Black Pt.. Settlement to George Town,Exumas

On Thursday,Feb. 23 we left our anchorage at Black Pt. Settlement and had  favourable winds to sail to Galliot Cay. We would anchor near this Cay so we could go through this Cut[a safe channel to make it to the ocean side of the Exuma Cays] and work our way to George Town on Great Exuma Island the next morning. Larger cays are called Islands.Our friends from Montreal on Michael--  Anje and on the Aquilon also took advantage of the winds and we all anchored near 'the Cut'. Bill was invited to join go fishing with Michael and Yve.They dive for their fish and yes Yve made a catch. The snorkelling was fun too.Later they all joined us for happy hour on our boat.
 The next morning I learned about currents first hand. Before heading out I decided to have a  rinse in the clear waters. Bill did say there was quite a current so I thought I would have a quick dip and stay close to the boat.Here is where my lesson started, the current was carrying me farther from the boat and the line Bill threw out didn't reach.Instead,  the Aquilon was providentially in the path of the current. Yve threw me a line.As I grabbed  the line I saw Michael coming with his dingy. Our dingy was already mounted on the davites. Our friends to the rescue and I learned my lesson to respect these currents. Next time I will hang on to a line attached to the boat if I want to experiment with strong currents. a lesson learned !
  Now I was settled back on Adriana 1 we were ready to go out on thru the Cut to the ocean waters. The waves were 5 to 6 feet and the winds were up and in the bow[or on the nose]so we could not sail.We did meet a lot of boats going north and sailing. We were suddenly surprised by a loud squelching noise and didn't know where it came from. A little later  our engine suddenly was labouring and our steering seemed to have issues too.Just about the time every thing seemed to be okay we heard a different noise. Again we didn't know right away what happened. Not long after Bill noticed our radar hub mount had broken off the mast and it was swinging in the wind, dangling from a heavy wire.This ment we would have to soon find an anchorage.We found a good anchorage in the next 20 minutes or so and were thankful the wire hung on. an answer to pray.
 When Bill was anchoring he discovered we had lost our second anchor, chain and road[the rope]. When we had our engine slow down earlier the road would have been caught  and cut at our prop.  We did lose our anchor, plus, but we were safe .After we were settled, Bill was hauled up the mast in the bossin chair to take down the Radar hub.
 The next day[Sat.] was much less eventful. We left our anchorage early and motored for a while ,then realized we would have time to sail so we could go down the channel to George Town with high tide. We are learning more about tides too.
 Carefully watching  we charted our way thru Elizabeth Harbour[channel] past at least 200 boats to our Exuma yacht marina at George Town.We were able to get provisions and prepare for the Sunday .next time we have wifi we will tell you more about our stay in George Town and our tour of the island.

Bougainvillas in the Exumas



Nurse Sharks in one of our anchorages

 au revoir!