Day 81: Rolling Along

Allen’s Cay to Highbourne Cay (again), Exumas, Bahamas (anchored)

April 5, 2022

Yesterday was gorgeous – pretty calm water, even when a rain squall came through. This morning the winds were up and it started to get a little rolly in our anchorage. We thought we might slip into a cove facing us for more protection so we pulled the anchor up.  The windlass is working really well.

That cove wasn’t as good of an anchorage as we hoped – with strong currents we need to put down a lot of chain to provide extra weight but that would have put us too close for (my) comfort to rocks. 

We decided to go back to Highbourne Cay and anchor there, thinking the island might offer some protection.  We hadn’t planned to go quite so far and only had our dinghy tied behind us.  John got us out into decent water (no rocks or shoals) and re-tied the dinghy.  Folks drag their dinghies all of the time, but there’s definitely proper ways to do this.

After we anchored John took the dinghy in to the marina to get ice and provisions.  I did bucket laundry on Lailia.  We have a lot of quick dry clothes, thankfully!

It was pretty rolly here, too.  Rolls aren’t terrible – I can read and sleep through them, most of the time.  If the intervals are close, they’re not fun, though.  It’s sometimes a little difficult to stay balanced.

When we’re anchored we often have an afternoon cheese plate: a few types of cheese, some crackers, and some fruit or vegetables.  Today we were able to add some honey barbecue Fritos to the mix.  Neither of us would have bought these in the past but…you take what you can get when you’re in the Exumas.  We even had seconds!

It’s a bit less rolly here now.  We’re planning to head to Shroud Cay tomorrow.  Some boat friends have been there and really liked it.  There’s another big blow coming this weekend so we’ll be looking for a good protected anchorage.