Why oh why is everybody going the other way… do they know something we don’t?
Since we have started our homeward trek in earnest, for the last 2 days all we see is traffic going towards the delicious Abacos and we are leaving…
We heard it was snowing in Montreal yesterday….must be it!
We found this marvelous beach that we had not discovered last time, Gilliam Bay, it is at the Southern end of the Cay and we have the kids from “Mysterious Ways” to thank for pointing it out to us… it was a bit of a walk to get there but well worth the effort….
We were rewarded with a very nice little collection of Sand Dollars …16, I think and a few small shells.
H was looking for lobsters but apparently lobster season closed last Saturday, so he never go a chance to use the magic weapon he had been perfecting …..we were on the Sea of Abaco side of the Cay and the tide was too low for us to cross over to the Ocean side where I believe the more beautiful beaches are…. Next time!!!!
Manjack's coast line gives a very good idea of what these islands are made of... coral!!!! the soil layer is only a very few inches which is why they have a very difficult time growing anything... it is amazing to see such hardy natural vegetation actually thriving there.
We were supposed to go to Powell Cay next, where sea biscuits can be found on the beach and J and I were planning on finding a few but yesterday morning the skippers had a meeting on board Soli (after the laptop play date) and given the weather coming up, they decided we should give Powell Cay a miss for this time and just go straight to Great Sale Cay ( our first stop after West End on the way down….) fortunately we had actually bought a couple of Sea Biscuits …. But finding our own will have to wait until next time!
So we plotted a route, some 50 NM which we did yesterday… pretty straight forward, except that D just stood at the helm (although James was driving!!!) for some 8 hours !!! I guess old habits die hard!!!
We anchored in the bight at Great Sale Cay along with quite a few other boats… it seems to be a favourite jumping point in or out… most boats were of the “in” variety and some still had their yellow quarantine pennant which means their had not cleared customs into the Bahamas yet.
It was quite a rock & roll night for Soli the wind was quite strong from the South and coming straight into the bay (the only wind direction this bay has no protection from!!!) .
I got up a couple of times… checked on the dinghy that was bouncing up and down so high on the waves I though it was trying to jump on board Soli… almost made it too!!!
I also checked on our position on the chart plotter to make sure we were not dragging, but that was fine…just gave me an opportunity to read a little more or “The Queen’s Fool”, a sort of sequel to “The Other Boleyn Girl” which we have all enjoyed so much and this one is just as good….have to see what else we can buy written by Phillippa Gregory when we get home…. Highly recommend those two books even if you are not British history fans…
We got up early today 0615 to listen to Chris Parker… could not receive him at all for the first part of his broadcast…. But he finally came in clear and D was able to ask him about today’s passage and he gave us the go ahead as well as a potential window to do “the crossing” back to Florida on Sunday… this is all going far too fast for me but D is now on a “delivery” and wants to make the best of good weather, which I can understand…sort of…I think!!!
It was a good thing I had created all the waypoints and programmed the route into the chartplotter last night because right after talking to Chris, the skippers decided to get a move on and it was a mad scramble to get dinghy on board….finally… it had tried to do it all by itself all night to save us the bother!!! So we are now truly into passage mode now!!!
This brings us to now on this 66 NM passage to West End … we should be there around 1800 something, we cannot take the Indian Pass shortcut this time as we will be there at low tide and since we are almost at full moon the tide swings are the biggest (something else I learned !!!!) So it will be a 10 hour passage… James is driving again but D is actually below…. AWAY FROM THE HELM!!!! Omigosh!!!!! But we are safe as I am up on deck…. Typing away and definitely not looking where we are going!!!!!
Oh island in the sun.... one to dream on!!!
Since we have started our homeward trek in earnest, for the last 2 days all we see is traffic going towards the delicious Abacos and we are leaving…
We heard it was snowing in Montreal yesterday….must be it!
Not sure where D left off on last post, I think we were still on Black Sound, Green Turtle Cay.
We found this marvelous beach that we had not discovered last time, Gilliam Bay, it is at the Southern end of the Cay and we have the kids from “Mysterious Ways” to thank for pointing it out to us… it was a bit of a walk to get there but well worth the effort….
We were rewarded with a very nice little collection of Sand Dollars …16, I think and a few small shells.
Allan.. they are not going in cotton but bubble wrap!!!
