We left our anchorage about seven thirty in the morning. Another beautiful day. Warm, sunny and mild winds. Before long we caught up with three other boats. A trawler and two sailboats. Low and behold it was Little Mick and his two friends. Remember we shared an anchorage with them at Little Shark river then again at Lake Sylvia. They were the group that left for West End at 6:30 am. We talked with them on the radio and decided to slow down and join them for the trip in to Green Turtle. In the early afternoon the winds kicked in enough to allow the sailboats to sail rather than motor sail. They were thrilled and it was fun to watch them gracefully move through the water. The harbor entrance to Green Turtle was a major discussion for the two sailboaters as they discussed whether they would need to wait until high tide to go in. We found the depths to average seven foot which was good for them. Mick and his friends went into the marina. Tom and I anchored out in the harbor. Later we found out that when you stay at the marina you can eat and drink up to the cost of your slip per night so if the slip was eighty dollars you had eighty dollars of credit at the restuarent. Not a bad deal especially with beers being five dollars and mixed drinks seven. We met the members of the other three boats for coctail hour then went back to our boat for dinner. They had decided to stay at Green Turtle for a few days, we were heading out for Marsh Harbor Saturday morning.
Monday, March 12, 2012
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.
Passing Mangrove Cay at dusk
Our first sunset on the Sea of Abaco
Sea of Abaco
Feb. 16th The Grand Lucayan Waterway
The Grand Lucayan Waterway is a man made canal that cuts across Grand Bahama Island a few short miles from Port Lucaya. Once through the waterway we would be on the Sea of Abaco and only two days from our destination of Marsh Harbor. The waterway is shallow and would require our timing our exit at Dover sound to a rising tide. The waterway was built with high hopes of developing this area of Grand Bahama Island. Owners would have the best of both worlds as they would have access to The Sea of Abaco and the Atlantic. Unfortunately it never really got off the ground. There was not enough money to keep it dredged along with other financial difficulties. We passed few homes and many many more that were partially built and abandoned. There were also many lots for sale. Tom and I thought the area held much promise. There were many indentations cut out along the waterway which meant that the homes could have their own dock built. The waterway is only about 7 miles long. It would be a short ride or should I say should have been. When we were near Dover Sound, our exit, Toms tide calculations indicated we needed to wait a couple of hours for the rising tide. We anchored in one of the indented areas to relax and wait. We decided to take the kayaks out and explore the exit to familiarize ourselves with any tricky spots. We enjoyed the current as it took us swiftly toward Dover Sound. Not so much fun was trying to get back to the boat. This is when we realized we had missed the rising tide and were fighting the tide as it was going out! At one point we were paddling as hard as we could and not moving forward and if you stopped for a second to regroup you lost a kayaks length in distance that you had worked so hard to get. For a few minutes I seriously began to think my arms would not hold out long enough to make it back to the boat. Once back on the boat we looked at each other and remarked, "not the smartest thing we have ever done". We ended up sitting around until 4:30 pm so that we had enough water to get through to the Sea of Abaco. We have a four foot draft and there were a couple of four foot two spots that we coasted through while holding our breath, but we did fine. Because of the time delay we were faced with a new dilemma. We could only make it to Mangrove Cay(pronounced key) by dark and we really needed to get to Great Sail Cay Why? Two more good days of weather were predicted before high winds blew in and I had a flight home booked for Sunday morning from Marsh Harbor. I know you are not supporsed to have a schedule when traveling by boat because of the weather but I was not going to miss my Grandsons first birthday party. As frustrating as the tide problem was we were glad we traveled through the Waterway. It was really interesting.
The Lucayan Waterway was narrow
You must stay at center because of the rocks on both sides
We never met a boat coming the other way - thankfully
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