Hooooeee is it ever blowin' a hootie today!
Friday started out easy enough. Though the wind was 20 to 30 knots, we were in tight behind Tilloo Cay and decided to move a couple of miles south to a place we could do some dinghy exploring and some snorkeling on a large, shallow bank - - all in the shadow of the cay.
We arrived at our preferred spot only to find it was pretty rolly. Swells were large enough that it would not have been a very comfortable night. Sooo, we decided to hoof it on down island maybe 10 miles and tuck in to Little Harbour, a known refuge. Yeah, right!
On the way south, though still inside the Abaco barrier islands, it was blowing a solid 30 knots of wind. Seas were up and we were occasionally taking splashing water over the top of the boat as we plowed through the waves. Argghhh.
A couple of hours later, we tried it again. This time we made it over the hump with maybe a foot to spare!
The wind in Lttle Harbour was blistering and the whole place was rolling. Ughhh. After working for nearly an hour to pick up a mooring, we finally secured Samba. However, it was apparent that with the rolling in the harbor, we would be better off out of the harbor & in behind one of the islands so out we went.
We found a reasonably quiet spot behind an outcropping of land on Lynyard Cay. The wind was blowing like snot but we were close enough to the island that there were few waves and the swells coming down the back of the island were tolerable.
Jim dove on the anchor and on the second anchoring attempt determined that it was set well. Though the water was only 7 feet deep, we put out 130 feet of heavy chain to make sure we didn't drag in this nasty wind.
Saturday, the wind was down a little but still near 20 knots. We dropped the dinghy and headed in to do some exploring and beach combing. The leeward side the island was nice and calm but boy was the windward side sporty!
We did find a fun place where other cruisers had placed a variety of flotsam. This marked the trail to the windward side of the island.
