Saturday, April 30, 2011

It's been a few days since I've been able to blog. We left Great Harbour Marina and went out to anchor at Big Stirrup Cay to wait for the proper time to cross to the Abacos. We thought Friday was supposed to be perfect. After hearing that the seas were to be 1 meter with 20 mph winds from the southeast, we decided to stick our nose out and if the waves were too big, we could turn around and come back. The waves started out being about 3 feet high, so we went on, hoping they would lay down after awhile. Instead, they got worse. We had 6 to 9 foot waves. We rocked and rolled so hard that the dinghy was jumping around on the hard top and one of the straps holding it down came unattached completely. We couldn't leave it like that or the dinghy would have worked its way off into the water. So, John (who doesn't like heights), put on his life jacket and went up on the top to resecure the dinghy. My job was to keep the boat from rocking as much as possible. That is the most scared I have been on this trip. The prayers were flying out of my mouth. Thank God, they were answered. John was able to secure the dinghy and return to the bridge safely. I kissed him hard when he was finished. We kept hoping that when we made out turn that it would get better, but it was worse. That's when John and I made the decision to turn around and head for Sandy Point to anchor. Once we turned completely around, it was a whole lot better. You should have seen the boat. It looked like a war zone. Between the things we laid down to keep them from falling and the things we never thought would fall, we had a mess. Norm and Sue opted to keep going. They were headed for Little Harbor.

Last night, while we were anchored at Sandy Point, we had thunderstorms all around us. There was lots of lightning and thunder, but not a lot of wind. John tells me it rained pretty steady, but I was so tired that I didn't hear a thing. This morning, we left there and came back to Great Harbour Cay Marina. We needed fuel and now the current plan is to wait for a weather window (hopefully better than the last one) and head to Port Lucaya (Freeport) for a few days. We are so glad to be able to relax here for awhile. Friday was rough.