Exumas, here we are!

It’s Wednesday morning and we are anchored off of a lovely beach at Highborne Cay near the top of the Exuma chain of islands.  This part of the Bahamas is referred to as the central Bahamas with Highborne near the northern portion, not to put too fine a point on it.

The water is crystal clear and the most amazing color of blue.

Our run on Monday from Nassau took us a bit over 30 miles and with winds out of the north east, we were able to sail the entire distance.  The wind was a bit strong so it was a pretty energetic run and I am happy to report that Brenda did very well.  Actually, it seems that her tendency to be seasick seems to be less each year with this year the best yet.  Yahoo!!!

Our first stop on Monday was at Allen Cay, the home of a wonderful population of native iguanas that, for all the world, look like props from a “B” Japanese Godzilla movie.  As you come onto the beach, the lizards come out to look for handouts.  It’s pretty amazing to see 30 or so 3’ long “mini monsters” come out of from the brush.  And sometimes they come pretty close.  Here’s Chris with some admirers.Yesterday we motored a short distance from Allen to Highborne Cay because this island is a bit taller and breaks the wind a bit more.  The currents at Allen are strong challenging and make the boat orient itself oddly to the wind as the tide ebbs and flows against a strong wind.   Here at Highborne, the currents are a lot less so Pandora lies more calmly at anchor, which is much more comfortable.

We are expecting stronger winds, upward of 20kts, tomorrow so we will likely head a bit further south today to take advantage of the mostly favorable winds from the east today.   We will be entering a national park area and “no take zone” which is protected against any fishing or hunting, which is good.  As a result, you see all sorts of fish that you might not see in the other areas.

The winds in this area tend to be from the south east so getting south can be a bit challenging.  In order to sail the wind has to be 40 or so degrees off of the bow.  Otherwise, we have to motor into the wind.  And, if the wind is over say 15kts, it takes a lot of power to push against the wind.  Needless to say, those who have sailboats would prefer to sail.

Chris will fly out of Staniel Cay, a bit south of here, Wednesday of next week so we have to be aware of wind conditions to be sure we are able to get there in time for his flight.   As you might have surmised, we have to pay very careful attention to the weather as picking weather windows correctly when we need to head somewhere can make for a good day on the water.  Pick incorrectly and well, not such a good day.  With the next few days calling for unfavorable winds, we probably should head south today and hang out for a few days while we wait for more moderate conditions to return.

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