Safe Harbor

     Round two (strong cold front) appears to be in the making somewhere to the north and/or west of us.  According to the weather gurus, the next cold front to drop in on the Bahamas is 7 maybe 8 days away according to yesterday's predictions.  Realizing the time frame and the vast enormity of variables, for example mother nature changing her mind, the predictions are for a sustained influence (days) of weather from the W, NW and N.  In the above weather map, to the trained eye, is the bad boy that will be effecting the changes this weekend in the south Bahamas.  They, the weather gurus, are predicting light/strong winds for many days but the exact number of days has yet to be determined.  About the only thing that really catches our attention is the direction of the wind, anything from the S clocking through to N and the wind speeds.  So, once again, as with the previous blow, we'll be making the necessary preparations and moving the boat about 2 miles to the north into Thompson Bay.  After the previous blow last weekend, we had moved the boat back down to Salt Pond because yours truly was not happy with our anchor set in the west side of Thompson Bay when the winds shifted back to the east, and we were faced with a lot of fetch out of the east.  As we move the boat to Thompson Bay we will be looking to anchor in the eastern section of the bay where the bottom has a little more bite.  Our moving of the boat today may sound a little premature of a blow 6 days from now, but you would be surprised how many boats will come to Thompson Bay because of the protection it offers.  On the west side of Long Island, Thompson Bay may be the only safe harbor.

Salt Water Shower With A Rain Chaser

S/V Seas The Day under sail on the White Cay Bank

     Typically, when a cold front swings into the Bahamas from the United States it brings high winds and creates havoc in the anchorages.  Since our arrival in the Bahamas back in early November, the cold fronts have been mild.  When I say mild, the winds have been clocking around from the E to the S and continue clocking to the W and then to N and never present any concern because of the low wind speeds.  Yesterday, that came to an abrupt ending as a very large cold front entered the southern Bahamas and our location in Salt Pond, Long Island.  This cold front had been anticipated by the weather gurus for the previous week, and all the cruisers have been taking whatever action they felt was necessary.  This cold front was the "gentle" nudge we needed to motivate us to depart from our "winter residence" (read anchorage) in Plain Bay and Black Point Settlement.  So, with a near perfect weather window for a trawler, we left Black Point Settlement after a 2 day layover for laundry and a dinner out at DeShaMons Restaurant.  However, on the eve of our departure we had dinner at DeShaMons, where we had a chance encounter and met some wonderful cruisers on S/V Seas The Day, Mark & Jan and their dog Daisy, a Golden Doodle.  Unknown to us when we departed on Wednesday morning, it would be the start of a new adventure with the crew of S/V Seas The Day.  Mark and Jan had never taken the back route through the Pimlico Cays and have never been to Long Island.  So, Big Run was able to not only get herself through the back route without going aground again; Big Run was also able to bring another boat through the skinny water safely.  After a one night layover in Williams Bay just south of Lee Stocking, Big Run and Seas The Day made the 10 hour run to Salt Pond on Thursday.  It was a glorious cruise down the Exuma Sound, White Cay Bank and the Great Bahama Bank.

     Friday was a day for doing land things like a walk over to the east side of Long Island for a view of the Atlantic Ocean.  We also did some reprovisioning of the boat at the local hardware store that is also a grocery store - only in the Bahamas. On the island there is also a lumber company that doubles as a butcher shop.

     On Saturday, the wind as predicted started clocking from the SSE to the S.  After moving the boat early Saturday morning from Salt Pond to Thompson Bay, a distance of 2 miles, the winds starting building in from SW.   But as this point in time, it was not enough to curtail activities as we went to yet another grocery store for more reprovisioning.  Saturday evening was spent onboard S/V Seas The Day for another round of "The Meixcan Train Game", a great domino based game.  Then, almost right on cue, it happened.  The winds jumped from 10 knots to 25 knots gusting to 30 knots as a squall ushered in the cold front.  Needless to say, our return in the dinghy that night to Big Run was the equivalent of a salt water shower with a rain chaser!

Big Run and crew.  Photo credit Mark & Jan - S/V Seas The Day