The weather rules our life right now

Green Turtle Cay to Marsh Harbour
We reluctantly left the Leeward Yacht Club on Green Turtle Cay in a parade of five boats to cross the treacherous Whale Cay Channel.  We have learned that no matter how many people give you their opinion, and in some cases they love to give you the worst case scenarios, you have to decide what is right for yourself.  We are also lucky that we are travelling with a group of like minded sailors, and even so, it can sometimes be a challenge to get six people to all agree on a plan. So, just as we were casting off our lines a fellow sailor came running down the dock to tell us that they has seen a boat go to the Whale and turn back, "just to warn us". The dock master and dock hand looked at each other and mumbled something like "how could he see that?". So after saying good bye, and saying we might be back, we all headed out.

Sailing by Whale Cay

We didn't go back. It was fine ... a little lumpy, a few big swells, but honestly we have been in worse on other sails down the coast. We were also following out about five other boats ahead of us. Could we all be wrong? And once we got through the cut it turned into a lovely sail down the south part of the Sea of Abaco to Orchid Bay Marina, on Great Guana Cay. Another milestone achieved!
Great Guana Cay is a lovely small island with a tiny town, consisting of a grocery store, liquor store, a beach front bar called Nippers, that has a famous pig roast party every Sunday afternoon, a few restaurants, and a very high end hotel/marina called Bakers Bay that is private (us little folks can't go there). Apparently celebrities such as Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman own places there. So once we got settled we all went for a exploratory walk around, and ended up at Nippers for drinks and "apps". As the weather was not the greatest, we ended up sitting inside, and the place was pretty empty for a Saturday afternoon.

Nippers Beach Bar

Trying to stay out of the wind at Nippers

The weather is a hot  topic of our conversations every day. It controls our sailing life, and there are days when I get tired of talking about it. But, we always have to be aware of where the winds are coming from and how strong they will be. This determines where we will go, and when. So every move is a long process of planning and talking and googling and more talking.  We try to look ahead at least a few days to see where we could go, how long are we going to stay, and where will we stay once we get there. Before we left on this odyssey, I don't think we realized how much planning goes into each jump. We knew there was planning involved, but some days it is overwhelming. But  I know that with all our planning we have made some very good decisions, and have been able to cross some challenging areas with no problems. We have had to stay in some places a little longer than we would like, but again, who is in a hurry? After all, we are surrounded by beautiful waters and lovely islands.

Orchid Bay Marina

With the weather being pretty cool and very windy, we have not had the opportunity to enjoy the lovely beaches we have seen so far, and go swimming and snorkeling. We have walked them, and been sandblasted from the wind on them. I have only been swimming once so far, and that was a quick dip in Great Sale Cay just after we left West End. Oh well, I know there will be lots of opportunity once this darn weather decides to co-operate, and we get further south.

Great Guana Cay

We stayed at Orchid Bay Sunday as well, to wait out the strong winds, and decided to jump over to Marsh Harbour, the biggest town in the Abacos, on Monday. Another front was to come through during the week, and we decided it would be better there, as there are more things to do, more restaurants and more grocery stores.
So the core group of three (Her Diamond, Aquila and us)  left Monday, and we had a lively sail over to Marsh Harbour, which was only an hour and a half away. Of course once we got here we all headed over to a lovely restaurant beside the marina for a beer and some lunch.
Tuesday we explored the town, found Maxwell's, the big grocery store and bought a few supplies. We will go back again before we leave the town, as this is the last stop for major provisioning. Once south of here, there will be some small stores with some fresh items in some of the small towns,  depending on when the supply ship has been to visit. And everyone in the area will know what day the supply boat comes, so if you are too slow getting there, a lot of the good produce is gone. Oh...the challenges of cruising life! So, I am stocking up on lots of canned items to supplement when I can't get fresh. 
After a group meeting, we decided to stay in Marsh Harbour until Saturday, mostly due to the weather. We have had lots of rain and wind over the last couple of days, which is a little depressing and frustrating. But rainy days on the boat can be nice too, with time to do chores, such as laundry, baking and write posts for our blog! (It's pouring as I write this!)
There is a little island called Man-O-War that we were thinking of taking Trekker to, but we have discovered that we can take a ferry over and see the little community known for boat building and sail making. It seems easier than leaving our secure dock in the high winds we are having right now, so we will do that either Thursday or Friday, then head to Hope Town, another small town that has been highly recommended.
After Hope Town we will be planning our next big jump down to Eleuthera Island, which will be a long day sail. We have been told that Spanish Wells and Harbour Island are great places to see.
After that ... who knows ... we will decide as we go ... one day at a time.

Pizza Night at Snappa's