Waderwick Wells-Cay-Allans Cay and back to Nassau picture update

24:45.28N 76:50.54W

24th March 2015

7351 Miles from Ramsgate by log.

Before I start this short blog which is really a position and picture update, I thought I would mention some people back home who have become avid blog readers over  the last few months following our adventures on the trip. Unfortunately they have all been dealt a blow by life at the moment and are all not well for various reasons. Debbie, Jim and Dennis, thank you for following the blog, I hope it has given you some interesting reads, and please be assured we are thinking of you and your families back home while we sail around out here.  

            The following day we had absolutely zero wind all day and ended up having to endure a 28 mile motor back north up to Allans cay in sweltering heat. Encouraged by the sight of another yacht flying its spinnaker we galvanised ourselves into action and pulled our two down wind sails out of their bags and flew them for an hour or two,  but to be honest they didn’t bring much to the party and we still had to run the engine albeit at lower revs, what we did achieve though was lots of wow comments from passing cruisers which is always nice. The overnight anchorage turned out to be very lumpy and bumpy because an ocean swell managed to work its way in through the islands causing havoc amongst the gathered yachts in the anchorage. Even the two 130+ ft motorboats were pitching and rolling on their anchors and so it was with some relief that we pulled up the hook first thing in the morning and headed over to Nassau for another meet up with Right Turn.

Below are a whole bunch of pictures that didn’t make it into previous blogs so here you are.

Dr Livingstone I presume? Me all alone on Peggy’s beach, apart from the film crew of course.

Fish from the dinghy

More fish from the dinghy

Barry the Barracuda hiding under our dinghy

Thunderball Cavern from the inside

Fish inside the cavern

Norma drops the anchor

Ramora attached to Right Turn (we had two but it isn’t a competition)

Wooden messages left on Boo Boo Hill

Sunset over Waderwick Wells Cay

Main and Mizzen asymmetric sails flying much to joy of the American cruisers, verbal high fives flew in from all directions.

No green flash but a glorious sunset over Allans Cay

Same evening 10 minutes later

And again another 10 minutes later

Update: I have just had a conflab with Mike re weather and there appears to be a low pressure system coming out of Georgia on Friday. The ramifications are that after Friday morning there will be strong northerly winds in the Florida straights which will be against the gulf stream therefore making it a rough and nasty crossing. We have therefore decided to leave Nassau early tomorrow morning and cross directly over to Fort Lauderdale, this should take 30 hours or so and mean that we have to bypass Bimini. Missing Bimini is a bit of a bugger but if we go there the chances are we will get weather bound until sometime next week and then miss our meet up with Gemma, Duncan and Lily in Palm beach which is not an option so tomorrow it is then. From Fort Lauderdale we will be able to travel up the Intracoastal waterway to Palm beach no matter what the weather is doing in the gulf stream.

            The next blog will be from the land of the free and I will have to change my spell checker to keep the text colorful. 

PS: we are still looking for some extra crew to come back across the Atlantic at the beginning of June.

Three legs of about 2 weeks each,  each leg should take 7 to 10 days so allow 2 weeks to include changeovers and shore time. The legs are:

Norfolk Virginia to Bermuda,

Bermuda to the Azores,

Azores to Cork

….anyone interested in all or part? Please drop us a line.

Spectra {CHANGE TO AT} mailasail {DOT} com

No attachment or pics please as this is a very low bandwidth satellite link and costs a small fortune per minute for downloads and they block up my weather reports.

If you want to send normal email pics attachment etc.

Paul {DOT} russell732 {CHANGE TO AT} hotmail {DOT} co {DOT} uk and I will pick it up when I am on WiFi