A Very Unusual Day

 Presto with designer / owner
 a cat ketch-hull #1

Freedom - a 1922 Trumphy

     The roosters crowed all night. Pete heard the tug start it engine around 2:30, so he went up to check the anchor again and watched the barge depart. Thankfully, our anchor stayed right where it belonged.  Pete did a really good jog on the final setting of the anchor.

    There will be many wonderful memories of the Bahamas, the various water colors, the friendly people, the magnificent scenery, the color and variety of fish. Among them will be the complete darkness of night and the brilliance of the stars.  Even though we were in a fairly bright area here in Governor’s Harbor, as we were lying in bed, I was able to see a couple of shooting stars through the front hatch both last night and early this morning.  It amazes me that quite frequently there are no clouds at night, but they slowly build by 9 in the morning.   Then remain until the sun goes down then dissipate until the morning comes again.

Homes built on the rocky shoreline had steps leading
down to the water. We wondered if it was to get
down to the rocks to find the lobsters???

Presto entering Hatchet Bay

     The radio chatter today was unusually interesting.  We could hear VHF radio calls from Florida, not only the stronger base units but also boats.  This “radio skip” included 3 simultaneous Coast Guard emergencies in FL: divers in water, Ft. Worth; unconscious person, Key Largo; boat taking on water, Key West.  Then Pete heard a yacht call in to Ft. Lauderdale,  “Helicopter down, Dinghy launched and assisted 2 people. Everyone is OK.” Then Pete could hear the USCG helo on site calling in.  We could also here Nassau and were surprised to here Forever Young, John and Betty’s friends, requesting entry into Nassau Harbor.

This is the isthmus that connects two larger land masses
better known as The Glass Window.

The little speck on the left is the dinghy
taking the first crew out to the boats.

    We headed out at 8 this morning headed to see the Glass Window Bridge.  It is a natural phenomenon; a natural, narrow, link on the island between the Atlantic Ocean and the Blight of Eleuthera.  Hurricanes and rouge waves destroyed the natural bridge that had formed a window, but a number of highway bridges have been built to make it travelable over the past hundred years. The most recent bridge was a repair made after a rogue wave in the 1990s. We anchored about a half mile out from the window due to the sand bars and were unable to raft for lunch due to the winds.  Dan offered to shuttle everyone to the beach and back.

     You can see in the pictures below that the waves break on the ocean side of The Window first, then crossing the limestone bridge before falling into the Abaco Bight on the eastern side of the Window. This occurs on calm weather days.  Rogue waves have been reported as high as 100 feet. Such high waves have distroyed the natural arch that formed The Glass Window painted by Winslow Homer as well as a number of man-made structures over the years.

 

  

The Atlantic side of The Window

The Eleuthera Bight as seen from sea level

   After viewing The Glass Window, we upped anchor and headed through Current Cut.  We timed it about 1.5 hours after low tide in Nassau so that we would be close to slack tide. Running tide could be as much as 6 knots.  Between the twisty entry into the cut, the narrow channel and the close coral heads, the less current the better.  We went through with about 2 knots against us, but did ok.  We all agree that the USCG does a great job on the aids to navigation in the states.  There are no aids to navigations here in the Bahamas. Thank heavens for great Explorer Charts and GPS Chart Plotters!

     Once through the cut, we dropped anchor for the night.  By sunset, there were 6 sailboats anchored, probably all with the same intentions of leaving early in the morning to make the Atlantic crossing to the Abacos. Someone aboard one of the other sailboats herald the sunset with a conch horn. Daylight has come to an end. Hopefully, it will be a peaceful night.

 

Pekabu, at the end of a very busy day.  Thanks, Martha.

~  ~ (\_~ ~ ~     Kathy and Pete