Black Point, Great Guana Cay, Exuma, Bahamas – When a front passes

The dominate trades winds in the Bahamas blow from East to West.

As a result the majority of anchorages are on the sheltered lee side (west side) of the cays.  Occasionally a storm front moves down through the islands adding a little westerly to the winds.  Usually you get south westerly or north westerly winds and can hide your boat in an anchorage north or south of a rocky point for protection.  Sometimes the winds blow totally the wrong way, west, and all the anchorages behind the cays become open to waves running into them.

That is exactly what happened to us.

The winds were forecast to shift from south westerly to north westerly, but remain light.   They did not, and we got caught out exposed to a rather ‘brisk’ westerly wind driving a light chop into the anchorage at Black Point.

The day started off as forecast, but by early afternoon the winds were driving a chop straight into the anchorage and the boat was beginning to do a light porpoise imitation.

Nothing I was not used to when sailing to wind with my humans, but perhaps not the most comfortable for my visiting company on anchor.  So I decided it would be a good idea to either move or get him off the boat until the winds shifted to the predicted northern direction.

As he still required a flotsam right shoe to complete his pair, a westerly wind was the perfect time to visit the usually exposed beaches of the windward (east) coast.   So off we went for an adventure.

The usually exposed east coast beaches were completely benign.

Perhaps we should have brought our snorkelling gear as the reefs off the coast looked very inviting.

Waiting for the winds to shift, we did our best to explore the day away.

The flotsam search was not in vain.  Roy did finally find a right sandal to make a pair at last.

With the westerly winds still whipping into the anchorage there was nothing left to do then use the new found set of shoes to do some walking into town.

And you can just guess where these boys ended up.

As much as the humans tried to avoid the inevitable we eventually had to return to the boat.

The winds eased and allowed us to enjoy a fisherman’s chowder for dinner, but they quickly built again and we all retired swearing to leave at first light.

With an even stronger frontal system, bringing more westerly winds, on the way we decided to retreat back south to George Town for our final few days together.

At least in protection of George Town’s Elizabeth Harbour we could promise Roy an easier nights sleep.  Especially with his birthday approaching.  But first we had to get there.

At over 50nm it was Roy’s longest sea voyage yet.  With the westerly winds the Exuma side of the Cays was settled and Roy had begun to get his sea legs, so the 9 hour voyage flew by.  But not without a little excitement.

We got into Elizabeth Harbour just before dark and decided to anchor off Sand Dollar Beach this time.

We hope this anchorage will give us some protection from the strong west and north westerly winds predicted over the next few days, but still afford us a chance to visit ‘volleyball beach’ and town for entertaining.