can be a dangerous or an impossible trip. We had mild conditions again. It's all about the timing. We anchored off of New Plymouth.
The weather forecast was calling for several days of strong winds and rain showers ranging from northwest clocking around to southwest for the next few days. We moved up to Manjack Cay and anchored to sit out the weather. The forecast was correct and the conditions were not comfortable. At one point we were sure that the anchor had dragged before resetting itself after a wind shift. We spent the time monitoring the chartplotter and anchor alarm to determine if we moved again. For the next three days the winds blew in excess of 20 knots as we rode it out. I was able to take care of a couple of maintenance items and read while Cori worked on making more baskets.
Once the winds had blown themselves out we moved back to Black Sound and tied up at Donny's dock once again. We spent the next days visiting with friends, helping at the marina and working on the projects list. Donny has a boat in the marina that was damaged in the hurricane and it will be taken out and scuttled. Before that can happen we went through it salvaging what we could, especially the winches. We also made several trips for breakfast and lunch at some of our favorite restaurants. We are big fans of the stewed grouper that is offered for breakfast.
After ten days at the dock we wanted to go out exploring for a few days. We moved up to Manjack again but this time we were able to get off the boat to hike the art trail and the ocean trail to the beach on the other side of the island. While there we met several new cruisers and spent some time with them. We had one evening of high winds and rain with the boat near us dragging down on us during the night. These things only seem to happen at night. They did a good job of getting their anchor up without fouling ours and got themselves re-anchored. The next day we moved back to anchor outside of Black Sound again. We dinghied in since Donny had told us he had some things he would need help with. We spent a little time in town and picked up another case of Cuba Libre Mojitos since Cori is not able to get them in the states, they are made in Cuba. The next day we dinghied in again, helped with cleaning out the last of the boat getting it ready to be scuttled then went for lunch in town with the crew of Sienna's Choice. High tide was mid-afternoon and we brought Hi Flite back to the dock. There is forecast for strong winds from the southwest and west for the next couple of days so we will ride it out in the comport of the marina. Of course we have become regulars at the ice cream shop.
We are now checking the weather to make the trip back across the Gulf Stream to the States. Until then we wait for the right conditions.
