{"id":1479,"date":"2013-01-25T14:39:30","date_gmt":"2013-01-25T14:39:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=1479"},"modified":"2013-01-25T14:39:32","modified_gmt":"2013-01-25T14:39:32","slug":"it-is-indeed-better-in-the-bahamas-and-a-lot-warmer-than-essex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=1479","title":{"rendered":"It is indeed better in the Bahamas. And A LOT warmer than Essex."},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s Friday morning and we have been in the Bahamas for a week now.\u00a0 We are now in the Exumas and visiting one of the largest islands in the chain, Warderick Wells, part of the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park managed by the Bahamas National Trust www.bnt.bs<\/a>, a \u00a025 mile stretch of islands running south from Warderick that are protected .\u00a0 Interestingly, studies have shown that protecting patches of habit benefit other areas nearby as protected species do better in the parks and migrate into other non-protected areas.<\/p>\n

A few days ago I tried out my underwater case for my i-phone and took a number of photos and videos.\u00a0 It was great fun, I have to say.\u00a0 With the clear water, which these photos don\u2019t really do justice to just how clear it is.\"\"<\/a>Our friend Bill looking graceful.\"\"Some pretty little tube worms.<\/span><\/a>\"\"<\/a>To see your shadow on the bottom is a remarkable sight.\u00a0 Even at night the shadows of the moon are distinct.\u00a0\"\"<\/a>One major issue that we have faced, and were warned about prior to coming here, is that the weather is something that you have to really pay attention to.\u00a0\u00a0 Today\u2019s forecast is a good example of how quickly things change.\u00a0\u00a0 Today\u2019s wind is from the ENE at 20kts dropping to 15kts.\u00a0 Saturday will be more mild with winds in the 10-15kt range.\u00a0\u00a0 This quickly will change with freshening winds from the E-NE in the 20s and higher for the next 4-5 days.\u00a0 What this means is that one day\u2019s great sail can quickly turn into a need to seek shelter for a number of days while waiting for the next weather system to come through.<\/span><\/p>\n

This also means that you have to choose your anchoring spot very well.\u00a0 While it\u2019s windy today the seas are quite calm as we are in an area that\u2019s protected from any seas.\u00a0 However, for several days we were in a very different position when we anchored in areas with fiends where there was quite a long fetch from a windward shore, allowing for a nasty chop to build.\u00a0 This meant that any excursions in the dink were a bit harrowing with lots of water splashing over the side.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the best example, or worst depending on how you look at it, was when we returned to Pandora the other night after dinner and a game of dominos with friends on another boat. \u00a0\u00a0The winds were blowing\u00a0 about 25kts which meant that we had to step into a dink that was bucking around in the chop running alongside their boat.\u00a0\u00a0 After scrambling into the dink we motored off into the dark.\u00a0 In the short distance to Pandora we caught a good deal of spray including a bucket load of water into our faces.\u00a0 Imagine how much fun that was for Brenda when her next planned stop was to be bed.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Well, we both stripped off our wet clothes in the cockpit and headed down for showers.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The lesson for us is that anchoring in the right spot depending on what\u2019s coming weather-wise is the key.\u00a0 Had we been tucked up against a shore with an island buffering the seas and wind we would have been in a very different position.\u00a0 Well, perhaps that\u2019s more than you really want to know about wind and chop but it\u2019s what life in the Bahamas is all about.\u00a0\u00a0 All of this has also reinforced the value of our water maker which is doing well in keeping us in plenty of fresh water.\u00a0\u00a0 Remember, a salt free boat, and crew, is a happy boat.\u00a0\u00a0 As the saying goes, sort of, \u201cwhen Momma is unhappy (or salty), ain\u2019t nobody happy\u201d.<\/p>\n

By contrast, we are moored in similarly windy conditions right now and yet are very comfortable, thanks to having picked a good location, with good protection, to spend a few days.<\/p>\n

Yesterday we had a great sail, around 25 miles in brisk winds. \u00a0 It was fun to romp along for a few hours doing 7-8 kts all the way in clear blue waters. \u00a0It’s so different from anything we have ever experienced in our past lives.<\/p>\n

The view from the ranger station here is spectacular.\u00a0 Look at the contrast from the deep blue channel and the sand flats.\"\"<\/a>How about this whale skeleton they have reconstructed on the beach? \u00a0It’s really big.\"\"<\/a><\/span>Lastly, with the really really clear waters here we often see wildlife that we missed in the past.\u00a0 Yesterday a rather large, perhaps in the 5\u2019 long range, sand shark swam past our anchored boat a few times.\u00a0\u00a0 What an impressive creature.\u00a0 I wish I had gotten a photo.<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, off to explore the island.\u00a0 Oh yeah, did I mention that today is in the low 80s and sunny?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s Friday morning and we have been in the Bahamas for a week now.\u00a0 We are now in the Exumas and visiting one of the largest islands in the chain, Warderick Wells, part of the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park managed by the Bahamas National Trust www.bnt.bs, a \u00a025 mile stretch of islands running […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","_s2mail":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1479"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1489,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1479\/revisions\/1489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}