0500 - Woke up to alarm, but was about ready to get up anyway. Took about an hour to get everything ready to go - eat, put away bedding, clean up cockpit, fire up electronics for the day, raise main, and weigh anchor. The photo above is of my West End Rocks anchorage just before weighing anchor. Underway by 0600.
Headed a little farther south today to get around the Southern end of Great Sale Cay - SW with a SE wind creates a nice beam to close reach.
As I started to do my normal systems check, I noticed that the radar reflector was bouncing around on its mount. One of the fun things about boating is trying to figure out how to solve problems while underway. The radar reflector would certainly fall off if I didn't do something. Sometimes the spinnaker halyard gets hung up on it. So, I thought, "Why not use the spinnaker halyard to put some pressure on the radar reflector?" So, I hove to and made it happen (see photo above). This solution seems to be doing the trick.
0830 - Rounded the Southern end of Great Sale Cay and headed NW to avoid some rocks between here and the next way-point. I will head back to the SW once I get a clear lay-line to Mangrove Cay. Wind has lightened a bit, but I suspect it will increase again as the day heats up.
1100 - Headed WSW to clear the Northern end of Mangrove Cay, and I should clear it by 1300, and then turn SW on a course for Barracuda Shoals and the entrance to Goodwill Channel.
Pasta for lunch again. I realized that it is hard to fork pasta out of a plastic bag without shoving the fork through the bag!
1250 - Around Mangrove Cay ahead of schedule. That's a first! ETA for Barracuda Shoals is 1645. Let's see if we can beat that.
1330 - No wind. The sea goes flat. I motor onward. Maybe I'll get to West End before 1800.
1545 - Storm on the horizon, and I'm headed straight for it!
1615 - And the rain hits! It was a nice wash for the boat after two days of salty sailing.
1745 - At the dock in West End!
After I got Ama Mama tied off, I went to pay for the dock (very expensive for my little boat - $120 or $6/foot!) as well as fuel / ice up. Then I dropped my form for exiting The Bahamas into the customs office box and head back to the boat. There was a young couple from Miami docked next to me in a 26' mono-hull. They were talking about how their friends from their cruising club thought they were crazy for doing the trip from Miami in their boat. They said that I was crazier, and that the marina was putting all of the crazies in the corner of the marina to keep us away from all of the big boats with AC's and refrigeration. We had a good laugh at it all.
I made a margarita and set-up my sleeping gear for the evening. I could tell it was going to be a breeze-less, mosquito / no-see-em filled evening in the marina. So, I set-up my 12V fan for the first time of the trip for a little cooling and mosquito repellent. I also sprayed up with Off real good, and set-up a little battery operating mosquito scent blower. All three measures combined worked well, and I got a great night's sleep!
Total Distance = 63 nm
Elapsed Time = 11.75 hrs
Average Speed = 5.4 knts
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