April 10th- Green Turtle Cay, Abaco Islands, Bahamas

We left our anchorage at Man-O-War Cay on Saturday (the 8th) and headed back down to GTC. With big northeast winds coming up, the area around Whale Cay would become impassable for several days and we needed to get through there to get any further north. We had been monitoring this front and decided to leave early and find a protected harbor for Evergreen. Our first call was to Donny’s Marina in GTC’s Black Sound. Donny was completely booked up for the week. There are many cruisers traveling back to the US and Canada. Most probably know about the upcoming weather. Our next contact was to the Skipper of Outward Bound. We met him in Marsh Harbour and knew he had a mooring in White Sound, which is also another harbor in Green Turtle Cay. His boat was on its mooring but he offered to find us another mooring. With that in mind we left Man-O-War for GTC and had a nice day for a sail around the Whale.

A few more pictures from Man-O-War Cay.

Evergreen anchored at Man-O-War. This photo was taken by another talented cruiser from their boat.

Sunset at Man-O-War.

Wing on wing to the Whale.

While we have been to Green Turtle before this was our first time in White Sound so we were cautious. The entry was straight forward and we had plenty of depth for Evergreen’s keel. We contacted Outward Bound and got instructions for finding the mooring. The mooring was free for us for as long as we wanted but the catch was, it’s free because it’s abandoned. On a positive note there have been many boats, larger than ours, using the mooring over the winter. There are other abandoned moorings in the harbor but the others are mostly unsafe. Since we’ll be having some high winds it was suggested to me that I should dive on the mooring and see what’s going on before the front arrives. The winds were light so there was no rush to do the work. We dinghyed over to the Green Turtle Club, did some exploration, and met up with our friends from Rhiannon again. Ollie was adopted by a local Bahamian boy (Rico) and they had great fun running up and down the docks.

The Admiral surveying the entrance channel. She was standing but I was worried she might go over the bow if we hit something.

Eventually I donned snorkeling gear and went to work on the mooring. The pennant was a tangled mess and I didn’t like the way it looked. After about 20 free dives (I have no diving skills) I was able to drag a 3/8″ chain down to the mooring and shackle it up. We had this chain down in the bilge for ballast. To this I shackled a 3/4″ mooring pennant that I had stored for just such an occasion. Lynne assisted me from the dinghy. By the end I was waterlogged and tired. My snorkeling mask leaks and I have come to hate it.

The wind started in this morning and I started to think about the metal that I had our gear attached to. I tend to lose sleep over these things! I then decided to row out our kedge anchor to relieve some of the stress from the mooring. The wind is whipping through the rigging as I type this but we now feel secure. It’s going to be a project to retrieve all of this gear. The harbor is protected so there isn’t much wave action. Ollie and I climbed a hill on shore so we could see the Atlantic side of the island. It’s all waves and a sea of white surf. It would certainly be a bad day to be on the ocean. We’ll be here for a few days waiting for the Sea to calm down. Time for a “Dark and Stormy”.

View off the back porch. Calm before the blow.

A grey day today. Sustained winds 20+ kts. Supposed to be gusting to 38 kts tonight.