Lynyard Cay, Abacos, Bahamas

 Just hanging out.....we went ashore to stretch our legs.

Not much of a trail left....I believe there was a road roughed-in at some point in the past but it's mostly grown over now.  (There are no utilities on this island and the sparse houses seem to be either abandoned or lightly inhabited). 

 

 View back towards the anchorage from a low hilltop. 

We did make it over to the ocean side of the island....the terrain is a bit intimidating!

Ross and Phyllis had invited us over for sundown - had a really fun tour of their nice catamaran - a Maine Cat 41.  We'd never been on one before.  It's got some really cool qualities.  Always fun to compare boats.....

 

Ross discussing their sails.

 

 

Thanks, Ross for the photo of Duane and I relaxing in their spacious cockpit.

 

The lovely hosts!  Huge open cockpit.

 We had a very nice visit and returned to Sojourn well past dark.

 

 

 

 

Lynyard Cay, Abacos, Bahamas

 Busy day....did a couple of loads of much needed laundry...then around lunchtime we headed over on the dinghy to Pete's Pub. 

 

Lovely day.  Pete's pub has done some improvements since our first visits several years ago.  Nice dinghy dock and more outside seating.

 

Same delicious food - I got a mango-marinated grouper sandwich.  It was yummy and way too much!

 

Walked on the ironshore over to the lighthouse.

 

Seems like the pathway is getting rather overgrown.

 

Back to the dinghy, didn't bother to stop at the gallery since we've seen the castings and they're crazy $$$$.

Back to the boat, we had invited the crew from Kohina over for sundown....I made some cookies and we tidied the boat up a bit as it had gotten rather cluttered over the past week or more.

 

Had a nice visit with Ross and Phyllis.  They're based in Wilmington and was fun to get to know them.

 

Lynyard Cay, Abacos, Bahamas

 We got an early start, going out the narrow Ridley Channel right at sunrise.

 

 We knew it would be a calm day so didn't bother putting up any sails just to have them flap around.  There was a gentle, long period swell all day.  Not even a nibble on either of the fishing lines.....it has not been a good season for fishing off the boat!

 

An amazing view on the chartplotter approaching Little Harbour Cut...an armada heading north!  I don't believe I've ever seen so many boats actively moving before!

There is a forecast for strong winds in a few days so we may just stay put.....
 

Spanish Wells, Eleuthera, Bahamas

 We're sort of taking the day off from moving much.....but we did want to top off with fuel.  We haven't used that much but want to be full as we head up to the Abacos.  We may not end up going anywhere with fuel available so thought it best to fill up the tank.  Not worth the trouble to go to the power plant for cheap fuel (kind of a pain to arrange for someone to pump it then pay up at the office at the crest of the hill).  The diesel at Ronald's was just $5.98 a gallon so we opted for the easy way out.

Normal sights along the waterfront.

 

At the fuel dock.

All fueled up, we opted to go out past Gun Point and anchor.  This will set us up for an easy morning departure for the Abacos tomorrow.

We've never anchored here before - it can be untenable in a lot of different sea conditions.  But the winds were very light and not a lot of boat traffic to whip things up.

 

As we were rounding the point, the oil tanker Trust was in the channel.  Pretty close in tight quarters.

 

After we got settled at anchor, it was about lunchtime.  

We took the dinghy and made a nice walk of it over to Budda's......nice sandwiches and cold beer.  I noticed after we got back to the boat that they had added a 15% gratuity to our check - but I had left a 20% tip in cash.....I need to read my receipts I suppose, but that young man was tipped very nicely for his service!

 

Pleasant walk back to the dinghy.

 

And Sojourn at rest....

 

Spanish Wells, Eleuthera, Bahamas

 We set out early, motor sailing with just the main sail up in fairly light winds.  There were a lot of boats moving north as well after being trapped in Rock Sound for several days.  Very uneventful 10 hours.....

 We did see a couple of dolphins - they did swim with us for a few minutes.

 

 

Passing thru Current Cut with a 4 knot following current is always fun....

 

Anchored and had a nice taco meal....beautiful sunset and a nice little emerald green flash!!!

 

Rock Sound, Eleuthera, Bahamas

It has been a blustery, rainy few days.....I spent a good amount of time researching the details of activities and trails for our upcoming month in the PNW.  Thanks to Charm for some helpful itinerary - will be sure not to miss the Tillamook cheese factory tour, a favorite of theirs, haha.  (I'd never heard of it before a few years ago when invited over to Charm for dinner)

Braved still high winds and a heavy chop to go to the government dock to deposit trash and get some fresh groceries.

 

Rock Sound is not quite as picturesque as some places but it does have it's beauty.

It's a little more industrial vibe but some neat houses.

I was pleased with the haul from the grocery - all this for $77.

 

 Up early for departure towards the north....vast difference with dead calm.  Leaving Rock Sound.

 Next stop will probably be near Current Cut but we'll decide late in the day....

 

Rock Sound, Eleuthera, Bahamas

 We're hanging out at Rock Sound until the weather gets a little more cheerful!  I got the tuna out of the fridge and processed it....

Dreary day!

The winds are going to shift and come from the NE.  Where we dropped the hook was not very protected so we cranked up in the rain....

 

Moved over closer to town with much better protection, but now we're in with the herd....

 More rain expected so I think it's a book day.

Rock Sound, Eleuthera, Bahamas

 We made a quick decision in the morning to move on north.  So we raised the main and headed out to deep water to fish.  The forecast was for some rain....we put a reef in the main just in case....

As we proceeded north, we started to see rain and some thunder in the distance.  At some point during the day, the winds shifted providing little power to the sail so we dropped it and just motored slowly on one engine.  We had originally thought we'd stop at Little San Salvador (or Half Moon Cay to the big ship cruisers).  But the swells were pretty large making that anchorage yucky for us.  So we decided that we'd just continue on north to Rock Sound, Eleuthera.  This would mean arriving at Rock Sound in the middle of the night.  No worries, we've got plenty of previous tracks into the wide open bay.

 

We saw several cruise ships.  This one the Disney Fantasy.  They apparently anchor offshore and take their customers ashore to the southern tip of Eleuthera - they call it the Princess Cays.  Passing that area, we had two ships fairly close.

 

This one was a Carnival ship.

And we did finally catch a small skipjack tuna.  We apparently passed over a school as we had one on each of our reels at the same time.  Duane got his aboard.  Mine dived deep and then the line went slack as the smart fish got off the line!

 We arrived into Rock Sound around 1:30AM - just dropped the anchor at the first reasonable spot.  We will move the boat to a better spot later!  

Old Bight, Cat Island, Bahamas

 With some shifting winds, we pulled anchor and moved over a couple of hours to Old Bight.

We're in a bit of a holding pattern, will move north soon I think....nothing much here.  There are about 8 boats anchored in the entire huge bight.

We did get off the boat - took a dinghy ride into a little "inland creek" called Joe's Sound.  It's a popular name in the Bahamas, I think there are at least 3 named the same thing on different islands.  

 

We went on a rising tide but it ended up being too shallow for us to transit it completely.

 

And we took a long walk along the beach to get some blood flowing...

 

It's been on-and-off rainy....it's that time of the year I suppose!