Windy, stormy days…again
That first day at Warderick Wells on the 19th was gorgeous…but we didn’t have quite that same luck for the rest of our time there (we stayed until the 23rd). The winds kicked up again the first night, as I mentioned in my last post, and the current in the channel was pretty strong, too. There were times that just sitting on the mooring, we were heeled over 6 or 7 degrees. Not totally intolerable, but kind of annoying to deal with when it goes on for days!
On the 20th, it was actually nice out, but very windy. I wasn’t feeling great, so I stayed on the boat and rested, then did some cleaning and organizing. Patrick took Cecelia to shore to go for a hike up Boo Boo Hill (the highest point on the island) and play with Leanne and her brothers on the beach.
On the 21st, we headed to the beach after a stormy morning, hoping for a long enough break in the storms that we could go for a hike with 3 Lil Birds and enjoy some beach time. We beached the dinghy and went for a walk on the south side of the island, which turned into a hike over limestone rocks.
The views were pretty, even if the gray skies were lurking!
Cecelia alerted us to some pretty dark clouds closing in from the east, and we all dutifully turned around to hike back. About halfway back to our dinghies on the main beach, we got caught in a downpour that you could hear before it reached us. Thus ended our hiking and beach time for the day! We went back to the boat and put Starlink on for the rest of the day, as we were all feeling a little dark, like the stormy skies around us.
The next day, we tried again for some snorkeling and beach time after it seemed like the rain storms had passed by, but we decided to head around to the other side of the island by dinghy, instead of hiking. The water was a little choppy for snorkeling by Emerald Rock, so we diverted to a beach instead. We picked a beach a little farther down than the one we had hiked to the day before. The water was the lightest blue, and the sand felt like velvet, it was so soft.
We planned to leave the next day to sail down to an island called Big Major and meet back up with 3 Lil Birds, who had left Warderick Wells earlier in the day. We were hoping the new anchorage would be more comfortable and the weather would also finally cool it with the wind and storms!
Wishing you all a spectacular year end celebration🥂🥂🥂 And of course a fantastic start of 2024, what sail plans can we expect⁉️
Franklin is curious about your Starlink review, what do you see as the pros and cons… Love and hugs A&F
Thanks! We are looking forward to exploring more of the Bahamas for the next little while and then we’ll see what’s next. Starlink is great, a total game-changer to have connectivity while on passages and in anchorages with no or little cell phone network coverage. We don’t leave it on all the time, but know lots of people who do. Definitely would recommend doing the conversion from AC to DC (you can get a kit on Amazon for that, and/or ask Patrick for more advice on how to do so), and switch out the router (Starlink’s router is way more powerful than what you need on the square footage of a boat!). Those changes will cut down 15-20% of the overall power draw.
Here’s to calmer winds and fair seas!!!!
Miss you guys.
Seth & Erin
(And Jack and Charlie)
Thanks, Greenwalds!