Spanish Wells to outside Little Harbour, Abaco, Bahamas
May 20, 2022
We violated a rule of our own – we made plans and we were talking about how great it would be to be in a marina and get showers…
Mike, who owned the docks we used in Spanish Wells shared some local knowledge about getting out of the channel that saved us a good hour or more. We did not have to go south to go north after all.
John had emailed the Schooner Bay Marina last night asking about a slip. Since it was after their business hours we were not too worried when we did not hear from them. They had not emailed back by the time we left this morning, but we understand that people get busy. We tried calling them by phone and VHF when we were a few miles out and they did not answer. Apparently we celebrated the idea of showering too soon!
This was a long day on the water made longer by needing to change direction to get to a different anchorage.There was litttle wind today so we once again motor sailed. Although we had had some rolls when we were heading on our original route most of the time we had a following sea (waves going the same way we were), turning Lailia meant we had more waves that rolled across our beam (basically perpendicular to us so we felt the rolls).
Just as I went down below to plug in my laptop, we heard a strange noise. The alternator (of course) and water pump belt had broken. John turned off the motor and replaced the belt. My job during this time was to try to keep Lailia on course.
The first time I ever steered Lailia was in the Stono when the belt broke (that was actually the last time it happened). It’s easier to steer when you don’t have to worry about depth (we were in water about 4000 feet deep) and when you don’t have to worry about any other boats.
Less than 15 minutes later Lailia was moving ahead and we had the autopilot back on. Fortunately, John brought spare belts.
The best part of the day was seeing the dolphins who swam alongside us for a while today. We haven’t seen many of these buddies since we crossed the Gulf Stream.
Little Harbour has a sculptor who does metal work in a foundry, which is what our son Kevin did in college. Unfortunately, we got here at low tide and the water in the channel to that harbor is not deep enough for us. The foundry doesn’t open until late afternoon so we will miss seeing it.
We are hoping to catch up with a few boat buddies while we are here. One boat is just behind us and will be sailing through the night. The other is in front of us but not too far.
We are in a very quiet and very deserted anchorage tonight. The wind is coming from one direction and the swell is coming from a different direction so John rigged a bridle to keep Lailia pointing into the swell. This will keep us comfortable by reducing side to side roll.
If the sky was clear we would be able to see so many stars. but it’s really cloudy. Now that we are here, we will be able to stay in the Sea of Abaco (protected from the east winds and waves) for a long time. We plan to get to Hope Town tomorrow to check out one of the last manual lighthouses in the world.
Life on Lailia 