Chapter 11 Current Cut and Beyond)

Chapter 11 (Current Cut and Beyond) Happy Easter to all of our friends and family. I am starting at the end with this blog. What I mean is I have been trying to Blog and capture our adventure since going through the Current cut over a week ago. We have not been in a WiFi environment since, until today. We sailed yesterday from Governors Harbor, South to the Cape of Eleuthra. This is the furthest South of civilization on this Island and the locals that do live here want to keep it that way! It was a fantastic sail. It took us the better part of 5 hours to get here. The last 3 hours of the trip was a little bit terrifying, but very beautiful. We had a 30+knot wind out of the southeast with huge seas and swells. We only put up about 1/3 of our Genoa to begin with but then had to reduce that, the closer we got to the Cape. Even still we maintained 6-7 knots with the extreme winds. The last 6 miles we had to motor without sails, to go through the Davis channel and skirt around coral heads. That leg of the trip was like sailing in a very violent washing machine without sails. We were knocked over to our starboard 3 times and twice to our port. In fact the ride was so violent that everything not totally tied down in the cabin was strewn about. It looked like college kids on spring break, gone wild! Nothing was damaged! Again, we are so happy with our chart plotter, It makes us feel much safer. We once heard a seasoned, blue water cruiser say that when you cruise you have 23 hours per day of shear terror followed by 1 hour of pure bliss. It has not been that extreme for us but we have seen both terror as well as bliss. When we came into the harbor yesterday with such extreme winds, we would find out later that the harbor master from this port, was not working? It was obvious! We had called ahead and they were expecting us. We couldn't get the dock crew to respond to us on the radio, as was the normal, in other marinas. We looked up after waiting more than 15 minutes bouncing around in the harbor with the winds. and there was a woman in uniform waving us into a space that was not good for the wind conditions. It was one space between to large power fishing yachts. Imagine their terror as we approached semi-out of control? Having never been here before we tried to do what she asked but had to abort the landing, so to speak because we had no control even with the Bow Thruster. The bow thruster could not compete with the 30+ knots tail wind gusts we were experiencing. That was 30 minutes of terror for sure! We escaped with no major damage to our boat or the marina but our barbeque was ripped off of the rail by a passing pylon.. Poor Steve is always having to fix stuff! (Another experienced cruiser described cruising, as working on your boat in exotic locations!) One of the large dive boats in the harbor with Captain Paul, ended up working like a tug boat to pull us off of the Pylons that were holding us from damaging anything or anyone, as we were unable to move with the dominant cross wind, pinning us down! They really design these marinas well. We ended up motoring to and being placed for the night next to a large concrete "Safety dock", where they typically put the large yachts or small ships. The problem was that the wind was still driving us into the dock. While getting secured to the dock a remaining part to the barbeque that was ripped off, fell into the water. The staff said their diver would retrieve it ASAP. The dock staff were expecting two very large yachts in the morning and needed us to move to another spot in the morning to make room for them. The winds were not expecting to let up and we would have difficulty getting off the dock independently. The bright spot of the night, well there were 3, was that we took an extra long shower in the shower house, got some laundry done and, on the way back to the boat, the crew and guests of a 114 foot luxury liner "Good Times" stopped us and gave us about 10 pounds of fresh Mahi-Mahi that they had caught that day! We graciously took it. No Chicken for us tonight! When we were talking with them about our incident, they graciously offered to help us out in the morning. They had a 20 foot "Dinghy" with 3 250 horsepower outboards on the back. Steve was up all night trying to make sure that our boat was safe and recounting the events from the day. I was restless as it was very noisy and rock and rolly, but nothing really disturbs my sleep, can't help it? He did wake me up one time to help him replace the fenders protecting our boat from the pylons. With the changing tide and the severe blow, our fenders had moved and the boat was hitting the pylons directly.. Early this morning the Harbor master came to our boat to discuss the incident from yesterday. He stated they never should have tried to dock us in the area that they were trying to, because of the forceful winds. They had an incident report filled out, claiming responsibility for any damage, thankfully other than the barbeque there was no real damage. Steve went for a ride with him to try to find a place we could move into that would be more comfortable and safer. As discussed, the captain from the "Good Times" yacht came to our rescue. They pulled our stern off the dock and held us until Steve could get the Bow moved with the thruster and the engine. It was again a very stressful and a little terrifying, due to the extreme winds, but we got moved into a slip that was out of the wind and secured. We tried to pay the people that helped us but they would not accept our offer? Diver Paul did retrieve our barbeque piece and I am certain Steve will have it soon, good as new. So we are relaxing here in this beautiful harbor for Easter. The luxury liner crew, the diver that helped and the fish could only be explained as a pure Easter miracle! We will be here for 2 more nights. Then, the winds are supposed to improve. We will have to begin our return trip to Florida. We don't know yet exactly what our plans are but we will have some soon.

