February 22, 2008.

This morning we awoke and agreed that the previous nights sleep had been lacking and not because of the sunburn we had both gotten during yesterdays glorious sail.

The anchorage here provides great protection from the wind. The problem is that the cay is so small the wind pushes waves up against the windward shore only to have them wrap around the island in the form of surge. So while we’re facing the wind a large rolling swell is coming at the boat from the side. This causes a fairly violent sideways rocking of the boat. It’s hard to sleep while you’re holding on. Seatbelts in bed?

I decided to experiment with our anchor bridle. Usually the bridle is straight off the bow allowing the boat to always face the wind. I decided to rerun the bridle so it was attached at the bow and the stern. This kept us beam to the wind but allowed me to aim the boats bow directly in to the oncoming rollers. We were close to the shore so there’s no wind driven waves to worry about. The difference is dramatic and immediate. Now instead of the 3 foot rollers passing under the boat from the side they hit the bow and roll under the entire 42 foot length of the boat. The fore and aft pitching is a lot more comfortable and a lot less abrupt than the previous night’s side to side motion. So once again things are good.

While I was doing some boat chores, Christy decided to swim for a bit. She found herself being shadowed by a 5 foot Barracuda so she decided to come back to the boat and remove her jewelry. Fish are attracted to the flash of jewelry so it’s a good idea to leave it on the boat. While she was pulling her ring off of her finger it came off easier than she expected and she kind of flung it right off the side of the boat.

She called (screamed) me topside and explained what had happened. She pointed out where the ring had hit the water so I picked up a conch shell we had on deck and threw it in to mark the spot. Then after quickly donning my mask and fins I jumped in and floated on top while I scanned the bottom through 12 feet of gin clear water. After 2 minutes that seemed like forever I spotted the ring standing on its edge only a couple of feet from the shell. A quick dive to the bottom and both the ring and the shell were recovered.

Now that that was out of the way we decided to spend the day exploring and snorkeling. The first place we hit was a nearby cave. It turned out to be large enough to actually drive the dinghy right into the opening. The cave was spectacular and we were soon joined by our friends Art and Elly from Meermin. The cave was easily large enough for a couple of dinghies to circle about in. After that it was off for some snorkeling.



The amount and variety of fish was incredible. We even saw our first flounder of the Bahamas. Tomorrow I’m coming back with the spear as there were several fish large enough to provide us with dinner. We were fortunate to find 2 mature conch, so they’ll soon be appetizers.