Sometime between breakfast and happy hour, while Ben and I were reading in the cockpit/living room a dingy came up to say hi. We met Ken and Sarah of Skeddadle who are from Oxford, MD. Ken and Sarah are friends with Gus and Sue, formerly of the Maine Cat Au Contraire. We met Gus and Sue several years ago at Onnancock and they were the first ones to tell us, "Go now, don't wait for the right boat." They encouraged us to just take Whisper, and were voices of experience and proof it could be done since they had lived aboard Au Contraire. I think we told them that Whisper wasn't our boat, but it definitely planted the seed in our minds.
Ken and Sarah, like us and probably most of the other boats anchored in Green Turtle, were headed south. From Green Turtle there are two ways to go south: Whale Cay passage - which goes into the Atlantic and can be rough, or Dont Rock, which is shallow. Sarah and Ken, as well as another catamaran were planning on trying the Dont Rock passage and invited us to join them the next day, as well as that evening at happy hour.
We had a few hours before happy hour so decided to tool around in the dingy. We found a piece of sand laid out our towel, read our books, and drank a beer.
We all met at the Green Turtle marina bar at happy hour time - around sunset, which is about as accurate timing as you are going to get in the Bahamas. I arrived prepared to discuss the passage, but got through two tipsy turtle rum punches before it came up. John and Caroline from Discovery Magic anchored and ended up joining us for the tail end of happy hour. It was a pretty diverse group. Ben and I are in our 20's and 30's and sailing until March. Tom and Amy are just a little older than us (relatively close to our age, comparatively) and have been down to the Bahamas for 8 of the last 9 years. Ken and Sarah cruised with three of their sons almost 30 years ago, and are doing this trip by themselves. Caroline and John started in South Hampton (England) and are circumnavigating, although they need to head back to Miami for the Miami boat show since the Discover 50 won two boat show awards at the Annapolis Boat show (and by "their" boat I mean that - Discovery is their company). It didn't seem like we had that much in common, but we found so much to talk about. It was great to hear all the stories, especially from those more experienced than us (which is pretty much everyone). Although I was horribly embarrassed when Ben first told the group about our near miss with the Coast Guard ship, I am feeling better about it now - they really should have seen us, and at least I was able to react in time.
It's also fascinating to realize with as many cruisers as we've met, it really is a small world. Ken and Sarah and Tom and Amy first met in Vero where they were rafted together. Before that Tom and Amy were rafted to Ed and Lynn on the Maine Cat, Skydusky, who we have been in touch with through the Maine Cat owners website. We also felt "in the loop" when we were able to invite John and Caroline over when they came into the bar.
The convoy headed out of White Sound after the 6:30 am Chris Parker weather broadcast. The most experienced, Dream Catcher was first, and being the slowest boat with only one motor, we brought up the rear. We weren't quite able to keep up, but it was reassuring to have two boats ahead of us and right there on VHF channel 06. As Dream Catcher approached the second marker for Dont Rock, Tom Radio'd back and said the rollers were several feet high (and therefore the troughs would be too shallow). They headed back. We talked to Skeddadle and decided to at least take a look at the Whale Cay passage. There were at least three other monohulls in the area and we tried to hail them on the VHF but didn't get any response. The waves were significant (someone on the radio said 5 - 8 feet, but they seemed bigger to us). There were breakers, but we never got very close to any of them. Even though no one on the radio answered us, about ten other boats followed us through. It was pretty neat to be near the front of a large convoy, and to be in personal radio contact with the lead boat. I'm pretty sure all the other boats were taking advantage of Skeddadle's reports of their progress, and Ben answered one of the boats at one point even though no one answered us when we first radioed. You always hope you don't lead anyone else into danger, but it is each boat's own responsibility to gauge the situation based on the capabilities of their boat, and the skills of the sailors on board.
After we made it through Loggerhead Channel, it was a pretty easy straight shot to Treasure Cay (although we did have to pay attention to the waves behind us, to make sure we were "surfing" ok).
We ran into Ken and Sarah at the Treasure Cay grocery store and had high fives all around. It really felt like an accomplishment and we were excited to have made it to the Sea of Abaco - the so called "bathtub". We look forward to the next several weeks of sailing to sail places as opposed to sailing/motoring to make it to the next place, as well as the arrival of my family the following day, and our friends a week later.
Location:Treasure Cay, The Bahamas
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