Just for the fun of it

Fresh water levels on Kintala were getting to the extremely critical level this morning so we reluctantly weighed anchor from our newly appointed favorite place in the Abacos, the Munjack/Crab Cay anchorage and headed to Green Turtle. We needed to wait until nearly 4:00 in the afternoon to have enough water to get in to Black Sound through the shallow entry, but we sailed out of the anchorage at about 11:00 in the morning to see if the forecast 8 knots of wind was really there and if Kintala could coax enough juice out of it to ghost her way down to Green Turtle. As we rounded the corner, the wind picked up to nearly 12 knots and, with just her jib flying, Kintala pointed her nose South across the bay for the beginning of what turned out to be one of the best days of sailing we've had in awhile.

The bay around Green Turtle is one of the best places to sail around here. It's wide, free of any obstructions or shallow places, the water is crystal clear, and the wind is pretty steady. We tacked back and forth, sometimes ghosting along at only 2.8 knots when the wind began to die down after lunch. It returned slowly and we were once again sailing, right up until the point when the tide was high enough to attempt the channel.

Deck Monkey's day off

Too often, cruisers get a case of get-there-itis, making their way from one anchorage to another with a time schedule. I admit that we've fallen prey to this condition on occasion, especially when we have to beat incoming weather or darkness, but it was nice to spend the day just sailing today for the fun of it like we used to do at our lake in Illinois. Sure, we had a place to get to, but it was the only job we had for the day and it was only five miles away. I was at the helm most of the day while the Deck Monkey enjoyed a rare day off from endless rigorous sail handling and I spent the whole day reminiscing about our years sailing on Carlyle Lake. Other than the fact that the water is clear here and a startling turquoise color, the size and shape of the bay is almost exactly the size of Carlyle, giving us the notion to name our newfound favorite anchorage cove Coles Creek, Bahamas (Coles Creek was our favorite cove to anchor in on the lake). It was an unbelievably pleasant day which ended with some nice conversation over a shared drink with our fellow dock dwellers here at Donnie's Docks. This is a place we came last year and it was a very weird sensation to realize that we've now been doing this for enough time to be coming back to places again. What a difference a year makes in how it feels. I'm looking forward to coming back again and again.

The anchorage at Munjack/Crab Cays, our new "Coles Creek" in the Bahamas

Green Turtle, Abacos

 

A house along the shore across from Green Turtle. Someone's living life large...