We left Nassau on Friday after lunch as we wanted to wait until the wind had veered North East to make the anchorage we had chosen more comfortable. This took 18M off the next days journey around Conch Spit, White Bank and the Yellow Bank into the Exumas and the route we chose never went much less than about 6m so if you want the waypoints they are below.

 

Before we could get going we had to rig the dinghy for towing as we had frayed the dinghy strops by hooking the lines onto the strop overnight and it had rubbed against the edge of the davit. Not much fun towing the dinghy in a lumpy sea in a F5 and in the end we settled for a long tow as the dinghy rode at a better angle.

 

I also noticed that the infamous freezer pump didn’t sound right, so lifted the floor again to find it is totally chocked with sea grass – a further delay. But then off we go sailing over what we expected was tranquil turquoise water in a gentle breeze in warm sunny weather. Um, No, No and No – a F5 on the nose, which made the 24 degrees seem cool and motor sailing into a short chop at about 5kts to keep the boat from pitching while staring at the FLS (Forward Looking Sonar) for 10 hours – Nice.

 

Then during a sail change we found the yankee lazy sheet had caught on the stay sail shackle and wrapped around several times and we couldn’t let the yankee out, so up on the foredeck to wrestle it free with 22kts and spray coming over the deck – but the water is 24, so not bad even in my speedos.

 

Then it’s safely into the anchorage, retrieve the heavy long tow line from the dinghy to find it has sunk below the boat and is now wrapped around the rudder. No problem, as it is heavy and sinks clear without any drama. So as the sun sets in the Bahamas we tidy the lines up and Crap – a broken block, that’s another job on the next days list along with replacing the davit strops – Yes, I even have spares of those.

 

 

 

 

WAYPOINTS – NASSAU to ALLENS CAY

 

Conch Spit            24:47.000N    077:31.000W   - safely below the reefs on the south west corner of New Providence Island

 

Shoal                    24:45.500N    077:13.000W – a 2m bank to the north of here

 

Allens Bank          24:45.500N    076:52.000W – choose you anchorage once you are in the 8m contour

 

We tracked to these and were fine, Michel, in the Oyster strayed south towards the end of the run and got down to 3.1m