Georgetown -- finally!

3.11.13 Yesterday, we pulled up anchor before dawn and motored out towards Little Farmers. The wind was supposed to be nonexistent that day, but had decided that after the many mishaps we had been having, an uneventful day of motoring was just fine with us. We made good time and had hit the cut out into the Ocean by 0900. We had a very boring day of motoring ahead of us - it would take about 11 hours to get there. We were both anxious to get there, and the motoring proved more boring than we had anticipated. Luckily, around 1100, we had a fish hit one of our poles! It was a mad scramble to get to the pole, get the dog downstairs and get everything cleared out of the cockpit so that we could bring the fish on board. While I was taking care of all that, Brad was reeling the fish in. In our excitement, we had stopped communicating and suddenly, we were spinning in circles because neither one of us was at the helm! Luckily, we made a quick recovery and Brad made short work of bringing the fish to the boat. I took over the pole and Brad gaffed the fish and brought him in to the cockpit. It was a beautiful 3 foot mahi! We were so excited! We have been dying to catch a mahi since we first started fishing on our boat. I took over the helm while Brad filleted him and and then I was on cleanup duty - somehow I think I got the worse end of that deal. We had so much fish! We decided not to even put more lines back in because we didn't even know how we were going to eat what we already had! The rest of the day was slow going and uneventful, but we made it to Georgetown before nightfall and had the anchor down in our favorite anchorage off Monument Beach just in time to head over to St Francis for drinks with friends! We had a great night and were so excited to be back with friends. Today, we met up with our friends on Necesse, who have two young daughters. We had agreed that we would bring the fish if they would cook. We had a great dinner together and then the boys went to poker night while the girls stayed home and hung out on the boat. Brad came in second in the tournament! He was so excited! It has been a great start to our Georgetown time and we are glad to finally be back.

Sailing the Bank

3.10.13 We left Warderick Wells early this morning to head South along the Exuma bank. We realized this morning that the sail had torn below the first reef, so as long as we kept the first reef in, we could still use the mainsail. So, with the wind on our beam we made a speedy passage down to Black Point. It was an enjoyable day and we made great time. We were so relieved to be in Black Point that we opted to stay there for a few days and relax and enjoy the town. We unloaded the dinghy and enjoyed a day tooling around the town. We dinghied over to some nearby islands and enjoyed the pristine beaches all to ourselves. We planned to head South to Little Farmers one day, but the wind was on the nose and we were slamming in to waves. We opted to stay and enjoy one more day in Black Point and make a long day of it and go all the way to Georgetown the following day.

Warderick Wells, Exuma

3.9.13 We left early this morning to head to Warderick Wells, Exuma - FINALLY! The wind was strong, but it was on our stern so we barely felt it. The waves were relatively calm and were also on our stern so we were anticipating a great day! The first part of the day was just that - we enjoyed an easy sail and were making good headway towards Exuma. When the wind died down halfway through the day, we raised the mainsail to increase our speed a bit. Things started to go downhill from there. We snagged a fish on one of our poles, but by the time I made it to the pole, he was gone. We had also put a preventer line on our mainsail to prevent it from jibing and slamming across our boat to the other side. When the wind shifted, Brad went to remove the preventer line with a boat hook. It proved easy enough, but while he was untying the line, the boat hook slipped right off his lap into the water. By this time, the waves were more than we had bargained for and we were not up for turning around the retrieve it. That makes boat hook number 2, lost to the sea this trip. By now, the wind and waves had piped up considerably and we were within sight of land, about 5 miles from the cut. We were jibing in to try to make it there under sail, meaning we were crossing with the wind on our stern, which is a bit tricky, as you have to make sure that when the wind catches the sail, you don't allow it to slam across the boat, possibly tearing the sail. We had done a few controlled jibes and were steadily making our way to the cut. We did another, normal jibe but on this one, the sail protested and tore almost completely down the seam - from bow to stern. We both just started at it for a good minute, not seeming to comprehend what had happened. We had done everything correctly, controlled jibes, easy turns - but in the end, the old sails sealed our fate. We had yet another ripped sail on our hands. So, 3 miles from shore in 3-5 foot seas, we had to turn in to the wind and try to get the sail down. It was a bit bouncy and set us back about 2 miles, but we finally got it all hauled down. We were both extremely disheartened and loped in to Warderick Wells just before sunset. We got the anchor down and both collapsed. Tomorrow we will figure out the sail issue and hopefully head South towards Georgetown.