Winter is the season for cold fronts that bring clocking winds from the east through the south to the west, followed by persistent, nasty weather out of the north. For cruisers this means that you need to pick your anchorage carefully and may need to move if you’re exposed from one direction. The first cold front was on its way, which is why we picked Black Point to stay for the week of bad weather. Even so, the winds and squalls kept us boat-bound for several days until we could finally drop the dinghy and visit town.
One of the two small markets was still closed for the off-season and we noticed two additions to town since we’d last visited… casinos! We’d seen an Island Luck in Marsh Harbor as well and noted that these are some of the nicer, air conditioned buildings in town.
It was nice to stretch our legs and admire the harbor while passing colorful houses, painted political flags, clinic, phone booth (!) and signposts along the road.
Lorraine’s was open for a tasty, albeit expensive, lunch of snapper sandwich fried to perfection. The place looks great and has expanded with a new bar since our last visit and a new patio being constructed. It was amusing to watch a half-dozen workers watch the one guy who was doing all of the work, each with beer or rum drink nearby. Here we met Bob & Bev (Icaros) and later shared a pleasant happy hour with them that was so pleasant it turned into dinner!
Once the squalls let up we were ready to be on the move again, still transiting from the northernmost Bahamas to the southernmost to spend the winter months in on of our favorite places, the Jumentos. The next day Sam the Skull arrived in Black Point with a couple of other boats, also heading to the Jumentos and we got to have a sundowner with them. The wind was still up so we all took off at our own paces and routes to continue south.
Reach next anchored down island in Big Farmers Cay to admire the beautiful bay and beach with cairns dotting the high tide-line.
We were taking the inner banks-route down and the next day headed for Rocky Point, a small island at the end of the skinny chain due west of Georgetown, Great Exuma.
Even though exposed, the night at Rocky Point was our calmest in a week and very comfortable. Leaving here at dawn (6 AM) we calculated that we could make the 70 nm leg straight to Buena Vista Cay, a few islands north from Duncan Town. With winds up again, we had a spirited and sometimes wet sail, averaging the 6+ kts needed to anchor by 6 PM with the little light remaining after the 5:20 PM sunset (a green flash I might add!!).
As these things go, the next cold front was due to hit us again in 2 days time. We said hello to George on the Spanish Wells fishing boat Lady Marie and then hopped a few islands down for the clocking winds. We took advantage of one last calm day before the next front, which was perfect for a laundry day & beach walk for Michele and a marathon fishing day for Mark. He filled the bucket so now we’re stuck on the boat again eating lobster and fish for two meals a day!
