Exuma Cruise

 Hi everyone!

Writing to you from Nassau where we arrived yesterday. It was a great few days as my brother in law Mike and our nephew Jonny joined me for an Exuma cruise. They did inadvertently bring some bad weather with them and we hunkered down with high winds and lots of rain for a couple of days. On day 3 the forecast was still rather poor but we decided to shove off anyway. Winds were out of the east at about 20 to 25 and built to near 30 later in the day. We had about 50 miles to get to Dotham Cut and Black Point. We used the engine for about 10 minutes to get out of the anchorage then sailed out the harbor and on to a rough ocean. Started out with sunshine and flying fish. Single reef in the main and the storm jib. Switched over to a working jib a bit later. As the day wore on the weather deteriorated and got windier, and it began to rain. We were on a beam reach and really moving. The seas were in the 6-8 foot range. Mike and Jonny did great. When we were abeam Dotham Cut I dropped the jib and we headed in under just the main. We were taking advantage of the flood tide and we shot thru as if out of a cannon with big seas crashing on the rocks on either side. We left the ocean behind and entered a veritable mill pond which elicited applause from my awesome crew. We circled around and tacked thru the Black Point anchorage, anchoring under sail. It was a very satisfying conclusion to the day.

We had dinner ashore and enjoyed walking around the town the next morning. Later, we sailed up to Staniel Cay and snorkeled the Thunderball Cave at low tide. Dinner ashore at the yacht club. Walked around the lovely town. We decided to skip the swimming pigs. It beats me as to why people obsess about seeing pigs swim. 

Our next sail was to O'brien's Cay, done entirely under sail, although picking up the mooring was touch and go due to the current. We snorkeled and explored ashore. A lovely place. We were next to Johnny Depp's island which he recently sold to JK Rowling. She didn't invite us over.

Next day was off to Warderick Wells. I was able to procure a really choice mooring in the north field. This place is gorgeous and has been featured in countless photos and articles over the years. The Exuma Land and Sea Park is a real treasure and I am so thankful I have been able to visit it over the years. My crew loved the park.

I was a bit worried about approaching weather and so decided to sail next for Allan's Cay. This meant skipping some lovely places but they offered no protection from the south or southwest. We got my usual perfect anchoring spot and went ashore to commune with the iguanas. But the real entertainment began at 9AM the next morning as an armada of high speed tourist boats from Nassau began arriving. But they were all gone before noon. It was a nice lazy day of swimming and vegetating. The next morning we pulled anchor at 0630 and headed for Nassau. Had to motor sail for 3 hours but finally had enough wind to sail the next 3 hours. Nice dinner ashore last night (thanks again Mike!) and some walking about town. We were sad to see Jonny leave today. He was absolutely great fun to have aboard!

Mike and I got some groceries and are at anchor right here in the heart of the harbor. Sadly, very sadly, he leaves tomorrow.

All the best to everyone, Charlie