We've had an interesting past two days. On Friday we sailed from West End to Great Sale Cay. We had some excellent sailing in the morning, we were over 6 knots and ended up using all of our sails. In the afternoon the wind was on our nose, and we couldn't quite figure out why we were only making 4 knots. We figured it must be because we only had one engine, but we planned on going faster and arrived after dark. We ended up being guided into a large, beautiful anchorage by the light of the almost full moon, and it all worked out. There were about 10 other boats there already, but the anchorage was not at all crowded. Ben says I need more adjectives to describe the anchorage, I can't believe I didn't take a picture.
Today we sailed from Great Sale to Spanish Cay. Since we are not 100% on the weather (further explanation below), and the range is perfect, we decided to stay at the Spanish Cay Marina tonight. The wind is supposed to shift and all the anchorages in the area are unprotected from at least one direction. Today we are making much better time (over 5 knots), with and without the jib out, so maybe there was some current yesterday (and possibly those large mats of kelp attached to our bumper keels were slowing us down).
We've had some success and failures over the last two days. Here's the to the point version.
Success: We caught our first real fish. We're pretty sure it was a 14 inch king mackerel. (Ed. Note from Ben, 20 inch Mackerel!)
Fail: The fish was lost while trying to bring it on board and kill it. Ben thinks he did successfully knock it out, but then it came off the gaff. We hate to have killed a fish we didn't get to eat, and rice for dinner is even more depressing when we came so close to having a feast. Hopefully next time will be smoother.
Fail: Our Ham radio is not allowing us to tune into the weather station or Chris Parker's radio broadcast.
Success: Our $20/month, unlimited satellite phone service from global star is proving it's worth. We were able to call Ben's parents and they looked up the Bahamas broadcast for us. We should now be within range to hear the 8:15 am Abacos "Cruisers Net" broadcast, but we are trying to figure out what to do about getting our hands on an SSB radio.
Weather Fail Part 2: XM Weather. Yes, we do get XM service in the Bahamas, however the weather broadcast does not include info for the Bahamas. Basically, we can check the US weather from here. Not sure if we can blame the XM rep who ensured us that the weather would be available, since technically, weather reports are available, just not the ones we need.
XM Success: We were able to listen to the Diane Rheme show today and catch up on some US news.
SuccessOur anchoring situation is in much better shape. We have become a lot more comfortable with the bridle and haven't had any more problems anchoring.
FailWe are really missing that other engine, especially when our remaining motor, Old Faithful, did not start this morning.
Motor Fail Part 2As my dad has discovered with the lawn mower, the motor won't start unless it is in neutral. Crisis averted.
Fail: After 10 years, it appears even the famous NASA battery is clearly showing it's age. We are really trying to limit our consumption after the sun goes down. No charging the ipad overnight! The most amount of time I've seen remaining on the battery is 17 hours, which seems ok, but a few summers ago, I don't think I ever saw under 80 hours remaining, and that was only if all the water pumps had been running and all the lights were on.
Success: We're in paradise!
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Location:Spanish Cay, The Abacos, Bahamas
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