Monday
This morning, our 3 boats listened to the weather on the cruisers
net. We all decided we still wanted to go to Snake Cay even though
tomorrow night doesn't sound too promising. Today is predicted to be 5-10
mph out of the west at 72 degrees and tonight basically the same but a low of
65.....sounds great! We all agreed to head back tomorrow unless the
morning weather report improves. Tuesday has a 70% chance of rain with
20-30 mph winds out of the NE. We'll just have to wait and see! We
left the dock at 10:20 am after Circe II backed away from her slip. The
winds were perfect for each of us to raise our sails heading out of the harbor
and as soon as we made our turn to starboard to Matt Lowes Cay we were sailing
wing-on-wing! What an awesome sight!!
Turning south around Matt Lowes Cay
we sailed beside Sugar Loaf Cay and then west to Boat Harbor....south again
being sure to steer clear of Lubbers Bank to Witches Point. From here, it
was an easy ride to Snake Cay, our destination! What a beautiful day with
perfect winds....Once we got where we wanted to anchor, the bottom posed quite
a challenge to get our anchor to set in what looked like a sandy bottom…..sandy
yes, but in many of these patches there was also sandstone or gravel. After a few tries each, our boats seemed set
and secure for us to go exploring.
We
were all anxious to motor around the ‘dock’ into Snake Cay Inlet and then into
the shallows between the Great Abaco Island and these smaller outlying
cays. This water is suppose to abound
with turtles, rays, starfish, and fish.
We had a great time looking over the sides of the dinghy into the water
and now wished we had a ‘look bucket’.
Chuck and I saw 2 rays, no turtles, and quite a few large orange-red
starfish. It would have been easier to see the bottom if the wind weren’t
blowing and creating ripples across the surface of the water. The water was too cold to snorkel
today!! Because of the out-going tide,
we had to head back to our boats or soon we might not have enough water for our
dinghies!! Happy hour/appetizers for
tonight all of a sudden turned into a pot luck dinner on Circe II…Rita’s idea.
She had made stuff cabbage and coleslaw and wanted to share it with us. She a one super gal…and cook! Irene made mac and cheese, and Chuck grilled
kielbasa while I decided at the last minute to bake an Apple Cinnamon Bread
that I’ve been dying to try! Dinner was
at 6:00. In the meantime while my bread
was baking, the wind died and the water around us was perfectly flat. Chuck called me up on deck and when I looked
over the boat, I could see everything that was on the bottom….11 feet down….it
was that crystal clear. David said that
it was ‘mystical’ in our own private anchorage!!When we got together on Circe
II, we all agreed that this was probably the cleanest, clearest water we’ve all
been in. The meal came together
fabulously. Everything was
outstanding....even my Apple Cinnomon Bread.
I can always tell if it’s good when David and Billy want a piece for the
next morning!! LOL It is so dark out
tonight. I’ve never seen so many
stars…even more than what we see in the OBX.
We are also getting a sparkling show from the phosphorous floating in
the water. It truly is mystical
here! Back on our own boat, Chuck got
his flashlight and we walked around the deck looking down into the water. We can still see everything in the water, on
the bottom. Hopefully tomorrow’s weather
improves so we can stay at Snake Cay one more day.
Tuesday
We woke up this morning and so wanted the Cruiser’s Net to give us
an improved weather report….it didn’t happen!
The winds are to be 15-25 mph during the day and higher tonight. The chance of rain is still 70% . It’s sure not looking very good. After the net, the 3 boats called back and forth. Circe wanted to stay for a few hours to get
some more exploring in and then stop behind Matt Lowes Cay to maybe do some
fishing. We knew with S winds, that we’d
have a challenging time maneuvering into our dock at 20 mph and really ugly at
25 mph. The winds are light at the
moment, so we hoped that the sooner we hauled up the anchor and headed out,
maybe we’d beat the high winds. Whisper
decided to head out also. We left our
anchorage at 9:30 and knew we wouldn't have to be too careful dog-legging it
around Lubbers Bank because high tide is at 11:14 am this morning.
Whisper and Happy Hours II both decided to fly
only our head sail because we didn't want to have our main up and be slammed
with an unexpected 25 mph gust. We still
were cruising at a good clip with the winds first blowing over our stern and
then our starboard side. Once we got to Matt Lowes Cay and made out turn SW, we
had to furl our jib because the wind now was blowing like a banshee pretty much
on our nose. When we started out this
morning, the water had ripples on the surface, progressed to a chop, and now we
have 3 footers. Chuck and I both
commented that if this were Lake Erie with these winds, we’d be motoring into
5-6 foot waves, if not bigger! Our poor
little dinghy. We were dragging it and
now it was bouncing like a bobber!! When we entered Marsh Harbour, the waves
subsided a bit but the winds increased.
I called the Jib Room a few minutes before we docked to let them know that we needed assistance at the
dock. Normally, Jason is the only one who comes to help. Today, we had Jason,
Desmond, and Mitch. Chuck did a fine job and put Happy Hours II close to the dock, but the before the guys could hand me any lines, the wind gusted and
pushed us away. We had to be muscled
back. It wasn't pretty but we docked
without hitting anything! About an hour later,
Billy and Ilene came motoring into the harbor. We walked around and over to their dock. They had decided to just anchor out until the
winds calmed down a bit, but when they saw us on their dock, they decided to
‘just do it’! Billy did a fine job
keeping the bow of their boat into the wind and with our help, they safely docked Circe II.
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