Hawkbill Cay to Mangrove Cay

Day 29:  Tuesday, March 25, 2015

Today was a travel day. We enjoyed a bacon and Tillamook cheese omelet for breakfast, straightened up the boat and were underway by 7:01.  We navigated the coral strewn waters for about two miles before entering the open waters of the sea of Abaco.

There was no wind.  I kicked the engine speed up and was surprised to find that we were making 6.2 knots.  I raised the centerboard and aligned the motor and the time rose to between 6.7 and 6.8 knots.  That is probably the top speed that the boat can travel.  Those in the field call it “Boat Speed.” 

Our goal was to make it to Great Sale Cay, a distance of 32 miles.  The weather

What a difference a day makes!  No wind.

forecast indicated that today would produce light winds, tomorrow would be a bit breezier and then the remainder of the week the winds would be high and adverse to our direction of travel.  From Great Sale Cay, the distance to Old Bahama Bay Marine at West End, our jumping off spot for the Crossing, is a bit over 42 miles.  We most likely could not make that in one day so I assumed that we would need two good days of weather to make that journey.  The forecast didn’t predict that.  I assumed that we would just have to wait it out in Great Sale until conditions improve. 

The problem with that is that if we get a good traveling day from Great Sale Cay, that same pattern might be a good one for a Crossing.  So, as we moved west over glassy seas, I decided that we could easily skip the Great Sale Cay anchorage and travel on another 20 miles to the intermediate anchorage at Mangrove Cay.

Although the total distance was a bit over 50 miles, the fact that we were just off Great Sale at 11:45, the decision to move on turned out to be a good one.  The Mangrove Cay anchorage is not a well-protected anchorage, but it put us to within 25 miles of Old Bahama Bay Marina. We arrived there at just after 3:00.

To celebrate that we had made such great time and had ice in our cooler, we enjoyed a cold beer.  I realize that I had expounded on the fact that warm beer was good, I must admit, this cold one was great.

The wind was still almost nonexistent and the air was hot and stifling.  I do feel a bit bad complaining about the heat.  I had talked to our daughter-in-law in Pittsburg last evening and she said that it was again snowing in Pennsylvania.

The other great thing that happened today was the occurrence of a super evening

The Lobster feast.  We had earlier enjoyed a COLD beer on board.

meal.  As I mentioned yesterday, we had bought three  large lobster tails and we prepared them along with mashed potatoes.  We had not previously fixed lobster tails to we were venturing into uncharted waters.  And, in this really remote location, there no phone or internet service to look up a recipe.  The lady from whom we bought the tails told us to cut the tail open along the back and remove the meat.  Next we were to put the shells in a pan with a bit of water and place the meat on top of the shells to keep it out of the water.  Then we were to steam them.  She didn’t tell us how long to cook them so we d

Second Wind on the hook at Mangrove Cay

ecided to try 5 minutes.  And, bingo, they were perfect!  A real trip highlight.

After dinner, we climbed in the dink and headed for shore.  This island has no sand beaches.  The mangrove grows all along the edge of the water and is not at all inviting to explore

Back at the boat, we spent the evening reading and relaxing.  At one point, the wind started blowing quite hard and when I looked out I realized that a fairly large squall was heading directly for us.  We put away anything in the cockpit that would get wet, closed the port holes and hatches in preparation for a boat bathing rain.  Well, it only sprinkled so Second Wind is still coated with salt.