The last blog entry ended with us riding out a northerly in Nassau Harbor, but this 5 day stretch of being tied to a dock ended when we decided to head out Sunday before the incoming northerlies hit. The weather had been warm and sunny with gentle breezes and this was forecast to last through to Sunday night, so we set sail for the assuredly secure harbor on Little Harbor Cay, 38 nautical miles northwest of Nassau and on the way to an expected return to Florida.
The sail that day was pleasant, but the wind started to shift to the Northeast and to blow harder as we made the outer harbor and set two anchors. It turned out that we couldn't get into the well-protected inner harbor and had to ride out the two nights of northwest winds gusting to 35 knots in the semi-protected outer harbor where winds and currents made things a bit trying. When we tried, Monday, to follow the piloting of the local Bahamian over the shallow bar into the inner harbor, we went aground. Twice, one of which we had a very hard time getting off and only got free with us motoring as hard as we could and him pushing with his outboard.
Tuesday, the winds were letting up and we set out to the north, into the 6 foot chop to get to better shelter and to keep moving along our course to Florida. We moved along rather slowly into the wind and wave, under motor only most of the time and just made the 33 miles into Great Harbor Cay, which has great shelter from wind and waves.
We stayed an extra day there to rest and shake off (Lynn's) feeling stressed by the nights at Little Harbor Cay. We walked into the tiny village, kayaked through a long stretch of the mangrove ponds and had hot meals and good sleep.
On December 16th we set out at 6:00am to motor-sail to Port Lucaya, 63 nautical miles to the northwest. The winds were forecast to be out of the east, but this never happened and they stayed out of the southwest at 6 knots, so were not very helpful. According to the charts, the body of water we were crossing this day were very deep, with one spot 10,000 feet deep. The day's mostly motoring went smoothly enough and we pulled into Port Lucaya's small entrance around 4:30 with plenty of daylight to spare for finding a good anchorage. Port Lucaya consists of canals that have been dredged and gouged out of the rock that makes up the Bahamian banks and the sand and silt that sit on the bottom of these canals varies, apparently, in how deep it is, how good a holding it provides for an anchor. Our first several tries at a spot just east of the Grand Bahama Yacht Club docks failed to hold, but the next spot we tried, off in another canal branch held firmly. We stayed on anchor two nights while exploring the local area and finding two marinas that had long-term rental rates for a slip that were less than half of the rates in any parts of southern Florida that we could get to in the couple of days available to us before Christmas. And we wanted very much to get home in time for Christmas with the family. We dingied over to one marina a couple of miles away, in another inlet and liked it, but found loose pilings that raised questions of how reliable they would be for holding the boat safely in a blow. So we chose the substantial concrete pilings and docks of the Grand Bahama Yacht Club as safer and contracted for Southern Belle to stay there while we went home for Christmas and to take care of Sally while she recovers from the amyotrophy, the leg weakness and pain.
So Derek and I flew home on December 21st and have been there since, celebrating Christmas, New Year's, our 30th anniversary and Lynn's 61st birthday. We've had two significant snow storms and Lynn, Derek and Emily have had to plow and shovel snow three times so far. With temperatures in the twenties and thirties, the snow has melted a little, but all of the mounds along the streets and sidewalks remain piled high. It's icy all over, so Sally's ventures outside the house, only two or three, have to be made very carefully to avoid another fall. So far, she is gradually doing better, with the pain under better control, so she is generally more comfortable. Also, the strength in her left leg is improving, though the weakness in her right leg that started in mid-November remains plateaued, seemingly. She can make her way up and down stairs, slowly and with a good hand grip and is up for all meals now, rather than having Lynn serve breakfast in bed. We are hopeful and optimistic, but it is clearly going to be a while, some months, before sailing can be considered a reasonable activity, even if she leaves all the deck activity to Lynn and just sits and steer at times. The boat's portholes had begun, one by one, to leak, so we've engaged a marine services fellow, James, to remove and re-caulk the 12 that haven't been recently rebeded. We hope to be able to get down to Port Lucaya for a visit somewhere in the next month, but we have to wait and see on that.
In the meantime, we hope your New Year is off to a good start. Our best to you and your loved ones.
