March-April 2006

While waiting for the wind we made friends with the local rays and a sea eagle. The rays were up to a metre across and black with pale blue shading round the edges of their wings. Eventually the weather gods smiled and we sailed up the islands hoping to make Georgetown in the Exumas. The wind failed again on route and we stopped in the lee of Long Island in another swimming pool behind reefs in Calabash Bay.

A large black and pale blue ray close to the boat in shallow water
The shallow anchorage in bright blue water at Calabash Bay

After a night at anchor with six inches of water under the keel at low tide we continued to Georgetown. This is the centre of winter activities for a large group of US and Canadian yachts in yet another sheltered anchorage behind islands and reefs. We only saw one other British boat while we were there. Finally we were able to fill the diesel tanks and visit a well stocked supermarket to vary the diet and replace the beers. We will be back here during the winter when the US gets colder.

Another sheltered and deserted Exuma anchorage

The Exumas are a chain of islands with deep water to the east and a huge shallow bank to the west. We worked our way up the deep water and through the first navigable passage to the west. Now we had to become used to all journeys being made with less than a metre below the keel and all the bottom features clearly visible. We were one of only two boats in our next anchorage and we could clearly see all the chain and the anchor!

The weather looked good to continue right up to Florida so we planned a passage of two days and one night. We crossed the Exuma Bank by day on a track which avoided coral heads and then turned north towards New Providence Island overnight. We planned to cross another bank but the weather forecast turned doubtful and we had to find a place to stop. Nassau was full and a local marina wanted $3.50/foot/day - Ouch!! We were tired but a little chart work showed a solution at the north of Eleuthera.

The whole chain and anchor could be seen close to the boat as the wind changed

Royal Island is a real ‘hurricane hole’ where you anchor in a central shallow lagoon with island all round you. A fast reach took us there before evening and all we had to brave was a reef, a wreck and the entrance to the lagoon. This last was between two rocks about 10 metres apart with rock outcrops on either side. As ever, our C-Map charts were spot on and we were in and safely at anchor with a number of other boats also seeking shelter.
Oh - and the alternator all but died - in sympathy with generator...

Oh! Those sunsets!
West Palm Beach on the horizon while fighting the Gulf Stream

Some Statistics:

Ipswich to Lake Worth - 4,200 miles as crow flies.

Ipswich to Lake Worth - 7,200 miles as logged by Lady of Lorien.

Imagine a current 20 miles wide moving at 3-4 knots going north. The water temperature is 28.4 degrees Celsius (85 degrees F) and it is relentless. As the speed increased we started to point south west just to keep traveling northwest! But we made it to West Palm Beach, USA on 15 April 2006! Oh - and the engine raw water pump was leaking now...

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