In the dark again!! Lacayan Waterway to Great Sail

Once out onto the Sea of Abaco we were mesmerized by the beauty of the water.  The colors and clarity were amazing. By now I was getting better at enjoying what I saw on the bottom rather than worrying about the fact that I could see it but I still constently check the depth finder. We still faced the decision of what to do about getting to Great Sail Cay. We arrived at Mangrove Cay close to sunset. The water was like glass, no wind and the charts indicated no islands, Cays or other obstructions in our path. We either take a deep breath and go on to Great Sail or we face two very long days ahead arriving at Marsh Harbor late Saturday afternoon.  So on to Great Sail it is!  In the dark! I hate traveling in the dark! Each time we have done it I have said No More! Yet here we go again.  When that sun went down it was pitch black. Our radar and chart plotter were our eyes. I paced across the fly bridge like a nervous cat.  You have no idea how happy I was to see anchor lights and blips on the radar to match our destination waypoint on the chartplotter. Yeah! Except that how do you know how close you are to other boats when all you see is the anchor light on the top of their mast and how do you estimate your distance from land?  Those were my two big somewhat important questions. We watched our depth, guestimated using the chartplotter and dropped anchor. Once we felt the anchor had taken hold we shut off the engines and went to bed. At first light you found out how close or far away you really were. We were a lot closer to land than I thought. By seven in the morning we were moving again headed for Green Turtle Cay.

Sea of Abaco

                                                          Passing Mangrove Cay at dusk

                                                Our first sunset on the Sea of Abaco