It has been some time since we have been so far off the grid I needed to post using the Satphone, but here we are!

As we approached Great Sale Cay yesterday at about 3 in the afternoon, the anchorage was empty. It is a well protected anchorage with good holding in deep sand, beautiful clear water, surrounded by a fairly large, yet uninhabited, island. We were approaching from the southeast. Meanwhile, from the west, an invading armada motored ever closer… By 6PM, there were almost 20 boats, mostly motorboats and catamarans, packed in.

It turns out this is frequently the first stop for boats coming into the Bahamas from Florida. Judging by the chatter on the radio many of the boats that arrived were traveling together, and had all likely been waiting for some time for calm weather to make the 50 mile crossing. By 9AM the next morning, they are ALL gone–on a beeline to the bars and social entertainments of Marsh Harbour. One boat pulled his anchor in the pitch dark at 4AM! Really?

It is not fair to expect everybody to cruise the same way, but this is such a beautiful spot, the weather is perfect, and there is so much to see and explore, that to blast through like it was room in a Motel 6 seems to very much miss the point of coming to the Abacos in the first place. Oh well… if we understood people we probably wouldn’t be out here enjoying ourselves far away from civilization on a boat.

This morning we took advantage of the calm conditions. We dropped our mainsail and re- repaired (correctly this time!) our mainsail leech line. The weather is as warm and steamy as anything we have seen since last summer. In fact it is warm enough we are hoping the shower we can see in the distance is coming this way!

Right now we are trying to decide if this afternoon’s excursion will be snorkeling at the blue hole or exploring on shore… Decisions, decisions.