Log of Sea Wings

March 22, 2008

Spanish Wells Yacht Haven

Spanish Wells, St Georges Cay

Eleuthera Island , Bahamas

25 – 32.46N

76 – 45.38W

Into the Great Unknown

This log will serve as a quick catch up as tomorrow we will turn our bow south and head into the Exumas. While the Exumas are said to be a great cruising ground, wifi and cell phone service is not available in every location so we are doing a quick update as we don’t know exactly when we will be able to post another log.

After leaving Bimini, we sailed across the Great Bahamas Bank to Chub Cay, and then had a rough ride to Nassau where we spent over a week. The trip to Nassau was only about 36 miles but we deep reefed with the wind on the nose and 6-10 foot seas with 10-12 thrown in every few minutes (5-7 were scheduled, of course) only a few degrees off our course. When we got to Nassau the whole cockpit was caked in salt from the green water coming in over the coaming…..and this was with a dodger, bimini and connector between trying to keep the water at bay. We had salt caked on the horizontal framing of the bimini (under the cloth top!) and the instruments on the binnacle were completely covered in salt. We had to clean them with water and cotton swabs to get it all out.

But as rough as the ride had been, we got the best surprise when we found a wifi hotspot in Nassau. Our good friends Andrew and Denise Appleton on Samaria II had gotten our last email announcement of a new log and were on their way north after cruising the Exumas!! We had lost contact with them several weeks before Thanksgiving and knowing we would be able to see them again was one of the happiest moments of our trip. We agreed to meet in Spanish Wells, Eluethera and after a week of waiting out weather there was an uncontrolled display of back slapping, hugging and kissing on the docks of the marina.

And so for the past 12 days we have spent every available moment enjoying each others company with our boats docked next to each other. We have shared lunch, happy hour, and dinner nearly every day. Our days have been filled with boat chores, shore chores, golf cart trips around the Cay, fast ferry trips to nearby Harbour Island and every evening with games, movies, music and dancing. I am sure we have both thought about an evening to ourselves, but instead tried to maximize our time together as we both know that when we leave Spanish Wells, it may be quite a long time before we see each other again. This is one of the down sides to the cruising life as you build new and exciting relationships you also know that all too soon your different itineraries will take you farther and farther apart. In spite of the fact that they are Canadians (sic) we have grown to love them both and will miss them dearly. While we know that we will see each other again, whether in Canada, or on our boat in the Caribbean, or chartering together in the Med, we dread the time in between.

But we both know that new friends are waiting for us on the next island. Most of these friendships will be casual, some more serious and some, like Andrew and Denise, will be friends for life. While we all have chosen this lifestyle for the adventure of travel and enjoying new and exotic places, it is these relationships with our fellow cruisers that keep us out here and looking forward to each new day.

And look forward we do. Tomorrow we shove off for the northern Exumas, probably the best cruising grounds in the Bahamas. Then it is on to the Turks and Caicos, Dominican Republic and then into the Caribbean. We know that the islands will be beautiful, the waters clear and bright and the friendships bountiful. We only hope that one might be as special as with our Canadian friends.

Speaking of Canadians, they are everywhere here in the Bahamas. So far they out number any other nationality of cruisers by a large margin. While it may be that we are running into the lead group of cruisers headed north for the hurricane season and may run into more Americans down in Georgetown, so far it seems we see nothing but maple leaves flying from every transom. But it is OK. Our dock mates from the great white north in Bimini made us “Honorary Canadians” so we feel we fit right in.

We will try to get another log out when we find wifi in the Exumas, so until then…

Fair winds and good diesel,

Lew and Lyn Everline

sv Sea Wings