Sunday, March 8, 2015

Overnight to the Exumas

Vector at sunset at Man-O-War Cay

On Friday, we decided to head into town on Man-O-War Cay to check things out and search for milk.  Louise was struggling with a washing machine issue so she stayed aboard and we went off in Petal with Sean.  The town was very nice with several shops. We were able to drop off trash (we paid $1 to drop it at the marina and then found the free dump!) There were two grocery stores that were very well stocked with lots of fresh produce. They also had a batik shop where they sold goods made from the batik factory on Andros and a sail shop where they make all kinds of totes and bags from sail fabric. We didn’t do any shopping but the products were all lovely.

Ladies sewing canvas products

Lunch at Man-O-War Marina

Heading back to the boats, pre-adventure

On our way home the adventure began!  Just before exiting the cut, thank God it was before we got out to the bay, Petal died.  Out of gas. Doh! Luckily we have paddles and Sean & Martin were able to paddle against the outgoing current close enough to shore that it got shallow and I could hop out and pull us to a dock. It happened to be the dock to the dump site, that’s how we found out that you can dump your trash for free ;)

Pulling the portable gas tank out of the dinghy at the dump dock

Martin met a lovely couple that drove him and the gas can back from the fuel dock in their golf cart. Martin filled the tank and then couldn’t start Petal. So again, awesome group came by on their dinghy and towed us out to Blossom & Vector. Talk about the kindness of strangers making a rough situation so much easier. I love cruisers J

Getting towed back to Blossom & Vector in the background...

So after quite the adventurous morning/afternoon, we pulled up the anchor and headed out to sea via the Man-O-War cut.  It was a really nice trip. Chris Parker was right on – 3-5 foot rolling seas at the start and then almost nothing the rest of the way. There was a big bright moon out so it was quite light. We went through a brief rainstorm that washed the salt off as well. There wasn’t much traffic other than several cruise ships, all moving east to west. They are amazing huge to see all lit up at night!  Here’s a few shots of we saw traveling at night…

Rain over the Abacos


Sun setting


Moon rising

We arrived early, around 8:30 and dropped the hook right on the bank on the south west tip of New Providence. The winds are so mild that we don’t need any protection. There’s a little roll from surge but not much. What a difference!  In Lucky we would be rocking and rolling but in Blossom it’s a comfortable motion. Saturday was a lost day, as is usually the case for us after an overnight. We took a nap and then Martin worked on Petal. He just needed to prime the engine a bit better and she started right up. I washed the boat a bit. Then another nap. Then lunch. Then another nap. We woke up for dinner and enjoyed grilling and eating on the aft deck. Daylight savings is Sunday so we’d have an early day Monday.

We saw a lot of traffic out where we anchored. There’s a high end marina there ($8/foot + $200 daily “resort fee” for transients. Holy sh*!, I think that’s more than Atlantis charges) and a big snorkel/dive area on the west tip. There were a few huge megayachts, we anchored near one. We saw jet skis, dinghies, fishing boats and commercial snorkel boats going by. The megayacht Casino Royal cruised by this morning. We saw her all the time when we were here in ‘09.  We’re seeing all kinds of coral heads now - welcome to the Exumas. We didn’t see nearly as many up in the Abacos.

The route to Highbourne Cay was about 40 miles which is a long day when you’re hoping to be able to read water.  The wind had picked up and it was quite choppy on the bank - much less comfortable than we had coming down through the North East Passage! We ran through a squall just before arriving and then the sun came out and it was gorgeous.  We’re looking forward to visiting Highbourne and checking out the changes that have been made there, including a new restaurant. Sean made reservations for 7:30pm so we’ll have a nice evening ashore tonight! 


Once we were anchored I felt like I was in heaven. It’s Amazing here!  Photos in the next blog post!

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