Time or Place – But Not Both!

There’s an old adage that when you meet to sail with friends, you plan a time or a place, but not both. That’s because sailing is so unpredictable in terms of the weather. This trip really proved that point! We had a lovely stay at Little Farmer’s Cay with Susan, including an amazing lobster dinner at a restaurant/bar called Ocean Cabin. Then, after filling up with water at the tiny perfect yacht club, we headed South on the Bahama Bank to Lee Stocking Island. This was the dream sail – 2.5 hours at 5-6 knots, with a Southeast wind at about 18 knots – gorgeous.

Then a rather bumpy night on the Island – foretelling the day to come. It included having to navigate two cuts – one out to the Bahama Sound from the Bank, and one into Emerald Bay, where we needed to be on Saturday, so that Susan could catch her plane to Toronto on Sunday.

The problem was, the wind was now blowing 23 knots, and we knew the Sound would be treacherous. We had to be very careful about crossing the cuts at the right tidal moment, so as not to end up like a toy boat in a washing machine – something we’d already experienced, and were not interested in repeating. So onward we went, having donned all of our safety gear – through the first cut, successfully. OK – one down and one to go. Meanwhile, the sea was insane – 8-10 foot crashing waves, pitching and rolling the boat, and spewing seawater into the cockpit. To her great credit, Susan was drenched, and even took a wave at one point, that sent her flying to the opposite side of the boat – but she kept up her good spirits throughout.

Unfortunately, we arrived at the second cut too early, and would have had to negotiate a half-hour of bouncing in the crazy waves to wait out the tide. Uh-uh – that was a no-go. So on we went for another 1.5 hours to arrive at George Town by tea and Bahama Mama time – soaked and exhausted, but very happy to be in a calm harbour! The lesson – ask friends to not purchase a return ticket until they are here. Had we been able to sit out the blow another day before returning to Exuma, everyone would have been happier. Time or place – but not both J.