Flamingo Cay - Jumentos

We had a nice stay at Water Cay and it was good holding. As we proceed south, gone are our flat anchorages protected from swells. The swells have ample opportunity to come in through the cuts on either side of the cays. Today was a good sail down to Flamingo Cay, sometimes sailing at about seven knots, although we had to reach hard on the last stretch and were down to about 5.5 knots. The winds have subsided this evening, which is a good thing for us as I believe this anchorage could get very uncomfortable with a swell coming in from the south and refracting off the rocky shore to our north. But, and we thank God, it should be a calm night tonight with minimal rocking and rolling. Dave and Pam on Jubilee, a Gulfstar, just joined us in the anchorage. They came over in their dinghy and apologized for disrupting our solitude!
We have seen a change in the weather, they are calling for winds steady 25 - 30 and some gale force winds in the event of squalls. This forecast holds as far in the future as we can get a forecast (March 14). We respect it enough to scrap our plans to continue our route south in the Jumentos. We do not want to get stuck down there when we could be having more fun in the same winds up at Long Island (Salt Pond). We have learned it is too difficult to take our dinghy out in those kinds of winds unless we are in a harbor better protected than these Jumentos or Georgetown - and Salt Pond is just such a place. As a result, we plan to go through a cut tomorrow for some offshore fishing, then anchor back at Water Cay tomorrow evening. When the wind is most favorable, we will head north and east back to Salt Pond/Thompson Cay via Comer Channel. From Long Island, we can make our way back to Georgetown under those conditions to deal with our visas.
We have not given up on the Jumentos and plan to come back, possibly in April.
Such is life on the hook.
Love to all,
Dena

Posted via Ham radio.
{GMST}22|53.036|N|075|52.140|W|Anchored|Flamingo Cay{GEND}