Sunday Jan 15, 2023 - Cabbage Cays to Long Island (Bahamas, not NY)

Cool this morning but we were all on deck ready to move today after yesterday’s storm. We got the main sail and jib up and the wind had us going at 5-6 knots. Nice breakfast on deck of rum cake, nuts, fruit and yogurt. The jib was knotted up at one point, so a few minutes of excitement to get it straightened out. Good cruising day.

Lunch today was big steaming bowls of Miso soup in the cockpit. These two are both either running the boat or preparing food or both. Hannah seems to always have some baked goodie going. Today she mixed up some bread for tonight’s dinner (I hope).

Spent most of the day under sail going from 5-6 knots and as we approached Long Island we were clocking 8+ knots, the boat’s limit. Good wind today.

We anchored in a large protected bay mid afternoon and took the dinghy to a nearby beach. Like a lot of remote beaches down here (they are everywhere) it was not used by anyone. Signs of activity long past (an old pile of rust that I figured out was a bicycle with a small engine on the front wheel??) and a few plastic items washed up. And the standard remains of a coral stone foundation (someone’s dream) probably blown away by a hurricane. The concrete remains of a sheltered lagoon someone built to protect their boat, now just concrete remains.

Deb and I stayed on the beach while Erick and Hannah went back to the boat to, what else, cook. Hannah is working on her sourdough bread for dinner tonight. Deb and I hiked around looking for a path off the beach to the road. We did find an old road, long since abandoned, that went to the road, but it ended with a broken down wooden gate on a coral wall which we could not get over gracefully. We walked as far as we could before it turned to brush in either direction and about that time Erick came flying back to retrieve us.

Dinner tonight was moussaka, a Greek dish with ground lamb, eggplant, potatoes and spices I did not see go in. Nice salad and Hannah's just out of the oven bread. We played another game of Farkel (Milo won!!) and then off to bed. Our last night on Surprise. We will next spend 3 nights on Long Island. Stay tuned.