Turns out Ken and Sarah (and probably most of the other boats at Green Turtle) were headed the same way we were - South. From Green Turtle there are two options: the Whale Cay passage, which goes out into the Atlantic and can be rough, and Dont Rock, which crosses over a sandbar and is shallow. Ken and Sarah had previously met Tom and Amy from Dream Catcher and since Skeddadle, Dream Catcher and Whisper are all shallow draft catamarans they invited us to join them on the Dont Rock passage the next morning. Ken and Sarah invited us to join them at happy hour that night to share GPS waypoints (and a cocktail).
Since we had some time before happy hour we tooled around in the dingy and found a little bit of sand to lay our towel on, stretch out, read our books and have a beer.
Happy hour was great. I came prepared to talk about the passage, but it took two Tipsy Turtles (Green Turtle's "world famous" rum punch) before the subject even came up. Even though the six of us, who vary in age by 30 - 40 years and probably have little in common, we had a lot to talk about. Turns out in Vero Beach, Tom and Amy were rafted to Ken and Sarah in just before being rafted to another Maine Cat 30, Ed and Lynn on Skydusky (also headed south this winter). John and Caroline from Discovery Magic anchored in Green Turtle that day as well, and they ended up joining us for the tail end of happy hour as well. It's really great to hear all the stories from everyone, especially those more experienced than us (which is about everyone!).
Since high tide was about 8:30, we decided to head for the Dont Rock passage after Chris Parker's 6:30 am weather report. Ben and I woke up just before the alarm. The weather was nice and we pulled up the anchor and followed Dream Catcher and Skedaddle out of White Sound. We couldn't quite keep up with only one motor, but it was reassuring to see two boats ahead of us (that both draw a little more than us), as well as have them both on VHF channel 06. Tom and Amy, the experienced ones of the group went first, and as they approached the second marker (near the start of the shallow area) they radioed back that the swells were pretty significant and they were going to head back. They talked about doing Whale Cay, but decided against it. The weather didn't look too much better the rest of the week, so both Skedaddle and us headed towards the Whale Cay passage and to possibly attempt to go around the other way. There were several other monohulls as well as a power boat that looked like they were going to try Whale Cay, but no one came back on the radio when we hailed them. The waves were pretty significant and there was at least once where Old Faithful (our remaining motor) made some straining noises and sucked some air as we crested over the top of a wave. It was reassuring to have Ken and Sarah ahead of us and radioing back their progress. We looked back and there were probably six to ten monohulls following us through. It was reassuring as well, although we were hoping they weren't just following us! Anyway, it felt like a real accomplishment for us to make it through, and once we were past Loggerhead Channel it was pretty easy to make it the rest of the way to the Treasure Cay Marina. We ran into Ken and Sarah at the grocery store and we had some big high fives for each other! We did it!
For us the accomplishment was especially great since my family was coming in to Treasure Cay the next day, and friends after that, so we are happy to be here, and are looking forward to sailing for fun for the next few weeks (as opposed to sailing/motoring to get some place).
This morning we headed around Treasure Cay and are moored outside the house my family has rented. Ben went on a recon mission with the snorkel, and he thinks as long as there isn't wind from S/SE we should be fine here for the next week.
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Location:Treasure Cay, The Bahamas
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