Beach combing was wonderful and I kept thinking of the kids and how much they would enjoy finding all the treasures the sea brings to the beaches….
On the dinghy back to Soli, we saw fine examples of mangroves. They are dense and hardy shrubs with the most amazing exposed root system that grows out of salt water.
So we left The Other Shore Club on Black Sound on Tuesday morning after replenishing Soli’s fluids at the dock…. Kevin was there still and we paid him for mooring, showers and fluids taken as last time and were on our way in good time to make it out at high tide.
It was a hop and no skip to Manjack Cay where we dropped our hook in another beautiful anchorage, after lunch we dinghied over to shore and explored … It is supposed to be an almost deserted island whith one house ... we actually saw 3...
H was looking for lobsters but apparently lobster season closed last Saturday, so he never go a chance to use the magic weapon he had been perfecting …..we were on the Sea of Abaco side of the Cay and the tide was too low for us to cross over to the Ocean side where I believe the more beautiful beaches are…. Next time!!!!
He did find this beautiful live conch... it is illigal for non native Bahamians to catch them.... so this one went back into the sea as well ....
More Sea Star rescue... this large one was left high and dry ....
Manjack's coast line gives a very good idea of what these islands are made of... coral!!!! the soil layer is only a very few inches which is why they have a very difficult time growing anything... it is amazing to see such hardy natural vegetation actually thriving there.
We were supposed to go to Powell Cay next, where sea biscuits can be found on the beach and J and I were planning on finding a few but yesterday morning the skippers had a meeting on board Soli (after the laptop play date) and given the weather coming up, they decided we should give Powell Cay a miss for this time and just go straight to Great Sale Cay ( our first stop after West End on the way down….) fortunately we had actually bought a couple of Sea Biscuits …. But finding our own will have to wait until next time!
We had a nice little fish pie for dinner...that was the last of the wahoo supply caught by D&H.
This might be one of the last food pic I will be posting as we are not in cruising mode any longer and my bread making days will be on hold.... back to Kraft dinner or Chunky soup....yuk!!!!
So we plotted a route, some 50 NM which we did yesterday… pretty straight forward, except that D just stood at the helm (although James was driving!!!) for some 8 hours !!! I guess old habits die hard!!!
We anchored in the bight at Great Sale Cay along with quite a few other boats… it seems to be a favourite jumping point in or out… most boats were of the “in” variety and some still had their yellow quarantine pennant which means their had not cleared customs into the Bahamas yet.
It was quite a rock & roll night for Soli the wind was quite strong from the South and coming straight into the bay (the only wind direction this bay has no protection from!!!) .
I got up a couple of times… checked on the dinghy that was bouncing up and down so high on the waves I though it was trying to jump on board Soli… almost made it too!!!
I also checked on our position on the chart plotter to make sure we were not dragging, but that was fine…just gave me an opportunity to read a little more or “The Queen’s Fool”, a sort of sequel to “The Other Boleyn Girl” which we have all enjoyed so much and this one is just as good….have to see what else we can buy written by Phillippa Gregory when we get home…. Highly recommend those two books even if you are not British history fans…
We got up early today 0615 to listen to Chris Parker… could not receive him at all for the first part of his broadcast…. But he finally came in clear and D was able to ask him about today’s passage and he gave us the go ahead as well as a potential window to do “the crossing” back to Florida on Sunday… this is all going far too fast for me but D is now on a “delivery” and wants to make the best of good weather, which I can understand…sort of…I think!!!
It was a good thing I had created all the waypoints and programmed the route into the chartplotter last night because right after talking to Chris, the skippers decided to get a move on and it was a mad scramble to get dinghy on board….finally… it had tried to do it all by itself all night to save us the bother!!! So we are now truly into passage mode now!!!
This brings us to now on this 66 NM passage to West End … we should be there around 1800 something, we cannot take the Indian Pass shortcut this time as we will be there at low tide and since we are almost at full moon the tide swings are the biggest (something else I learned !!!!) So it will be a 10 hour passage… James is driving again but D is actually below…. AWAY FROM THE HELM!!!! Omigosh!!!!! But we are safe as I am up on deck…. Typing away and definitely not looking where we are going!!!!!
Oh island in the sun.... one to dream on!!!
Sorry...the order of the pics got quite messed up in this posting...i tried to fix it and believe it or not gave up!!!
Let's see if I can post a comment
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