Did I mention the weather?

Last year, the steepest part of the Bahamas learning curve for me was the wind.  On the Chesapeake or Maine, we are used to convective wind that is affected by the difference between the air and water temperatures.  In the Bahamas, the wind is triggered by cold fronts, troughs and ridges coming down the east coast of the US or across the Gulf of Mexico and Florida.   When the wind decides to blow, it usually blows for days at a time.   In fact, the dominant easterly trade winds are one of the factors that make this such a great sailing area.   However, the first month last year, this kept me up at night wondering if the anchor would hold when the wind piped up at night.   After a while I gained confidence in the boat and the anchor (already had confidence in the Captain) and began to sleep again.

This year the weather has either been glorious or treacherous.   We had warmer weather sooner, more fabulous sailing days than last year and many calm days which are a pleasure at anchor.  However, the cold front I already blogged about (Is it a sailboat or a hobby horse?) and the cold front we are experiencing now are lessons in the extreme.  

We came back into Emerald Bay Marina so Donna and Sterling could catch a plane home.   Listening to the weather, the forecast indicated that the next cold front was going to be the biggest of the season and the high winds and seas were predicted to last for a full week.   This is unusually long, most cold fronts blow through in 24-48 hours.  We had to make a choice to make a run north (where the storm was coming from) or to sit tight in the marina and wait it out.   We love this marina but it can have a bad surge if the ocean swells are from the N or NE.   With 7 days of winds, we were worried.   However, running through the storm north (it was predicted to be less severe and of a shorter duration in the northern Bahamas) didn't sound like fun either.   So we talked to the marina and moved the boat to the south side of the facility to lessen the effect of any surge.   The winds came as expected and blew 25 30 knots sustained with gale force gusts (over 35 knots) for much of Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.   We turned the electronics on sporadically to check the wind velocity and the highest we saw was 39 knots.    The boat was being pushed up against the docks (we have double lines trying to hold us off) and we popped one fender.   However, we haven't had any damage and there hasn't been any surge so bottom line, we are thrilled to be snug and secure here where we can get off the boat and stagger through the wind each day.   If we were at anchor, we probably would be stuck on the boat everyday as it can be tricky getting in and out of the dinghy (not to mention getting wet!).   The marina arranged for rides into the market and set up happy hours for us.  Going to the beach was out of the question unless you wanted to get your tan sand blasted off.

The winds settled down to 20-23 Thursday and Friday (yeahhhh!!!) but the issue now is the sea state.   The weather service has reported 11-15 foot seas in the sound and there were breaking 8-10 foot waves in the channel coming into the marina.  At the height of the windshe the waves were actually coming over the concrete wall in the picture below but I couldn't stand in the wind and hold the camera still to get a picture   Two of the red and green markers broke loose and washed up on the beach.  We are definitely not leaving until the waves subside.   Wherever we go, we would have to go through a cut between islands or out in the open ocean and we will wait until the seas are 5 feet or less to be safe.

So for now, it is reading, cribbage, crosswords and billiards in the marina.   Guess we had to pay for all those glorious days sometime!

The channel into Emerald Bay on a calm day

The channel at Emerald Bay in gale force winds