19 and 20, Jan 2016

Wednesday:  the wind is still 25 from the NE so no trip to Georgetown.  We need to be there by Friday to meet Cousin Veronica. The only entrances to Georgetown are on the Sound Side (East) and the NE wind is making quite a sea.  It was noticeably cooler today with the passing of the front, so no swim today.  Kathy did some computer work and I switched out the anchor rodes, adding some new chafe gear in the process.

     We decided to get underway after lunch and make another shallow draft passage on the bank side while the tide was up.  This time our route brought us zig-zagging several miles West of the island chain, far enough away to give us a 2-3 foot chop in the shallows.  We did manage to get into 4 feet of water for several parts of the trip, so I doubt many of the sailing vessels will use this route.  Eventually we rounded the weather side of Normans Pond Cay and came down the lee side of Lee Stocking Cay passing the main anchorage where there were a dozen sailors anchored, to a quiet cove halfway down the island, where we anchored alongside a sloop called “Beans”.  We accomplished two things, a new anchorage and 8 miles less to travel tomorrow, when the conditions sound better for transiting the sound.

Thursday: underway for breakfast, back to the Northeast end of Lee Stocking to the cut to the sound. All but one of the boats anchored in the lee of Lee Stocking had already departed.  We hoped the tide had stopped ebbing thru the cut, but no, we were early, which meant strong current against strong wind and sea, rough conditions in the cut.  We slowed down and took them easy. Big but easy. Things moderated as we got away from the cut and away from the ebb current.  

Bahamian 'lighthouse' at Adderly Cut, moving from Lee Stocking into the Sound.

     It was still a sloppy ride, but with our double reefed mainsail we faired better than some.  One boat lost their anchor and all their chain and line exiting a cut.  We were briefly with a 40 foot sloop that was carrying no sail.  That didn’t look fun at all, boy did he roll.  Several boats talked about cleaning up the mess after they got in.  Not so today on the Willie Dawes.

     Today was definitely the day of choice to make the trip as we had lots of company ahead and behind us.  From noon until almost dusk there was a steady stream of boats entering Elizabeth Harbor, Georgetown, in the lee of Stocking Island.  We found an anchorage snugged right up to Stocking Island, Willie can almost always find a spot to tuck in shoreside of the bigger boats.

A forest of masts in George Town.

     We had made a milestone today, and 2 days ahead of our first scheduled date in a long time, maybe since Prince Edward Island, when we met my folks in Charlottetown last summer.