Sailing on to Marsh Harbor - March 6 (2 Posts)

Sunday, March 6

Yah!  It's a go ... we are taking on the The Whale today!

After the 8:15 weather report and a flurry of radio calls with a few other boaters who'd been waiting to make the passage as well, we decided to go for it.  What the hell ... we can always turn around and come back!  We're told that it's fairly easy to determine if The Whale is safe to cross ... if all you see is breaking waves, then don't go!

After sitting at anchor for 10 days, it took a little mental reorganizing to get back in moving gear.  Oh yeah, gotta raise the dinghy, stow the motor, put away everything that will go flying when the boat begins to heel....

It took about an hour to get thru the Whale Cay passage ... quite rolly and wet ... the report we got from a boater on the other side was "not too comfortable but doable..."  And we did it!  The swells were running about 4-6 feet, and we had a couple of 8-10 foot waves that broke over the bow (now that's excitement for ya!), but once we cleared the cut and were out in the Atlantic, we were able to set the sails and have a good sail.

Reef in the Whale Cay Passage.  Need to avoid this!

Hard to get steady pictures of waves breaking on the reef on a rocky boat!

Tha Bahamas are basically one huge sand bar ... with some parts sticking up high enough to qualify as islands while other parts have only 2-3 feet of water covering the sandy bottom (at high tide!).  In order to navigate through the Bahamas, there are times when you must cross out to the Atlantic to have enough water under the keel to reach other islands in the chain.  So from the Atlantic, we came back into the Sea of Abaco through Loggerhead Channel, and headed towards Treasure Cay, our destination for tonight. 

The anchorage at Treasure Cay was full (I guess lots of boaters were out moving once the wind calmed down to 15 knots!), so we anchored out in the Sea of Abaco.  Quite a strange feeling to be anchored in 12 feet of water, but 1/2 mile from shore, and to be the only boat out there.  It became even more unnerving when we woke up at 2am to lightening in the distance ... as Dan and I were putting up the enclosure for the cockpit, we were both wishing there were other masts around us (and taller ones!).  Fortunately, the lightening and rain stayed over an island a few miles away from us.

Monday, March 7

Today is the last day of Mikel's journey on Maja.  Good thing our order for ideal sailing weather came through!  South winds, 10knots, would send us all the way to Marsh Harbor on one tack.  Just set all 4 sails, engage the auto pilot, and pass around the beer!  Ahh, life is good today!

We sailed along at about 4 knots, in no particular hurry to reach Marsh Harbor.  We had a slip reserved at the Harbor View Marina, so no worries about finding room at the inn.  However, what we should have been worrying about was low tide, but somehow that managed to escape us until we entered the harbor and the depth sounder started beeping, meaning that we were in 7 ft of water.  The dockmaster assured us we'd be fine ... no worries mon ... you'll just plow through mud ... but Dan was nervous as he threaded though the deepest part of the entrance in 6 ft of water (5.5 feet and we're aground .... eekkk).

But we made it in fine form, including docking between two huge motor yachts and securing our lines around the fixed pilings.  Mikel has missed all the fun of our docking mishaps as Dan has masterfully lined up the boat each time we've had to land on fixed pier.

Following a long, long, long hot shower, Mikel treated us to dinner at the marina restaurant.  Yummm - the special was MahiMahi with a wine/capers sauce, twice baked potatoes and glazed carrots - $18.  So far, we are really liking Marsh Harbor!

After sunset, we returned to the boat to get Mikel ready for his 6:00 am departure tommorw.

The Jack Daniels didn't get finished, but the rest of the vacaction was a success!  Mikel was a generous and gracious guest, and we look forward to a return visit.