May 11th. After we dropped off our guests at Staniel we needed to leave immediately knowing we had a long day ahead of us. Our son Matthew and his girlfriend Haley were arriving into Marsh Harbour on May 16th.
Five days to get from Staniel to Marsh Harbour would normally be more than enough time. So long as we didn’t want to dally in Eleuthera we would usually do Staniel to Cape Eleuthera across Exuma Sound, Cape Eleuthera to Spanish Wells on the shallow and reasonably well protected Eleuthera Bank, then Spanish Wells to Tilloo in Abaco out in the open Atlantic.
Except we, yet again, had weather closing in three days from now, with Easterlies potentially making Exuma Sound and the Atlantic really nasty. So we had two clear days to get to Abaco, and the forecast for both those days was pretty decent.
So we were away from the marina at Staniel shortly after 6:00am. The conditions at the cut were very good and we headed north east to pass into the Bight of Eleuthera via Cape Eleuthera. The conditions in the Sound were perfect for a crossing and the Bight was flat calm.
The western half of the Bight is extremely shallow, we had to continue running east to go around the bottom before making the turn to the north west heading for Current cut. We encountered very little boat traffic the whole day. Current cut itself can, as its name implies, have a strong current running through it given the narrowness of the opening and the two large bodies of water north and south of it. However we arrived at the cut, more by coincidence than planning, near slack water, and we passed through without any issue.
Our plan was to stop short of Spanish Wells and drop anchor behind Meeks Patch. As we approached we saw no signs of boats but the closer we started to see masts behind the island, and as we turned the north found there were 30 plus boats anchored in there! There was lots of room though and we got the anchor down in plenty of light after a 13 hour run.
First job was to get poor patient Bella ashore. There is a pig beach frequented by tour boats on the west side of the island, but a nice walking beach on the anchorage side which suited Bella just fine.
May 12th. Sian took Bella to the beach first thing this morning and got a bit of a surprise. Their morning walk was curtailed by some piglets who had wandered from the other side of the island. Bella was really interested in investigating them, but Sian knew that a big old sow was probably not far behind. So they hopped back on the dinghy and got back to Sonas quick sharp!
We lifted the anchor and headed up into Spanish Wells, we passed through the town to the east exit and followed a large sportsfisher out of the east cut through the reef. We had been this way before when we actually stayed in Spanish Wells, and were pretty confident of the route and depth.
The trip to Elbow Cay was smooth, with just the slightest of swell from the Atlantic. We passed a boat and crew (and dog) that we had met and chatted to at Warderick Wells. We spoke on the radio for a while. There seemed to be a bit of swell action at Little Harbour Cut so we continued on and made the entrance at North Bar Channel in the early afternoon. We went around Tilloo bank, up to the east of Lubbers Quarters and dropped anchor off Tahiti Beach. We had safely transited from Exuma to Abaco.
May 13-14th. While we did some small chores at anchor we took the time to relax and enjoy the us-time. Tahiti Beach is small but a very nice spot to dog walk and swim. In fact we took the opportunity to leave Bella on board and go to the beach for an hours swim each day to exercise.
May 15th – 16th Matthew and Haley were arriving into Marsh Harbour on the 16th. So we booked dockage at the excellent Conch Inn Marina for the 15th and 16th. We had stayed at this post-Dorian newly built marina a half dozen times last year and enjoyed the experience each time. We got to know the staff, especially Eric the senior dock hand, very well.
We used Wednesday the 15th to do a Maxwell’s grocery run and walk across to Jimmy’s to replenish the beer stores with some Sands. After our guests arrived on Thursday we got them settled in for a well needed nap as they had traveled overnight from Seattle! We then went up to Grabbers, the on-site restaurant, for dinner.
May 17th. Matthew and Haley were only staying with us for a week so we had to cram in as many Abaco experiences as we could.
Since they were particularly interested in doing plenty of snorkeling we got out of Marsh and headed over to the lagoon behind Deep Sea Cay. We had read and heard that there were lots of sea life to be found in there. We anchored off Snake Cay and dinghy’d in past the blue hole right by the cut into the lagoon. Apart from a couple of turtles there was not much to be seen today.
We left the Snake Cay anchorage and motored slowed over to Tahiti Beach towing the dinghy behind. Once the anchor was set and the snubber on we went ashore to the beach for some swimming and paddle boarding. Paul then took the kids over to the reef just inside Tilloo Cut where they found lots to see. They also snorkeled over the clear sandy Tilloo Bank further south.
May 18th. No visit to the Sea of Abaco is complete with at least a short Hope Town visit. We had a slip reserved at Hope Town Inn and Marina for one night and made sure to get in there nice an early. Matthew and Haley took the water Taxi over to town and had lunch at Cap’n Jacks. Then they taxied over to climb the Light House, before returning to the marina where we all hit the pool with cocktails in hand. Dinner that evening was in their restaurant right by the pool.
May 19-20th. It was Sunday, and you know what that means? Well yes, Church for many, but also the pig roast at Nippers on Great Guyana!
We had reserved a slip at Oyster Bay Marina for two nights. Originally we had booked just for the one night and had hopes of running across to Green Turtle Club the next night. However the forecast for the day after made crossing back through Whale Channel suspect. So we added a second night to our booking at Oyster Bay. Green Turtle would have to wait for another trip.
