Lots of Boats

Big Majors is a busy place, and very interesting at night because the power yachts are all lit up. They actually look rather pretty. We were expecting the winds to decrease as they clocked around S then SW, W and finally N. It never seemed to let up. If you look at the map, you would see we were rather exposed from the SW. We waited as long as we could for a lull, finally got one just before dark and put the dinghy away as quickly and carefully as possible. The careful part is me hoisting the engine off the back of the dinghy without taking out Myron in the process or ramming the critical exposed parts into Hold Fast's aft. Usually it is a no brainer, but when both vessels are bucking in the seas, we are careful through the critical moments. Shortly after we were squared away on deck, the wind increased substantially. By then it was dark (of course!). We had been surrounded by threatening clouds before sunset, and the lack of visible stars indicated a squall was upon us. It was a good rain. The second rain was so hard that it almost flattened the seas. All went quiet, then the wind came out of the north. All in all, one of our nicer cold front passages.

I overslept this morning. Woke up at 6:40 am. We meant to get an earlier start for today's trip. We were still one of the first to head out of the anchorage. Our route was to go past Black Point and Farmer's Cay and take the Galliot Cut out to the Exuma Sound. On that route I spied, with my little eye, a very small boat going SW on the banks. It moved like a boat that was unattended. Sure enough, the rough weather (or maybe rough drinking) assisting in the escape of a boater's dinghy. We made a general radio call on channel 16 to whatever boat had lost their dinghy, got a quick response with a detailed description - as it was still a mile away - and went out to retrieve it. This was putting us further behind schedule, but we both agreed we would sure appreciate having our dinghy retrieved if we had lost it. The retrieval went OK, except that when I grabbed it with the boat hook, it pulled the boat hook apart and left me holding only the handle. So we caught their dinghy but lost our boat hook. No good deed goes unpunished. The fellow had some friends on a big boat named 'Jupiter,' and they had a go fast fishing boat named something like 'Nauti 2 Nautical.' Three guys came out at about 30 knots to intercept us and get the dinghy. The owner was all smiles and thank you's and his boat name was 'One More Time.' We tossed the line and headed back to our rum line. Will probably never see him again.

We arrived at the cut to Elizabeth Harbor around 3:30 pm, drove by and shouted at Hamilton on 'Sarah G,' and were anchored before 5 pm. There are so many boats here! It will be a short stay for us. We have already seen Fred on 'North Star,' and hope to see more friends before we start heading north on the next favorable winds.

Love to all,
Dena

{GMST}23°30.46'N|075°45.65'W|7:05 PM|{GEND}