May 12-13

May 12, 2:30

OK, we broke the string and left Georgetown this morning. We were quite touched to hear all the good wishes called over the radio and the conch horns blowing as we left!!! We have made some fabulous acquaintances who will hopefully become friends when we return. 

We only traveled about 5 miles today, and although the weather called for isolated squalls and winds gusting to 25 mph we managed to miss the one squall that crossed our path. We were going slower than it was.  We sailed [no motor] around 5 knots with the 12-15 knot wind and waves on our starboard quarter until Rick managed to get the drive up. For some reason it works when we are sitting still but it is much more difficult  to lift out of the water underway. Anyway, once he got it raised [and I was driving] I managed 6.5 knots. Now when we lift the dinghy with these conditions, we should be even faster!

The waves were something else today…it’s been awhile since we were out in open water but they were about 2 meters and the current was strong! We came through a narrow cut [Adderly Cut] hoping that the Banks would be quieter but it was not to be. The winds in here are 20 knots and REALLY ANNOYING! It’s going to be a rocky night. The only reason we stopped here is that there is apparently an abandoned research station here that one can tour… they still even have computers in the buildings. I find it had to believe that it has been abandoned because there is a truck parked next to it but we’ll go and see anyway.

There are three other boats in here with us and 50% of us are Canadian!  

7:30 pm  OK .. it’s not a Canadian boat… well, it is. It’s a chartered Canadian boat but the boaters are from the Chesapeake. They rented the boat in Emerald Bay for 10 days. We stopped to see where they were from,and they invited us back for a drink after we went to shore, so we got our boat cards and a drink and went back to visit for about an hour. Bob and Julie Neaderthal  from Tennessee and Joe and Diane Jackins from Maryland, really nice people! 

The research station is a horror! There are reports scattered all over the desks; an old laptop that has a broken case; a PC monitor; tons of reference books, filing cabinets…on and on. It was a US gov’t funded station NOAA and why it wasn’t turned over to the Bahamas government to be run as an education centre or something like that I beyond me! It has Private property signs all over the place, but the building are not secure and it could be saved if someone does something soon. OK… off the soapbox.

This area is very reminiscent of the north of Georgian Bay and the North Channel… low flat scrub areas with a few tall trees, except they are palms.  And there is cell service!!

May 13: this morning we are moving on to the next island…may only sail for a couple of hours but we are looking for a quiet anchorage with more exciting snorkeling. And to get closer to Allen’s Cay for the weekend. For some reason the air here feels like it’s getting cooler, which is good… it keeps the mosquitoes away. Ttyl  
PS I would LOVE to post pictures but for some reason again it's taking hours to complete the download. Maybe when we get to  a more populated area I will try someone else's internet!