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| The Atlantic side of Powell Cay - panorama view. |
While sailing and living on board Passages, I have often wondered if sailing and farming have similarities. Not the produce of course. The fact that they are very seldom satisfied with the weather conditions. One hears that farmers will often say ‘There has not been enough rain’ OR ‘There has been too much rain’. Sailors will say ‘The wind is in the wrong direction’ OR ‘There isn’t enough wind to sail’.
At the end of our last blog entry, I wrote that I
hoped we had been able to sail and are anchored off at one of the many Cays in
the Abaco. That is exactly what has happened.
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| Mangrove Cay from the galley/kitchen window before we lifted the anchor. |
We sailed, yes sailed, for about 2 hours until we
reached Memory Rock, when we turned due east and meandered our way onto the
shallow Little Bahama Bank. The wind was on the nose, meaning coming directly
in the direction we were pointing, so the engine had to be put on. Something we
don’t enjoy as we are a sailboat not a motorboat. We realised that we would not
reach Great Sale Cay in time for sunset, so we decided to head for Mangrove
Cay, which was about halfway from Memory Rock to Great Sale Cay. Mangrove Cay
would give us some protection from the east winds which were not too strong –
approximately 15 knots.
Sante – Xavier, Annette and their lovely dog,
Jolie, were following us.
We spent a comfortable Sunday night at Mangrove
Cay, along with 6 other boats before heading off nice and early the following
Monday morning to Great Sale Cay.
When sailing in the Bahamas, one must quickly
adjust to the shallow waters. It can be disconcerting only having 0.3m below
your keel. However, the one positive is the seabed in most areas is soft white
sand with tufts of grass. The waters are beautiful turquoise blue, just like in
the photos BUT the prevailing wind is east and of course, we were heading east.
We thought we would spend two nights at Great Sale Cay, Monday, and Tuesday night, but when we
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| Allens Pensacola Cay - Passages in the background. |
checked the weather the following Tuesday morning, we saw that the sea state and wave height would be significantly higher on the Wednesday. When motoring, we generally only go at 4.5 to 5 knots an hour. When the frequency of the waves, is less than 5 seconds, we find that we can slow down to about 2 -3 knots an hour, thus extending our time motoring by a considerable length of time. So based on the information we had gathered, we decided to leave Great Sale Cay and head for Allen’s Pensacola Cay on the Tuesday morning instead of Wednesday. We realised once we had arrived at Allen’s Pensacola, it was a sensible decision. Phew!
We let Sante know, and they followed suite. They
were able to anchor at Allen’s Pensacola Cay before us as their boat is lighter
and faster than our dear Passages.
We also knew that from Wednesday evening through to Friday afternoon, the winds would be up to 20 – 25 knots and gusting to 27 knots, as a cold front was approaching the Abaco’s. What generally
happens is the prevailing wind blows from the east, and as a cold front from the
mainland of the USA forms and starts heading to the Bahamas, the wind starts to
clock around from east to south, west then north and back to east. It is during
the ‘clocking around’ that the winds/gusts increase and the sea/water state changes
and can become quite choppy. It is also tricky finding a suitable anchorage,
where you are protected from all directions of the waves. Allen’s Pensacola
promised protection from every direction EXCEPT anything with a west component
(SW,W,NW). There were ‘safe anchorages’ further down the Abaco chain of Cays,
but we knew we would not make it in time before the weather changed, so we
stuck it out.
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| Sharing a bottle of champagne with Sante. |
Sante decided to leave and head to Green Turtle
Cay and the marina there. It is always a bit sad to see our boat buddies leave,
but we also realise that every boat has their own agenda and requirements.
So… for the next 36 hours, we just rode out the
weather. BTW, this is the second time in a row, we have celebrated our
wedding anniversary sailing, far away from any restaurant. Mel knows he owes me
BIG TIME!!!!
In the anchorage were 3 other boats who did
exactly what we did. There was plenty of room for us to swing round. However,
it was quite fascinating to watch as by Friday afternoon when the weather had
calmed down and was quite lovely, about 10 boats had anchored in the anchorage
by sunset.
While we were at Allen’s Pensacola, we went on
the trail to the Atlantic side of the island, to the Naming Tree and left our
mark, plus walked along one of the lovely white sandy beaches.
A little bit of information about Allen’s
Pensacola Cay – they were two separate Cays until a hurricane filled in the
narrow strip between them, hence the combined name.
We left Allen’s Pensacola Cay mid-Saturday morning, in the direction of Powell Cay which was
approximately 12 nmiles away AND this time the wind was with us, coming from the north so we could sail all the way to Powell Cay. It was wonderful as we only had the genoa out and were averaging 5 knots.
Powell Cay is beautiful – in the right
conditions. For the next few days, the wind is NE, E with gusts only up to
15/16 knots, so we have great protection. The waters are beautiful and
clear, so clear we can see the bottom. There are plenty of birds, turtles, and
little fish. There are three trails: One to the Atlantic side of the island,
one to the top of the highest point of the island and the other to the open and
very shallow bay facing the Atlantic side. The beaches are long and sandy, so
we have taken up the opportunity to experience and enjoy all that Powell Cay
has to offer.
This year while sailing, we have been using an
app called ‘No Foreign land’ – if you look on the left sidebar of our blog (Where are we?) you will see how we have
been using it to keep track of our routes, places we have anchored, etc.
On No Foreign land, one can chat with other boats as well. For example, when we had decided to go to Green Turtle Cay, there was no information about the anchorage we wanted to anchor in, so we sent a message to one of the boats that we could see was anchored there and asked them about the anchorage. We usually like to know how the holding is – basically once we put the anchor down, is the sea floor suitable for holding the anchor in place and not cause us to drag anchor.
We also noticed that a couple, Andrew and Siobhan, who we had met in Cape Town back in 2018, were close by on their yacht Calypso II. When we met Andrew and Siobhan, they had recently bought their boat and were slowly preparing her for their big adventure. For the past two years they have sailed from Cape Town to the Caribbean, the Bahamas and are on their way to the States.As Mel and I were putting down the anchor in
Green Turtle Cay, I noticed another boat coming into the anchorage, so clicked
on the chart which is linked to the AIS and saw that it was Calypso II.
To add to the excitement and joys of sailing, our fridge/freezer has stopped working. Mel has tried desperately to get it working again and on inspection saw that when we had it serviced in Fort Pierce about 2 months ago, the incorrect carbon brushes were installed, which have already worn away. We have no fridge/freezer, but luckily, we have a few months’ worth of tinned vegetables and tuna, chicken, and salmon. This has been the deciding factor to not go any further than Green Turtle Cay in the Abaco.
We plan to stay in the Green Turtle anchorage until
Saturday, when the wind shifts south, SW and west, so we need to find some
protection. We will need to return to Green Turtle Cay to check out of the
Bahamas before heading west, back along the chain of Cays towards the States.
Until next time…. Take care, Keep well.
Best wishes, always
Mel and Caryn
👉Abaco Bahamas
