Sailing at last !

West end to Great Sale Cay

Arriving at Ezio is almost like coming home. We had to deserve it anyway as we had to beat a few storms to the finish line.
Ezio and Stephanie are so wonderful friends that it is difficult to describe. Ezio helped me with the boat, doing himself 100 % of the repair on the hull and helping me with my aquatic/electric gremlins. We thought we had gotten rid of them, but they  reappeared in Green Turtle Cay. Ezio also managed to point me in the right direction to fix the  WiFi amplifier which had taken water and screwed up the IP address of the LAN connection in the computer.

Great Sale Cay to Green Turtle

On Sunday, we went for a brunch in Lucaya (instead of the traditional breakfast) with Ezio, Stephanie and their friends Peter, Bob and their wives and Edna which looked to me in great shape. Another very good time
After too short a time at the Great Lucaya waterway, we left aiming to get to Nassau where my daugther Anne will be flying in on the 18th, but going around the northern part of Great Bahamas Island, the winds being from the South.
We had a great sail to West End and spent a nice evening there, dining out by the pool.
On Wednesday, sailing from West End to Great Sale, I did not feel safe to take the short route through the Indian Cay, with cloudy skies, the sun light in my face and a narrow channel know for shoaling randomly. So I went to Memory Rock, which adds 10 miles but is perfectly  safe. We sailed the whole day with 10 to 15 knots of southerly winds and it was a dream.

Bank opening hours

Beware of attack chicken !

Next morning, we left very early, like 6:30 , hoping to get to Green Turtle cay early. That was forgetting the the channel to get in can only by sailed through from mid tide upward, so having arrived around 2:30, we got in only at 4:30. This time, instead of going to Bluff House, I went to Green Turtle Cay marina which is as good a marina as any. And you can deduct your restaurant and bar bills from your dockage, which at 1.50 $/foot is not exagerated.
On Friday, we rented a golf cart and went to New Plymouth and through the whole of the island, ending up with a drink at Bluff House before returning to the  boat. At first I was hoping to be able to leave on Saturday morning, but the winds are still fresh enough to make the Whale Cay passage too uncomfortable. So, we will leave on Sunday with the risk of ending up motoring when nearing Nassau with light southerly winds.