Friday, April 10, 2009
10 April - Day #38. The anchorage in Great Sale Cay is open to the south. As luck would have it, last night's winds blew a nice steady 15kts; from the south. We set the GPS' anchor alarm for 100' and went to bed knowing that while the evening may be a bumpy one, at least we'd wake up in the same place. The winds built today eventually leveling at 20kts from the SSW. Other than being passed by a Benetau 42, under sail, while tacking no less, Nellie was happy as a clam and gave us a comfortable ride. It felt like we'd finally 'arrived' in the cruising grounds when we started paralleling the shores of Little Abaco Island. Here the Abacos begin a turn to the south and myriad out islands break the Atlantic swell. It's a 60nm run from Great Sale to Green Turtle. The route between the two is something like a highway for cruisers heading to/from the US. However, we only saw a dozen boats in our 10 hour transit so it's not exactly crowded. We entered Green Turtle's Black Sound at low low tide. Not to worry there was plenty of water. If you call 4.6', over coral, in the middle of the channel, plenty of water ;-O Once inside the bottom drops, becomes sandy, and is grass filled. 'Pickup a mooring' is the guide books advice. With none available we drop the hook and proceed to back-down for half a mile while the anchor, and its 50' of chain rode, merrily follows along. While retrieving the ground tackle some locals take pity on us and point out a private mooring which can be rented. It's Good Friday and just about everything is closed in New Plymouth. Very pretty place. White picket fences surround the small, tightly packed, brightly colored houses. Dinner is on Dave as he managed to find a sand bar during the earlier anchoring exercise. 62nm today: 1202 total. DBH
