Green Turtle Cay Marina … Saturday 26th – Sunday 27th May

Green Turtle Cay Marina   …   Saturday 26^th – Sunday 27^th May

I would like to start this post by passing on Gloria’s regret and guilt that she isn’t the one writing it! Her excuse … she has a more important job to do downloading library books to her kindle. If she doesn’t do it she’ll be out of reading material and annoying the rest of the crew (her words!).

We’re having a lovely time at Green Turtle Club Marina. On Friday night I got to wander round the docks with my camera and tripod and capture some interesting night-time shots. It could have been a blood bath for the mosquitos but I got away with only a few bites. On Saturday we took a walk up to the north end of the island. The route started on a dirt road that took us to Coco Bay on the west coast and from here a sign stated that it was 1 mile via the beach to the headland. Coco Bay is wide and shallow and is supposed to be a good location for Bone fishing. There are several wooden docks that make interesting photos but are also potential dangers. I was lagging behind when I heard Gloria shout and when I looked up she was sitting on the sand. She had ducked under one of these docks, but with uneven sand and her baseball cap obscuring her view, she smacked her forehead so hard on one of the supporting beams that it knocked her to the ground. Fortunately no serious damage, but as we all know, banging your head can make you really cross! Anyway, we cut inland to another dirt road and made it to the northern tip of the island. It was beautiful and atmospheric, but the light was pretty flat with lots of cloud. In the evening we decided to eat out at the club restaurant and had some excellent food – Grouper with Thai red curry noodles for Gloria; conch chowder followed by mahi-mahi in a Mohito sauce for Rod and lobster corn bisque followed by tuna poke for myself. Awesome! We’re all sleeping well which is good preparation for the coming days.

The weather has turned pretty crappy as Alberto makes it’s way towards landfall somewhere near the Florida panhandle. We have clouds, showers and a stiff south-easterly breeze. We are going to spend today (Sunday) finishing up preparations for our departure. We have already filled our two diesel tanks, which gives us a motoring range of about 800 miles. We need to fill up with fresh water and haul out the dinghy, pack it up and tie it down on the foredeck.  We are continually monitoring updates on the weather and are trying to plan the timing of our passage. Our current thinking is to leave the marina tomorrow morning and head 20 miles north to Crab Cay and anchor for the night. On Tuesday we’ll head on up to Great Sale Cay, a further 30 miles, and then stop for a rest / evening meal. We might then traverse the remaining 60 miles across the Little Bahama Bank on Tuesday night, which would allow us to start the offshore section in daylight on Wednesday morning. We’ll head for the Gulf Stream and ride that northwards hopefully arriving at the Cape Fear river, North Carolina late in the day on Friday. This timing should allow conditions in the Gulf Stream to moderate after Alberto has passed, in particular we’re looking for smaller waves and fewer / no thunderstorms. However, we also have to watch for possible deteriorating conditions towards the weekend up near Cape Fear. We do have options to cut out at numerous points up the Florida, Georgia and South Carolina coasts. By the time we post again we should have completed the passage!

Mike

Green Turtle Club Marina at night

Green Turtle Club Marina at night

Green Turtle Club Marina at night

Green Turtle Club Marina at night

Docks on Coco Bay - partial B&W

Docks on Coco Bay - partial B&W

Docks on Coco Bay - partial B&W

Docks on Coco Bay - partial B&W