Feb. 8-11

Feb. 8 - 9
(Happy Birthday Mom!)

What a wonderful sail from Rock Sound Harbour to Governor's Harbour.  We covered 27 miles in just over 4 hours.  That was an avg of 6.5 nm/hr with just the jib.  The water was a little wooly, but it was such a treat not to have the engine running.   I'm really liking Eleuthera.  Until you get up close, it really looks a lot like home with the hills and trees.  Even the architecture is similar to home with a lot of the houses sporting dormered windows and covered porches.  We were all very sad to only have time to spend one day in Governor's Harbour.  It is a very pretty little town and even though we had a quick walk around today, it would have been nice to see more.  There are a lot of little gift shops and boutiques that were closed, being Sunday, that I would have liked to check out.  Guess it just gives us a reason to come back next year.

We had to cut our visit short due to the impending front headed our way.  They are forecasting westerly winds at 25-30 kts with possibility of 40-50 kts in squalls.  There are not a lot of places in the Bahamas that can offer good protection from Westerly blows, but Royal Island is one and it is just 40 miles from Governor's Harbour.

We were a bit surprised when we walked by the grocery store and saw that they open in the mornings at 6:30.  We now know why they go to work so early, after we were awakened by the horrendous crowing of 500 (maybe an exaggeration, but not by much) roosters at 5:30 this morning. No one could sleep through that racket.  We left anchor at 8:15 am and 3 minutes after the anchor was up, we put on the automatic pilot and made a straight 31 mile run to Current Cut.  We knew there was not going to be much wind today, so there was no thought of putting up any sails.   Turned out there was not even a wiff of wind for the first 6 hours.  The water was like a sheet of glass.  Greg and I sat up on the bow enjoying the smooth ride and watching the jellyfish go by.  We were in 30' of water and we could see the bottom so clearly.  It still amazes me.
We had read a bit about Current Cut and the currents that flow through it, with everyone advising to time the passage carefully as the current can be 4-8 kts.  We were a little nervous as we were getting conflicting information as to the best time to go through, and even when the tide was high or low.  It seems all our worrying was for not.  Yes, there was a good current, but we passed through with ease, going with the current at 7.5 knots, and continued the next 8 miles without incident to enter Royal Island Harbour, a great little hurricane hole.  There are 8 boats here to ride out the weather with us tomorrow.

Feb. 10

Oh My!!  We just survived our first Bahamian White Squall.  It hit last night around 2:00 am.   First the rain, then amazing flashes of lightening and crashes of thunder.  Then the storm really hit.  The wind was howling and the rain was beating so hard on the deck we could barely hear ourselves talk.  At one point, we thought we were going airborne.  The wind threw the boat sideways and then back the other way.  I checked the anenometer after that gust and we were at 43knots, so we're guessing we must have hit 50 knots with the last gust.  Thank you Chris Parker for the heads up weather forecast! This was definitely an eye opener and something I don't want to go through again.  Part of the problem was that it happened at night and we were totally blind as to what was going on outside.  We used the spotlight but could not see the shoreline.  The best we could do was keep an eye on the other anchor lights and pray none of them got any closer. All I can say is....I love our Rochnar and those magazines that said it was not the best anchor for holding in sand are full of shit!
Oh My!!  ( have I said that already). 24 hours of awful!  The winds have barely let up, although they are not going over 30 knots.  It's been very uncomfortable and can't wait to get off the boat for a rest.  The noise is definitely the worst part.

Feb. 11

At last, the winds have died down enough for us to leave and make the 5 mile run to Spanish Wells.  What a beautiful place....like coming into Lunenburg Harbour.  Quaint little cottages painted bright colours and the harbour is filled with fishing boats.  People are great and everything is so clean...a nice change from the rest of the Bahamas.  Love it here.