It’s all about the weather…

Yup, that’s the one thing you have to respect is the weather report while cruising. There are many ways these days to keep an eye on it, and it sometimes is not what the report says. But when on a boat and the wind comes from the direction you weren’t planning for… it can get very uncomfortable. Luckily we have a good anchor set up and a BIG anchor, so once we put it down, we feel pretty safe, but we do make every effort to be ahead of it and stay comfortable .

This was the weather map during the front. We saw 20 – 25kt winds. But were very comfortable behind the islands.

After the front passed by, we decided to make a trip down to a little settlement called “Black Point”. I snapped this photo of Big Majors anchorage the night before we left. All those anchor lights looks like a little city .

Things have changed a bit since we were last here. It is a popular anchorage because its very good in NE – E wind protection, and there is a great laundromat that you can do laundry yourself, or have them do it for you.

We were lucky enough to be in Black Point Harbor a few days before the Farmers Cay annual Sailing Regatta. This is a very special event for the local Bahamian people. Almost every “Out Island” in The Bahamas have their own locally built Sailing Sloops and they travel to different settlements for annual Regattas. These are traditional Bahamian Sloop sailing at their best. It is a gathering of many Bahamian boater builders and sailors to compete to be the best in their class. The big one is the National Regatta, AKA Family Island Regatta in Elizabeth Harbor, Georgetown, Great Exuma in April. There are different classes of these boats for racing. Class C, B and the largest the Class A.

The Black Point Class C boats were out in the harbor Practicing for the following weekends Farmers Island Regatta about 10 miles south of Black Point. It was so fun to have them racing around the harbor and close to our boat.

2010 Christmas Regatta Staniel Cay, Exuma Class A Champions!
2010 Christmas Regatta Staniel Cay, Exuma Class A Champions! Wayne, out on the “pry”. The pry is the board sticking out of the side of the boat. These boats are all sail, and the riders sit on the pry for ballast. When the boat jibes and turns down wind, the riders scuttle down and pull the pry to the other side of the boat. Mass confusion, but so fun to watch. FYI – that is Wayne 2nd down from the pry, our cruising friends Bruce, 3rd down and Sue is holding the sail line.
I took this photo during the Family Island National Regatta, Elizabeth Harbor, Exuma Class A race.

Under way again…

The weather lightened up, so we decided to head north a bit and spend the day at a beautiful anchorage called Bell Island. It is a private Island, so no going ashore on the actual island, but there are plenty of other places we can get off the boat and even do some snorkeling.

Thought this was interesting…the fish wouldn’t leave the ray.

After getting settled, we hopped in the skiff and took advantage of a nice snorkel day. First stop “the aquarium” where there is a dingy mooring to tie up to. It can get crowded here, and we lucked out and were the only boat here.

It was such a nice day, we also took a swing by the sunken plane nearby. Couldn’t find any history about it, but thought I’d show it to you.

Plane near Little Hall’s Pond.

Watching the weather… looks like another round of fronts on the way, so we headed back to Staniel Cay/Big Majors.

looks like we will be here waiting on good weather to move south towards Farmer’s Cay. No big rush… as you can see we are enjoying our wait.

A day at Sandy Cay…

That’s it for now.. Hope all is well with you, hopefully next update we will be on the move again.

24 thoughts on “It’s all about the weather…”

  1. Aaahhhh….. I needed that Sharona, Thank You!!!! You gave me a mini. “pretend Im there moment” just when I needed it, Such Fun!! I wanna be sitting out on that rail on that boat with the older guy (wait…. Im the older gal these days too! 😂)
    Absolutely Priceless!!!! Thank you so much and big hugs to you, Wayne & Bella!!! 💗🤗💗🤗💗🤗

  2. The photos, vids and information you are sharing are all so wonderful!!! Thanks for sharing your adventures with us, Sharon❣️ I love all of it and especially the ray and his BFF fishy. It’s so magical and a perfect life for one of my favorite couples. Happy Valentine’s Day to you both ❤️❤️

  3. Thanks for the great newsletter…again! The sunken plane! Wow!!!!! Nice snorkel day too! Always so pretty. How is Bella doing on boat and beach???? Werner and I Love reading these! Thanks.
    Continue to enjoy and have FUN!!!!!
    Love, Karen

  4. Looks Beautiful, It has been windy back home…glad to see you are enjoying your new boats and getting to play on the water some.

  5. #1 Fabulous!

    #2 Thank you for including a great video of your kite day and the photos of kiting and winging. I hope you get some time on the wing Sharona – enjoy the learning process and the workout of all that falling and getting up, falling and getting up.

    #3 Miss you and sending all our love. xx L&P

  6. Fabulous pictures. Really wonder about that plane – weird to see it just sitting there. I used to race “C” class in Wisconsin. So much fun but could be stressful. Those boats in your pictures look a bit different than the boats on a Wisconsin lake!
    So glad you are having fun on the water.

  7. Joe & Mary Morgan

    Beautiful places, adventures and good people. I think you’re living life to the fullest. Mary and I send our love.

    1. Bravo…… you have a great talent in so many ways…. These photos and information are amazing…. Thank you for sharing your adventures…. 🕉️

  8. Sharon. It all looks so magical. Good on you two for getting this adventure rolling. Your descriptions and pictures can are so informative. Thanks for taking the time to share.

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