Friday Jan 13, 2023 - Rocky Point to Great Exuma (southside)(Cabbage Cays)

 

Forecast is for rainy stuff from the west later today so the captains found a spot to tuck us in  tonight out of the wind. Nobody pulled in last night so we woke up to just us, our own private cay. Erick got us under way while Hannah whipped up some peach cobbler and yogurt for breakfast. Milo is doing serious damage to the coffee supply.

The wind this morning is from the south but the forecast is for it to shift from the west and rain on us. We got out of the shallows and motor sailed (both motor and main sail to conserve fuel). The autopilot kept us on track and sure enough around noon the big black cloud bank appeared behind us. It started raining lightly a bit later and the swells had us picking our spots to hang on. Us land lubbers had more issues obviously (especially Deb, who lost all of the delicious peach cobbler she’d had for breakfast) but it was a fun ride.

Lentil soup and some of yesterday’s bread braid with artichoke hearts, spinach, and cheese.

After lunch the weather cleared and we all jumped in the dinghy and anchored it nearby off of a small rocky island. We dropped Deb off on one of the rocky islands with a chair, to calm her queasy stomach.  As is usual, we were looking for supper. The usual beautiful fish (ho hum) so Erick and I swam to the next island and there we found lobster. I found a small bevy, herd, flock?? of lobster and Erick picked the biggest one and it got a free ride tonight back to the kitchen. He got another one on the surf side of the island (I’m too chicken to go over there) so two lobsters for dinner (or pre dinner snack).

The wind seems to be settling in for the night but the waves were coming off angle, so Erick and Hannah pulled some tricky maneuver with the anchor, so they could rotate the boat relative to the anchor and get the boat pointed into the waves instead of into the wind. Clever. Erick said it’s an old trick used by Benedict Arnold to rotate battle ships during gun battles in the American Revolution.

So we all used the outdoor shower (lots of hot water after cruising all day) and started cocktails. Erick made some amazing appetizer out of the lobsters we caught today, and dinner was  Bahamian pork chops topped with a delicious cheese glaze, sauteed mushrooms and onions, along with mashed potatoes and salad.

We cleared the deck as something windy and wet will be coming in late tonight. Another great Surprise day.