En route to the Exumas

Seafever
Tue 23 Feb 2010 21:15
24:55:24N
77:23:40W
(That's our lat/long at 4:10 PM Tuesday, en route to the Exumas.)

Well, we woke up fully expecting to stay put in Morgan's Bluff. Garth cooked up a big fried Spam and egg breakfast. We planned to do laundry, and then pulled up our weather Grib (emailed to us daily) that showed today as very mild winds, with big winds coming Wed. night. So, we decided to take advantage of this window to make the crossing to the Exumas. We left Morgan's Bluff at 9:45 through a well-marked channel between reefs to enter the Tongue of the Ocean. I had been trepidatous about this crossing. The Tongue is a mile deep and just the idea of it spooked me. As we left the torquoise waters of the shallows and entered the rich dark blue of the Tongue, I realized I had nothing to fear. The swells were gentle and sky was blue. Looking down into the deep water you see shafts of light spiralling down and disappearing. We saw no laviathans, not even small fish. We crossed to New Providence Island (which is also called Nassau, after its capital) and kept going, back onto the shallow Bahamas Banks. We should arrive at Allen's Cay by 10:00 tonight. There will be a bright gibbous moon out till 1:00 or so, lighting our way and leting us see any obstructions. If we get tired, or get concerned about the approach at night, we'll anchor on the banks until daylight. Tonight should be mild.

After yesterday's rain, today's hot sun felt glorious: dried towels and shoes on the way. But after a few hours it became too hot, and Rose and I took spritz baths with our portable shower and even washed our hair. Even so, I went down into the cabin to escape the sun and Rose followed a bit later. Isabel spent some time snacking in the cockpit, but the sun drove her in, too. We have the front hatch of the boat open, so the cabin is a breeze way--very cool. The water is so smooth, there's no feeling queazy down below. The captain is bearing more than his share of steering today. He said the water is so smooth you could watch the big starfish going by on the bottom.

The girls did get some school work done during the crossing: math and ela test prep books; spelling; and Isabel practiced, without any prompting, her piano pieces on a plastic keyboard. (Thank you Mrs. Dykstra!)