The next segment is what we wrote initially, over the last several days that got us to the Current cut and Beyond! _____________________________________________________________________ After 2 nights in the Marina at Spanish Wells, hiding from the 30 knots of wind, we left for the Current cut. The weather was beautiful on 4-8-17. We were able to sail some but mostly we was thankful for our Garmin Chart Plotter to guide us out of the shallow harbor on the same scary trail we entered and out to the banks that led us into deeper water, 20-30 foot. We were often in 7-8 foot of water! We approached the Current Cut at approximately 1:48. Steve had talked with many people and did a lot of research to pick the best time. The Current cut as I mentioned is considered the Panama Canal of the Bahamas'. As with every other crossing we had to look at the wind speed, direction, and the tide. At 1:45 Steve determined the tide would be 11/2 hours before estimated low tide at Eleuthera . When we went through the Cut, it went very smooth. The Channel is very deep. This channel is where a lot of the drift divers will shoot through at up to 10 knots. We were going against a current of about 3 knots, Steve felt like he had the most control that way. Another first was accomplished! The next step was about 2-3 miles of very shallow bank to cross before getting into the deeper water. Again the water color was amazing, shades of blue that I never could of imagined. We sailed to Hall's Bight. The remaining 30-40 miles of Eleuthra is one long skinny Island. The next 10 day forecast has very high winds (up to 30 +knots) but out of the east so we will be protected. Our first night at Hall's Bight was around the corner (a dinghy ride away) from the Glass window. This is a very skinny place on Eleuthra where there is only the Queens highway connecting the south and north ends of the Island. The Atlantic with its rolling waves is splashing in from the East and the banks of Eleuthra is on the West side. We had a beautiful night on anchor, the only boat in the harbor. The next day we set sail South. We anchored in a bay on the north side of Rainbow Cay. We went ashore for some beach time and a walk through the little settlement there. There were no businesses. We were met on shore the first time by a local man. He handed us his car keys. He said" There are no stores or restaurants here, but you can take my car to the next town to get what you need"? We didn't need anything but told him how gracious we were for his offer. On our walk we were stopped 3 times asking us if we needed a ride?

Because of wind again, the boat was really rocking when we woke in the morning. Once we secured everything we left the harbor for a new harbor further South that we thought would have better protection from the 30+ knots winds. We motored to the next spot because of the high winds. We entered Alabaster Bay where the wind was still blowing but we were able to be on Anchor with out much rocking. This was a beautiful bay with White sand on the shores. Going ashore we watched others picking up Sand dollars. We were soon out snorkeling in the bay picking up sand dollars of our own! After about 45 minutes of hunting we had 34 sand dollars!

The next morning we decided to go ashore and see the land. We combed the beach more to look for shells. We found the abandoned US Navy base that was built in the 1950's, during the cold war and only open a short time. It was built to have a close access and monitoring of the Cuban missiles. We were able to walk through the entire base. There were still many buildings. Lots of over growth from the jungle. We will post pictures ASAP.

Eleuthra has Pink sandy beaches on most of its Atlantic shores. We have read several reasons why but we are not sure. They do have a pink hue? Very beautiful. When we returned to Sol Mates, we snorkeled the bay and walked the beaches more. We saw several stingrays and an eagle Ray. We then sailed South to Governors' Harbor. We found an excellent anchorage just north of the harbor on "Tom's Rocks". This was a very private anchorage. We were there two nights and never saw another boat. We continue to see the most beautiful sunsets. I am assuming the sunrises are still as beautiful but I have been sleeping in and honestly have not seen many of those! The shoreline had a beautiful beach. We were able to walk the beach and play our smash ball game again. We achieved a record of 176 continuous hits on this beach! It is impossible to take a picture of this game because we both have to be playing, maybe another time? We did take a short dinghy ride to Governors harbor for more provisioning and a stroll through the settlement. Governors Harbor was the first capitol of the Bahamas. Eleuthra was the first established Island in the Bahamas and now it is clearly the least inhabited of the larger Islands that we have seen., and not near as many cruisers here either. Looking forward to better winds and sea conditions. When we know which way the wind will blow us we will let you know!