Bypassing Nassau

Sat March 7, 2015

Rose Island

Bahamas

We left Chub Cay around 8 this morning and headed south to Rose Island.  We had light winds and sun most of the morning and were heading straight into the wind  again .  In the afternoon the wind finally shifted ever so slightly to our port so we could put out the main sail.  The winds picked up to 8 or 9 kts and we increased our speed with the help of current we got over 7 kts.  We arrived at Rose Cay around 4:15. Anchoring was a bit tense as there are coral heads near the surface and several boats were already in the anchorage.  Our first attempt seemed to hit something hard so we gave it another try and got secured. Although we kept our motor on all day it was a nice motor sailing afternoon and enjoyable day.

After anchoring Mark took us to Windbird and we got an overview of the places they hope to touch on and the time frame they hope for. With weather, sea conditions, and Mark’s treatment schedule it is a balancing act to get everything working at the same time. But flexible is the name of the game and we have no schedule so we can be flexible.

We are in the chart book we have now so it will be easier for us to plan and follow along too. We also know what Handleys are thinking as to what places they think are best to try to see. Can’t do everything and  we were sort of in the dark as to which places they picked to explore.  Certainly was not going to try to study up on everything so now we have a pared down list to get up to speed on. We figure this is their party and we are along for the ride. Little like teacher and student teacher. Us being the students.

We can see lights off in the distance of Nassau. While we sailed past it we got good cell signal so I was able to get text and email, but did not have internet access. It was nice to at least get what I did. I imagine it will be rare to get a cell signal in a world of mostly water and few big towns.