Once we were tied up at Oyster Bay Matthew and Haley headed off to hit the water off the beach on the Atlantic side of the island below the dunes at Nippers. We joined them later for drinks and lunch. We were careful with the Nipper’s Juice – a concoction of 8 different rums!
We woke up on the 20th to a very overcast sky, with some ominous clouds coming from the north west. Paul checked the forecast and there were warnings of quick moving heavy storms in the area. Then in mid-morning we were hit with a vicious micro-burst. We had gusts surpassing 50 knots. A big yacht on the T-Head tore a piling in half with its dockline, and the yacht next to us pushed over the piling between us. Their center console which they had tucked in between us damaged it’s roof on our anchors. Apart from some Eisenglass damage all the boats in the marina did fine.
May 21st – Our last guests for this year’s cruise were leaving tomorrow so we had booked into Conch Inn Marina for the night. On our way over to Marsh Harbour we anchored off Mermaid Reef. We had first visited this man-made reef on our first Abaco cruise way back in 2002. We knew Matthew and Haley would be able to see plenty of fish as it can always be relied upon to produce great snorkeling. We all snorkeled for an hour before lunch, then the kids decided they wanted more, so we after lunch and watched them swim to the reef and enjoy it.
May 22nd. The flight out of Marsh Harbour was at lunchtime. Once we saw Matthew and Haley onto the taxi we headed back to Sonas. We were staying another night at the marina to again tidy up and get everything ship shape for our run back to Florida. We also had some frozen food on board that we would not be using so passed that along to the dock hands.
We headed into Marsh Harbour and Eric helped us tie up. In the evening we took Matthew and Haley over to Colors for dinner, they stayed for last night drinks while we oldies headed back to Sonas!
May 23rd. We untied and headed across the sea of Abaco to start our journey back home. We crossed the Whale without issue, cruised past Green Turtle and dropped anchor at the north anchorage at Nunjack (Manjack) Cay.
May 24th. Bella got taken ashore at first light and we were away early from Nunjack. We had planned on staying an extra night at Nunjack as it is one of favorite anchorages and beaches in the area, but based on the forecast the best day to cross the gulf stream was two days from now, after which it was doable but not great. Our aim today was to get to Great Sale. On the way we contacted Old Bahamas Bay while we still had good cell phone connectivity. Based on our original plan of staying two nights at Nunjack we had a slip booked and paid for the night of the 26th. We now needed a slip on the 25th, but unfortunately they were full that night, with a wait list. So we cancelled the reservation being told that we could not get our money back but we had a credit if we used it in the next six months. Not something we would be doing.
We made Great Sale anchorage without issue, and anchored in the very well protected bay with the four other boats there.
May 25th. As we left Great Sale today and headed towards West End, Grand Bahama, we started researching the best place to anchor before our crossing. There is an anchorage right to the north of OBB, off the small beach. However all reports indicated that the current rushes through there and it can have a very uncomfortable surge. We opted instead to anchor north of Sand Cay, which would give us a nice beach to walk Bella on and actually a bit of a jump on the day tomorrow.
We got to Sand Cay in flat calm. There were dozens of boats pulled up on the island and on the plentiful sandbars to the north It was the Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend and we assumed that many had made the short run across for the long weekend – and probably why the marina was full!
We were able to get Bella ashore for her walk but found that the water was so shallow we had to walk the dinghy in for a couple of hundred yards.
May 26th. The weather forecast indicated a perfect day to cross the gulf stream with light winds from the south east, gradually growing by late afternoon by which time we would be nearly across.
Unfortunately our start was about 45 minutes delayed due to the need to walk the dinghy to the island and back for Bella’s morning business. While frustrating we didn’t have a choice. Bella will not go on the boat so we had to get her to shore so that she would be comfortable during the long day.
Apart from that our crossing could not have been easier. We reached the inlet at Fort Pierce around 3:30. Due to it being Sunday on a holiday weekend the number of boats milling about and pulled up on the beaches at the inlet was incredible, so we had to be on our toes all the way in avoiding the smaller boats crowding around us.
We had a slip reserved at Vero Beach Municipal Marina for two days. The marina staff go home at 5:00. Realizing that we would be there between 5:15 and 5:30 we asked if someone could be there to tie us up after a long day. They did have a young man who lived at the marina, and he came over and helped us back into our slip. He got a few bucks for his college fund!
When Sian and Bella got back from the dog park Paul put our arrival details into the ROAM system and got our approval to enter without an issue.
May 27th. Today was Memorial Day. We did not fancy a run through central Florida on a holiday so had reserved the slip for this second day. We did some chores onboard and let Bella enjoy the park.The municipal marina is a busy place and there was always something to watch or someone to talk to.
Today was also Sian’s birthday. We booked a table for dinner at Cobalt overlooking the beach and had a pleasant meal followed by a short walk on the very busy beach.
May 28th- May 30th. It is always our intention to slow down once in Florida and only run for short days on the way home. However once stateside we always end up like the horse bolting for the barn door. So we ran from Vero Beach to Titusville on the 28th, Titusville to Palm Coast on the 29th (where we ate at the Fifth Element Indian restaurant again, then home dock on the 30th. The only small bit of excitement was seeing the Falcon 5 rocket take 23 more Starlink satellites into orbit. We were a little bit too far south for a good look, plus it was a daytime launch.
Bahamas 2024 was in the books!