We left Chub Cay at first light to head to Nassau. Unfortunately, the winds weren't in our favor and we ended up in West Bay on...you guessed it....the West end of New Providence. We only lingered for the evening and left early the next morning due to impending West winds.
As planned, bright and early we weighed anchor and headed out of the Bay. Because a strong North wind was predicted, we had planned on just going a half day and tucking in against the back side of New Providence. However, we were making great time and realized that the 40 mile sail to Allens Cay in the Exumas was absolutely attainable. So, we set our course for the Exumas….excitement mounting as we approached our favorite islands in the world. The wind lightened a bit and we even had a chance to fly our spinnaker!!
We made it to Allens well before dark and headed inside. Allens Cay is a small cluster of islands that has protection from almost all directions. However, since it is a cluster of islands and not one large piece of land, the inside is filled with strong current. We have anchored here before and not had a problem so were confident heading in. That was a mistake….
We made it inside and were scouting out our anchorage when we suddenly realized the depth was shallowing up. We immediately turned around and found the current on our stern pushing us quickly towards another anchored boat. Our engine wasn’t responding quickly enough and as I was at the helm with Brad on the anchor I yelled for him to just drop the anchor so that we wouldn’t drift into the other boat.
Once we were securely in one place, we stopped and analyzed the situation. We couldn’t stay in our current spot as once the tide dropped we would be on the bottom. So, after much over-analyzing and arguing, we finally hauled up the anchor, threw the engine as high as it would go and barely skimmed past the boat next to us. We re-anchored in a better spot and went to bed happy with our current spot. At 9:30 (yes, we go to bed really early these days) I woke up and took a peak around and yelled for Brad to get up. Because of the wind and the current, we had fallen back on our anchor facing South but the catamaran behind us, despite the current was being pushed over and in front of his anchor. This put us within 40 feet of his bow. And with the amount of swinging we were doing, this was a very uncomfortable situation. It seemed with every swing that we may actually collide with him.
We sat outside and pondered the situation for a bit and finally, around 11 decided that neither of us would sleep well with us being so close so we would just re-anchor. Well, easier said than done. Re-anchoring in the middle of the night in a narrow (read 90 feet wide) channel with current and wind is a daring feat. Nevertheless, we thought this was our best option. So, up goes the anchor and we managed to safely reanchor in another spot far away from that catamaran.
Unforunately, this new spot (yes, our third in this anchorage….judge not!) was even worse. As the wind switched from North to more NorthWest, we realized that we had anchored dangerously close to the rock wall that was to the West of us. So….instead of moving again we opted for the anchor drill. One of us would stay awake at all times. I chose first watch. So, front midnight till 3 in the morning, I stayed awake, sitting outside, staring at the rock wall and willing it to move farther away so I could get some sleep. At 3, Brad relieved me of my duties so I could get some sleep. By 5:30, we were both awake just waiting on the sun to come up. At 6am, as the first light peaked above the horizon, we hoisted our anchor and high-tailed it out of there. We were greeted with 2-4 foot seas, in only 15 feet of water (?!!) and strong North winds. Although it was rough, we hoisted the sail and with the strong winds and the wind on our stern, had a nice sail all the way down to Hawksbill Cay. The wind died a bit through the day and the waves calmed some and by the time we got close to Hawksbill, the water was tolerable enough to anchor and relax. Finally…some peace and quiet. We were sad to have jumped over a few islands, but the wind wasn’t conducive to visiting those other islands so we were happy just to have a calm anchorage. And, after the night before with little sleep and strong winds, we were happy to have a full day of relaxation in our favorite anchorage in the islands!
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