week of Jan 23-29 THe Big Blow

Jan 23-28

After we left Allen's Cay we stopped in at Hawksbill, dropped anchor and went ashore. The mosquitoes were getting bad so we went back to the boats. The weather prediction was starting to worry us so we headed down to Sampson's Cay and tucked into a tiny bay beside a closed marina. It's now a resort but when it was open many yeas ago it was very high end. The buildings are well-built, like homes along the Florida coast. The head office is in Maine.

We talked with C-Soul about heading to Blackpoint but thought that with the weather building, that spot would be pretty crowded so we stayed here. We are just north of the "Pig Beach" and Staniel Cay. Just after we anchored, we got a call from Poerava, and two other big cats came into site. They were going to come in as well, but before they could get here, two monohulls showed up and took the last bit of space. And Endangered Species called them to drop down the other two miles to Staniel. The two monohulls are still here with us...Arctic Bear and Sunset Dream'n, both Nova Scotia boats.

So we have been here since the 23rd and it looks like we will be here for a few more days, because this weather is very rough. We are seeing 3 knot winds on our instruments and C-Soul behind is is picking up the odd 40-knot gusts. For three days there have been huge waves rolling out on the banks behind us, and in here there are 1-2 foot waves with white caps!

Gail and I both celebrated our birthdays here.  On the first day we walked the beach and I found another sea bean and a hamburger! I let Gail 'find' the hamburger, but she gave it back to me for my birthday LOL! Actually I found quite a few different ones. We have a book on beach detritus that identifies a lot of the sea beans, along with shells and other stuff.

When it rained we filled the two 5-gal pails and I managed to get lots of laundry done. It dries in a flash in these winds but it takes 3-4 x the number of clothes pegs! So they don't blow away! The winds were blowing so hard he tide couldn't get back into the bay. The supply ship called the resort on Friday and cancelled his trip in! We would try to leave but the residual waves on the Bank are 5-6 feet on the beam and winds still upwards of 2 knots.

So we wait! Everyone in George Town is anxious for me to get there to get the Regatta organized. Although, they are having the same bad weather so events wouldn't be happening anyway. My co-chairs are still stuck in Florida!!  We aren't going to rush anything, especially with Todd here. He's having a good time, swimming and beach walking. Some kids would be good...hopefully there are some there!

I just hope, when it's time to go, we can move! Two anchors out and 2 -20lb kellets, and a handle cranked windlass! Good thing Todd is here! And we're not shovelling it!

Lunch with old friends

Love these guys!

Todd on the inflatable kayak...he loves it!

Wering Rick's wet suit

Beachcombing at Sampson's BEFORE the Blow!

Dinghy trip out to the little island

Todd's bored!

SO close...but no services and PRIVATE- invitation only!!

Mark & Rick looking at dinghy motor...brand new and not working!

Little yellow dot -us; blue dot - C-Soul

My sea bean collection...so far

From Abacos-Eleuthera-Exumas

We headed down to Lynyard Cay around 1 pm and got anchored with about 25 other boats! C-Soul is right beside us. We will head out in the morning for Eleuthera.  Egg Island is the waypoint nda then we tuck around the south side into Royal Harbour.

We anchor in Royal Harbour. around 4 pm and dropped the dnghy. We took a tour around the bay because we'd never been there before. at the east end was a huge fish pond...surrounded by nets. Breeding Pond?. C-Soul came in and dropped anchor behind us.

THe next day was a quiet morning, but dull. All the weather sites sites say a cloudy day and no wind to speak of until tonight. It's tempting to keep moving but we've never been here so we will explore the shore today. There are some interesting beaches although the odds of finding any sea beans are astronomical. They are all in Long ISland waiting for Susan to rescue them.

We will spend some time picking up all the stuff that fell off the shelves in that NOT-SO-PLEASANT crossing. C-SOul are parked behind. There are about 15 boats here...10 of whom were in the pack yesterday.

As we were talking to C-Soul, "Miss MOlly" came up to "welcome us to the harbour" and let us know that the boat behind him had caught fire the day before with a 7-year old trapped in the quarter berth..Dad got her out but burned his face and eyes and spent overnight in the Hospital in Spanish Wells. Guess we didn't have such a bad day after all. We had 4-5 foot swells with a1-2 foot chop on the beam. We left Lynyard at 7:00 amd and had our anchor down 3:45 pm -9 hours. Not so bad really.
And Todd Smethurst caught a barracuda!!!
We decided to spend the day and go exploring. We picked up Gail...Mark hadn't finished his chores so he couldn't go. 

I FOUND ONE!!!! we went exploring to the other side of Royal Island today and found an awesome set of buildings.Walked down the ancient road to the ocean beach and I found a sea bean!!! By myself!!!
This place was built in the '50's as a private estate. In the 2000's someone tried to make it a resort but never succeeded. What a shame..it's an awesome place and we didn't get to explore all of it.!

We left in the early morning and headed down to FLeeming Channel across the lsat of the deep water. Tdd tried again but couldn't manage to catch anything I think the fish couldn't keep up. We were doing 7-8 knots motor sailing. We crossed the Yellow Bank in 8 feet of water through monstrous coral heads. THAT was not fun in a 2 foot swell! 

After we were over the bnk we turned off the motor and sailed that last two hours to Allens' Cay. C-Soul managed to catch a mackerel, so guess what we had for supper!

We got not Allens around 3:30, dropped the anchor in a foot of water [low tide] and lowered the dinghy carefully!  C-Soul was 15 minutes behind us. We all went swimming across the bay to check the anchors and then we went to the beach to meet some old friends!  The island looks good. Today we will do a quick survey of U-Cay to see how it weathered the storms this year. This afternoon we will head to Shroud and tuck in for the night then tomorrow we head to Sampson Cay. There is another nasty storm coming...winds are doable but 8-9 foot seas are not especially across these waters. This is not a good winter!!!

Todd's first catch!

Morning at Royal Harbour, Eleuthera

Live sea urchin- disguised

Live starfish

One of the small buildings 

Steps from the dock up to the buildings

Sea bean - SCORE!!

Water's a bit shallow here LOL

Across to Eleuthera

Sunday Jan 21 - We are at anchor in Royal Harbour, on Royal ISland - part of Eleuthera.

All the weather sites say a cloudy day today and no wind to speak of until tonight. It's tempting to keep moving but we've never been here so we will explore the shore today. THere are some beaches to explore although the odds of finding sea beans is astronomical..they all end up in Long Island waiting for Susan DOnkervoort to rescue them and pick up all the stuff that fell off the shelves in that NOT-SO-PLEASANT crossing. C-SOul are parked behind. There are about 15 boats here...10 of whom were in the pack yesterday.

As we were talking to C-Soul, "Miss Molly" a British sailboat, came up to "welcome us to the harbour" and let us know that the boat behind him had caught fire the day before with a 7-year old girl trapped in the quarter berth..Dad got her out but burned his face and eyes and spent overnight in the Hospital in Spanish Wells. Guess we didn't have such a bad day after all.

We had 4-5 foot swells with a1-2 foot chop on the beam. We left Lynyard Cay, at 7:00 amd and had our anchor down 3:45 pm -9 hours. Not so bad really. So we'll just see who knows what they're talking about when it comes to the forecast.

And Todd Smethurst caught a barracuda!!!

The Catch!

Getting ready to check the anchor- any excuse!

Live sea urchin

Live starfish

Checking C-Soul's anchor too

OtherGoose resting after the crossing- She did most of the work

Reeling it in