See ya later Abacos, with a saga!

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Thursday, March 2, we left Marsh Harbour and cruised to Tilloo Cay.

Pause for background… Whilst studying the various review sources regarding our proposed anchorage, Lynn (Finish Grade) noted there might be a cable of some sort running through the area. We all laughed and called it “CableLand.” We are going to “Cable Land;” no one on the radio will know what we are talking about! Hardy har har!

Well, we cruised in and dropped anchor to ride out a couple of mildly windy days. Day two came with a bit stronger wind, and it appeared Finish Grade might be dragging their anchor. They confirmed and started the process to raise the anchor and re-drop. Yeah, well… Upon bringing the anchor up, you guessed it, it was snagged on THE CABLE! Terry loses part of a boat hook while unsnagging, and they repositioned for the re-drop. Something didn’t seem right and again they had caught THE CABLE! And lost another boat hook. They move to yet another spot, and Terry eyes the cable in the water this time! So, they moved to a whole different spot and got anchored with no problem. Through it all, Lynn remained calm, cool and collected driving the boat (well, it looked that way from SaltyMare :-). The good news? The wind took the lost boat hook parts right past our boat, and we grabbed them as they went by!

“Aquaman” Terry checked the anchor and then swam over to retrieve his lost boat hooks. We like to believe all parties on Finish Grade slept well that night.

PS – If anyone’s wanting to stop at “CableLand” but avoid the cable, Lynn has the confirmed coordinates. 🙂

Terry (arrow) dove the anchor to ensure it was set, then snorkeled over
to retrieve the boat hooks.
Thanks, neighbor! See you later!
And all’s well that ends well.
Sun’s down! Let’s grill!

Saturday morning, the winds calmed, and we headed south to Lynyard Cay to position for Sunday’s crossing to Eleuthera.

Storm clouds moved in to chase us for a bit (Finish Grade in the background)

Another side story:

Way back in the beginning of December while we were in Fernandina Beach, Florida, we met a young man (think 18-22’ish, or at least he looks that young), who was sailing a small boat by himself. His mom was there bidding him farewell. Well, imagine our surprise when he walked into Island Boy Tackle & Marine in Marsh Harbour, Abaco. And then, we passed him days later as we were heading south. As we anchored at Lynyard Cay, guess who pulled in. Yep, Preston. He stopped by and still has the engaging smile and intrepid spirit. The parent in us was pleased to learn he is cruising with a couple of other sailboats.

Preston on S/V Insanity

The winds were from an odd direction, so we tried three different anchoring spots before ending up right back at our first choice off north Lynyard Cay. Then, because no stop at Lynyard is complete without some beachcombing, the SaltyMare crew headed for the small strip of beach.

There’s the calm sandy side
And there’s the wild Atlantic side
where right there in the ironshore, Todd found a Sea Heart!
The lucky sea heart bean amongst our treasures

The Sea Heart Bean, – Entada gigas – said to be a talisman of good luck, is a legume (pea) that has the biggest seed pod in the world. Its seed has an air pocket and hard shell that allows it to travel thousands of miles in the ocean. They only grow in the tropics, so this one probably came from Central America.

Really neat conditions had the sun as just a ball against the sky Saturday evening.

Untouched photo – we didn’t even straighten the horizon. Amazing colorful “ball” of sunset.

We timed Sunday morning’s departure for first light and were delighted by a “ball” of sunrise. Wow!

Daybreak
brought another simply stunning “ball”

Now that’s a great way to bid the Abacos adieu. Until next time! We’re off to Eleuthera!

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