This morning was decision making time.  Mary and Dewey are scheduled to fly to Nassua from Eleuthra on Saturday.  With the progress we have been making and the bad weather forecasted, we had to decide whether to forge on and reschedule their flights and return home or to fly out of Georgetown on Great Exuma.  We decided to forge on.  They made some calls and got it worked out.  We were late leaving - after provisioning twice and taking on water and fuel - left about 10:30am.  Our plan was to make if about 45 miles to Farmers Cays.  After the first 2 hours of a really nice westerly beam reach, the wind picked up to around 25.  We dropped the mizzen and reefed the main.  The wind was forecasted to clock around to the NW so we decided to stop short.  We went through Adderly Cut (at about 4:30pm) and into an anchorage with about 8 other boats, in the lee of Norman's Pond Cay.  Dewey swam a quarter mile to shore, I sun showered.  Had coctails and them Captain Phil fixed burgers on his George Foreman burger grill.  They were great.  Had a huge thunderstorm at 10pm that lasted about 30 minutes with lots of rain and winds that sounded like 50 to 60 kts.  Happily, our single anchor (delta) held.

Sailed about 25 miles from Long Island to Georgetown on Grand Exuma Island.  Now THIS is the Bahamas.  Beautiful aqua blue water, lots of little cays with beautiful beaches and many great anchorages.  Got into Georgetown around 2pm after a 5 mile motor through coral heads and reefs.  Captain Phil's nerves are being tested but he knows there is much more of the same to come since the central and upper Bahamas are mostly islands on "banks" that are mile after mile of water just a little deeper than the Pintita's keel.  The banks are surrounded by waters that drop off to over a mile in just a few hundred yards.  As I type, we are running the "Silver Bullet" - the boats AC diesel powered generator.  Everyone has their cell phones, kindles, and other devices plugged in for charging.  We are staying at a marina that is redoing all their shore power and right now, we have none.  Looking out over the harbor (it's 9pm) is like star gazing. There must be over 100 boats in site at anchor - all displaying their anchor lights.  It's really a cool sight.  We are expecting the first (for the Pintita) in over 2 months. Fronts from the US typically don't make it below where we are - the East Trade winds keep  them from pushing south.  From this point north, we will be getting a lot of influence from the US weather.  We have read about all the winter storms marching across the country (brrrrr!).   Tomorrow morning, we will do some light provisioning and take on fuel and be on our way up the Exuma chain.   Will probably not be in contact till we reach Eleuthera in 2 or 3 days.

Started out at about 8:30am from Flying Fish Marina in Clarence Town this morning with fairly good (15 kt) ESE winds.  Wind dropped to about 10 knots so we motor sailed the 70 miles from there up to the northern tip of Long Island.  Motored around Santa Maria point and about 3 miles down the west side of Long Island to Calabash Bay.  This is a very remote area - like much of what we have seen for the last 3 days. Tomorrow, we will head to Georgetown on Great Exuma.  The plan is to get fuel there and anchor out, waiting for a cold front to pass through.  The west side of Long Island is the eastern side of the Grand Bahama Bank, where, for a hundred miles, the water is only a few feet deep.  We are anchored in a completely white sand bottom area and the almost full moon is shining off the bottom making the water glow.  It's amazing.   The downside of this anchorage is that it is a bit rocky from the surge.  The water is very smooth but big swells come around the top of the island and find their way into the anchorage. 

Tomorrow, it's up early and on to the northern tip of Long Island and around to the West side where we will anchor and then proceed onto the Exuma chain.  Should be two days in the Exumas and then on to Eluthra where Dewey and Mary will disembark and Ollie will arrive.  Will likely be out of touch for several days.  Had cracked Conch at "Rowdy Boys Restaurant tonight.  Everyone else is in bed and I'm heading there now.

I'm behind on my blogging for a couple reasons.  I've started reading a great book and I've been enjoying chatting with our new crew member Dewey Dyer.  More about Dewey and his wife Mary later.  Yesterday afternoon, we arrived in Little Harbor at the south end of Long Island. We debated on whether to go a little further north to Clearance Town but since we will be going there today to spend the night at a marina we decided to "rough it" last night.  Little harbor is the prettiest anchorage I've seen yet.  It's very deserted and peaceful.  We have concluded that most of the anchoring in the southern part of the Bahamas and to the south east is in deep water.  From here on, it will be much more shallow.  Arrived in Little Harbor at about 2:30pm - plenty of time to snorkel and relax.

See the Charts tab for a discussion of the charts we are using for the trip.

Motor sailed overnight and most of the day today from the NE tip of Aukins Island to Long Island.  The winds were light, around 10 kts. but seemed lighter since we were broad reaching the entire day.  Had great breakfast (eggs, potatoes, sausage) and a fantastic cold pasta and lobster dinner last night thanks to Mary and Captain Phil.  Little sea life today but great weather.  Seems like we have left the Caribbean squalls behind us.

Got a late (11am) start out of Abrahams Bay but there was no rush since we had decided to do an overnighter to get to our next destination.  Had good 20 to 25kt ESE winds all day with 6 to 8' seas.  Our new crew members are troopers and are handling the seas with no problem.  Dinner was Captain Phils Dirty Rice and sausage in a bowl (every try eating while riding a "mechanical bull"?).