Exumas to the Abacos

We made the crossing over from Spanish Wells to Lynyard Cay, which is the southern end of the Abacos with good anchorage.  There are other cay’s further south but they are all surrounded by steep cliffs and no beaches with coves that you can tuck into.  It was about 52 miles and it took us over 11 hours because the wind seemed to change direction on the way over and it started coming more from the north which made it so we were going almost directly head on with it blowing around 15-20 knots.  Our cat does not sail very well directly into the wind, which from what I understand most cat’s don’t.   This was probably one of the worse crossings we’ve had so it was a very long day.  The water in the Abacos sure isn’t as nice as the water in the Exumu Cays.  I think the water in the Exumu’s is the prettiest water I’ve ever seen.  It’s so clear and full of beautiful coral, conch, starfish and rays.  I’m glad we got to spend a little time in Spanish Wells, which I thought was on Eleuthera but it’s actually on St. George’s Cay right next to Eleuthera.  We only stayed one night but we at least got to walk around the island and have dinner at Buddah’s, which is an outside bar with a school bus made into a kitchen but the food was pretty good.  The best I’ve had coming out of a school bus. The people in Spanish Wells are some of the nicest people we have run into.
They have quite a few marine parts stores and hardware stores in Spanish Wells, which is a good thing because the transmission cable on the starboard engine busted so we could only go forward with that engine and one of the connectors going into the hot water heater busted but we were able to find both of those on the island.

One good thing about the horrible crossing is Wes caught another Mahi Mahi just as we were heading into the anchorage.  It wasn’t as big as the last one but we at least filled up the freezer again after eating all of the other one at the beach fire.     

Now we are cruising up the inside channel of the Abaco’s heading to Hope Town, which is on Elbow Cay.  The inside channel isn’t as smooth as you would think though.  The wind is still blowing around 16 knots and the islands here are so low the wind just blows right over them into the channel.  

The pier leaving Spanish Wells

One of the beaches in the Exuma's

Another beach in the Exuma's

A fish Wes caught but a bigger fish got to it before he could reel it in

Sorry for posting all the sunsets but they are unbelievable down here-nothing like Colorado's