![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/starfish.jpg\" "\\"OLYMPUS")
<\/p>\nIt’s Monday morning and we are anchored in a lovely spot in Compass Cay for the third day. \u00a0 We arrived from Staniel Cay where we left to avoid the coming west winds that would have made anchorage uncomfortable given the exposure there. \u00a0This harbor offers much better protection from nearly all directions than most harbors in the Exumas.<\/p>\n
Staniel Cay is a very popular stop and was particularly appealing to the big boy yachting set given a planned James Bond Casino Royal charity event. \u00a0Staniel Cay is home of Thunderball Cave, of the James Bond film of the same name. \u00a0Attendees of this charity event were encouraged to come dressed the Bond part. \u00a0There were plenty that would fit that mold and a number of “bond girls” too. \u00a0Unfortunately, we had to leave due to the weather and missed the big event. \u00a0There were at least a dozen big yachts in town with the largest at 220′. \u00a0That one had an enclosed launch, actually referred to as a “limo launch” to get the guests to the event. \u00a0These mega dinks, cost as much as several, no make that a half dozen, Pandora’s. I can’t imagine the cost of keeping these babies on the move. ” If you have to ask, you can’t afford it”, they say. \u00a0OK, got it.<\/p>\n
Since my last post we have begun our run north through the Exumas with the goal of stopping at some of the spots that we missed on our way south in January. \u00a0This time of the year we are supposed to be seeing more easterly trade winds which make travel north and south easy. \u00a0Unfortunately, it’s not looking like we will see much other than northerlies for much of the week. \u00a0 Given the fact that all the islands we want to visit are north of here, we won’t be sailing there any time soon. \u00a0Perhaps, if the winds cut down a bit, even if they remain from the north, we will motor somewhere in a day or so, depending on the strength of the wind. \u00a0The good news is that the islands are very close together in this area so we wouldn’t have very far to go.<\/p>\n
Happily, this spot, Compass Cay, \u00a0is very well protected and quite pretty with long sandy beaches and mangrove swamps that you can take a dink into at high tide. \u00a0I expect that we will enjoy doing some beach combing and sightseeing for the next few days here. \u00a0There’s even a small marina nearby where we will be able to have a lunch out.<\/p>\n
Speaking of spending money, \u00a0we are running short of cash as there aren’t any banks in this area. \u00a0Having said that, there’s not much to spend money on anyway as only a few of the islands have any sort of settlements. \u00a0The good news is that most places, where there are inhabited “places”, \u00a0take credit cards although they charge an extra \u00a05% for the privilege. \u00a0 Oh well, \u00a0we have to keep our strength up so an extra \u00a05% it will have to be\u2026<\/p>\n
The spot where we are anchored is about 20′ deep and is surrounded by flats that nearly dry out at low tide. \u00a0 The water color ranges from nearly white in the shallow flats to a deep blue in the deeper spots. \u00a0It’s quite dramatic. \u00a0The tide really rips through the deeper areas so we tend to point toward the current, not the wind. \u00a0That can make for Pandora laying at some odd angles to the wind but keeps things interesting. \u00a0The views are beautiful and you can walk for several miles, on the flats, in water that is less than 1′ deep at low tide. \u00a0 It’s still pretty shallow at high tide as the range is only a few feet here. \u00a0 All over the flats, there are loads of sand dollars and really interesting starfish. \u00a0 \u00a0Brenda and I enjoyed posing with some of our new “friends”. \u00a0(Editor: \u00a0No starfish were harmed taking this photograph. \u00a0Traumatized yes, killed, no.) \u00a0 And yes, the water was very warm.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We are still buddy boating with our friends Loreen and Miles of Ariel and one daily activity for us is to find a shallow spot near the beach to sit and enjoy staying cool in the water. \u00a0Me? \u00a0I have trouble sitting still for very long so I tend to abandon the “sitters” and walk along in the shallow water with my glass bottomed bucket looking for shells. \u00a0I have also been successful in finding palm fronds for Brenda so she can continue to make her baskets which are getting better and better every day.Conch and discarded conch shells are everywhere here in the Bahamas but this is the first, and certainly largest and most colorful, hermit crab that I have found. \u00a0 Actually, I have never ever found a hermit crab even close to this size. \u00a0 I guess that if there are big shells, there will be big hermit crabs.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/crab.jpg\" "\\"OLYMPUS")
<\/p>\n
With about six weeks left for our visit to the Bahamas, our thoughts have turned to logistics for our return to Essex. \u00a0 Brenda will be flying out of Marsh Harbor Abaco on or about the 9th of May. \u00a0 \u00a0A good friend of mine, Craig, will be flying down to spend a week sailing with me after Brenda’s departure and after that I’ll have crew coming down for the run back to CT.<\/p>\n
My good friend Chris from CT will be joining me for the run north and perhaps one other. \u00a0 Logistics are always an issue when it comes to moving Pandora but I am used to that after years of practice in getting from points A to B. \u00a0I am hopeful that the weather will cooperate for our run north to the Abacos, Brenda’s departure, crew arrival and the run to CT. \u00a0 Details, details…<\/p>\n
It’s Monday morning and we are anchored in a lovely spot in Compass Cay for the third day. \u00a0 We arrived from Staniel Cay where we left to avoid the coming west winds that would have made anchorage uncomfortable given the exposure there. \u00a0This harbor offers much better protection from nearly all directions than most […]<\/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-1772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1772","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=1772"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1776,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1772\/revisions\/1776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}