When we awoke the usual sunshine was not streaming in through the hitches, that’s an ominous sign, I slid back the companion way hatch cover and look outside, ick, winds were strong, the skies were overcast and, in every direction, rain could be seen falling from the clouds in all directions, as I said, ick! The night before I had put a main route and a contingent route, it all depended on getting a mooring ball at the north field in Warderick Wells (headquarters for the Exuma Land and Sea Park. The procedure is to wait until 9:00 am and call on the VHF channel 9, we had listened the day before to get an idea what things were going to be like. The first thing is the park asks who is leaving, next they ask for people wanting a mooring ball that day. We were the third boat to ask for a ball in the north field and were told that they didn’t have any. They asked us to radio back at 10 am to see if anything changes, I left the radio on to listen if anyone else was leaving. Ah… no, to the contrary I heard about half a dozen boats who were supposed to leave ask to extend their stay. Ya, that put an end to the idea. So the contingency plan goes into action, the park has three mooring fields in Warderick Wells, the north field (full, with new arrivals and squatters) the Emerald Field (about half way down the island) and the South Field on the ocean side. I was heading for Emerald, even if there was no mooring there, I’d find a place anchor. I put on all by foul weather gear and headed out, the trip should take 2 hours if we can average 5 knots. Remember slogging? Well, it was back with a vengeance. The wind had shifted overnight and our route would take us for the majority of the trip into the teeth of the wind and waves. I’m not going to restate what I’ve said before. I hate this kind of sailing, if you can even call it that. The swells were right on the nose, average speed was 2.7 knots, I was making revolutions for 5.5 knots. I was not able to change my course due to long fingers of shallows that pointed west from every cay. After hours my brain just kept shouting at me, I HATE THIS!!! As we made our last turn, we were able to get on a tack with a better angle to the swells and our average speed increased to 3.5 knots. Wa Hoo. Our 2-hour trip, took 4-hours. About an hour after we dropped our anchor, the winds started reducing, the swells likewise, naturally! We sit anchored near the Emerald field in Warderick Wells after a day on the water. I shot a short video so you can get a sense of what 3 ½ hours of our day was like, looks like fun doesn’t it? <Clicking on link below should open a video player> http://bahamas.selds.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Hawksbill-to-Warderick-Wells.mp4
Oh, another thing about the Exuma Land and Sea Park… No cell towers which mean no weather forecasts, no radar to see the weather, no communications with the outside world. But I still had my satellite tracker which I can use to send text messages, so my honey knew we were ok.
Breakfast – [MJS] Cheddar Cheese Scrambled Eggs, Butter Bread, Tea, [Sarah] Cheddar Cheese Scrambled Eggs, Hot Chocolate, Lunch – [MJS] Spaghetti leftovers, Tea Biscuits, [Sarah] Cheddar Cheese & Crackers, Dinner – [MJS] Teriyaki Rice with Tuna Creations Sweet & spicy tuna {new recipe for Meals from the Marsh, its a good one too}, Pairs, [Sarah] Teriyaki Rice with extra salt, Peaches.