Month: February 2021

With another storm coming through we decided not to stay at Emerald Bay where we were rocking in calm weather let alone 40mph winds. We had missed Rudder Cay on the way down and decided it would be a good place to go. Riding out a storm at anchor is sometimes easier than at a marina because you are always facing into the wind and you’re not banging the docks ruining lines and fenders. You just need to have faith in your anchor system and a good anchor alarm.

Just as we were getting ready to enter Rudder Cay Cut who showed up on our Garmin but Counting Stars AND Kohina. We all met and got to know each other at Port City Marina last summer. We played catch up on the radio as everyone was going in a different direction.

Rudder Cay is one of the islands owned by David Copperfield. It is deserted but the water is beautiful. We dropped the dinghy and went for a ride around the lagoon, checked out the caves and snorkeled the piano sculpture. We saw a beautiful heron, a turtle and a couple fish. It’s interesting that here in The Bahamas we haven’t seen a lot of fish which means there aren’t that many birds. We think it’s because reefs are scarce on the leeward side of the islands.

Remembering how difficult it is to raise the dinghy in windy weather we tucked it away while the day was still nice. Good thing as next morning the winds got fierce and we suffered through lots of rain. At least the boat got clean but we didn’t get much sympathy from friends and family up north where it is snowing and below freezing.

There were four boats anchored along the shoreline when the storm started but only three part way through. We never saw the sailcat leave and don’t know where it went. Hopefully it left under power and didn’t just drift off!

After twenty four hours of wind and rain things settled down and the sun came back out again. One of the things about being in The Bahamas in January and February are the storms. Every time there is a storm in the US it works it’s way down and we get crazy winds. There is another storm forecast for next week so we’ll need to make sure we’re in a protected place again.

Tomorrow we’ll move back up to Staniel Cay to provision and do some snorkeling. We may even wait out the next blow there as the anchorage has great holding and lots of room.

We spent eight days anchored off Sand Dollar Beach on Stocking Island. It was great because we were a relatively short dinghy ride from Georgetown, home of Exuma Market, a good grocery store. I define a grocery store as one that has carts. Markets do not have carts. Exuma Market gets restocked several times a week so we were able to get fully provisioned before leaving.

We also scored a data brick from ALIV which will give us extensive wifi service for the rest of our trip instead of relying on GoogleFi or marina wifi which is usually non-existent. That means we are back to watching Netflix. Yea!

While in Georgetown we were able to reconnect with friends from Port City Marina, Linda and Kevin, as well as friends we had made at Cave Cay, Bob and Deb.

The weather has not been conducive to make the jump over to Rum Cay or Conception so we decided to move back up the Exuma chain until we get a weather break and then we’ll skedaddle over to Eluthera for the last part of this trip.

So today finds us at Emerald Bay Marina where we’ve been for a couple days. We have managed to get two days of golf in as well as a few good meals at the local resort restaurant. Tomorrow we will move to Rudder Cay in anticipation of the next blow and anchor out.

Cruising on a boat, the bad days are really bad and the good days are really good. Luckily the good days outweigh the bad by a factor of about twenty to one. Sometimes the bad days are due to things totally out of your control but sometimes they are somewhat self inflicted.

For example, we anchored out at Blackpoint Settlement for a couple days last week. The anchorage was a little rolly but we figured it was worth it because we could get the dinghy down, go to the little town and have lunch and get some provisions. We found a great restaurant with arguably the best grouper in the islands. Unfortunately the supply boat had not arrived yet so the market was picked clean of any fresh vegetables or fruit. That was Saturday and they expected the supply boat the next day. So back to the boat. We had dinner on land the next night and left the dinghy down in anticipation of hitting the market first thing in the morning prior to making a run to Cave Cay marina ahead of the really big blow from the west expected that evening.

By Monday morning the winds were starting to kick up and the boat was rocking and rolling like a bad amusement park ride. Just getting on and off the dinghy was a bit of a challenge but we did it and grabbed some provisions to see us through the next week. Back at the boat the real challenge was to get the dinghy back up on top without serious injury. We did it but not without some bumps and bruises as well as a few choice expletives during the process. This was self inflicted as we weren’t going to starve if we didn’t get provisions.

Onward to Cave Cay and a marina to shelter us from the west winds blowing in. Every time we enter a new to us marina it is with a little trepidation as you never know what to expect. The channel entrance was narrow and shallow so we were trying to get there close to high tide. That also meant we were one of the last boats to come in to what turned put to be a full marina. We ended up on a short side dock about twenty feet from the shore with no electric or water hookup. The up side was we were with a fun group of people who partied every evening. So we socialized a little and met some new friends.

The weather calmed down after three days and we headed out to Farmers Cay with the intention of having lunch and looking around. Unfortunately it was a little rough and remembering the last dinghy retrieval we opted instead to go down to Georgetown about 45 miles south and put in there for awhile. 

We’re now sitting at anchor at Sand Dollar Beach just across the channel from the town of Georgetown. Chat & Chill (an iconic Stocking Cay restaurant) is a short dinghy ride. It’s calm, quiet and the water is beautiful. I think we’ll stay here for awhile.