Day 273, Saturday March 22nd - the start of the way home

Day 273, Saturday March 22^nd

We are up before the sun to get an early start on the 55 mile crossing to the Abacos.  At 6 we are on deck getting ready and see two other boats heading out.  By 6:30 we are ready to go and we are off the hook and heading out.  There is a slight glow to the east as dawn approaches.  As soon as we are out of the cut Dawson heads downstairs to listen to the Chris Parker show to get the latest weather updates.

Julie steers the boat east over ground which we have now become familiar with.  Around 7 Dawson emerges with the latest weather.  It is a good day for the crossing but we will have to find protection for a south then west wind over night. Winds for the crossing are to be 12 to 14 knots out of the South East.   We get two fishing lines out as we enter the passage between Little Egg and Egg Island.  When we did this route last time with Ross there was lots of fish activaty so we have high hopes.

Sail boat in a swell

There is a line of boats exiting the banks off Eleuthera heading to the Atlantic with everyone running the “magenta line”.  The magenta line is a suggested route from the explorer charts, which people have a tendency to run along making it water highway.  Once we clear the cut we all spread out and the race is on.  The point of sail is a beam reach letting us run at about 4 to 5 knots.  We do want to get there so occasionally we fire up the Iron Genny to ensure that we make landfall with lots of time get settled in for the night.  About 3 hours into the trip Dawson has to detour around a freighter that is coming out of the North East Providence Channel.  On the AIS the CPA (closest point of approach) was estimated at 0.0 nm.  About 3 hours after the freighter we spot an interesting cloud bank to the East of us which is showing some rain, we decide to turn the motor on and see if we can’t get ourselves out of the way of the rain.  After 30 minutes of motoring we have dropped the clouds off to our stern and are back under sail.

Another boat in a swell

Around 4 o’clock we are ready to enter the Little Harbour Cut, Cuts are always a little unnerving as they are littered with reefs and breaking waves, fortunately as always it goes without any issues.  Once we are through the cut we pick up some cell service and the forecast is still for wind out of the South clocking to the West over night so we begin the search for a safe anchorage.   We have missed high tide by about 2 hours so it eliminates going into Little Harbour and Hope Town, so we pick a new anchorage for us called Spence Bight just south west of Sandy Cay.  As we make our way to the anchorage we follow a flotilla of four fellow Canadian Boats in.  This is a group from Quebec that we had crossed paths with a couple of times, earliest at Black Point Settlement and most recently at Hatchet Bay.

The anchorage is good, nice sand bottom offering good holding and protection from the south and west.  It is somewhat roly due to the swell and there is a fire burning on shore which we may get to smell overnight.  We set the surge bridal and this calms down the roll nicely.  We have a nice supper and settle in for the night.

Cheers

Dawson and Julie