Mayaguana

Hi there!  Sorry it's been so long.  I tried to write the day before we left George Town but was unable to get online.  Below is an email I sent to family two days ago from Abrahams Bay Mayaguana.  Will leave for Luperon, Dominican Republic tomorrow around noon and hope to arrive there on Tuesday morning.

We are well and waiting for weather in a remote anchorage in Mayaguana, in the southern Bahamas.  The plan was to motor or motor-sail ENE directly into the wind for five or six hours toward Cape Santa Maria on Long Island, then turn the corner for a nice sail to Rum Cay, another several hours ESE.  We left George Town with three other buddy boats on a blustery St. Patrick’s Day morn.  We could only motor as it was fairly rough and the wind was right on the nose, so two of our buddy boats chose to head south, one to a closer anchorage, another to try a route down the west side of Long Island.  Soon after, the third buddy boat called saying that they had a major oil leak so had to return to George Town.  One of our buddies called to say that another boat, Spray, was traveling where we wanted to go so we might try to contact them. 

It was a tiring ride, so we anchored in Calabash Bay at 1:30 and decided to go to Rum Cay the next day where we would have to wait out the weather for the next several days rather than push straight through to Mayaguana.  Dave and I rested, for a couple of hours.  I looked out the porthole and saw a sailboat motor-sailing by coming from the south.  Could it be Spray?  I radioed, and it was!  (I’d met Lutz and Krina the week before as Krina had held a little stovetop bread baking workshop aboard Spray.)  Long story short, Lutz told us their sailing plan, which was to carry on overnight to Mayaguana.  We got excited about the idea and within a couple of minutes called back to say we would tag along.  

We motor-sailed the first part, then sailed the rest in an ENE wind 50 degrees off the nose.  The seas were bouncy, 5 feet just off the nose, not too bad.  The last few hours we reduced the sail to the second reef and were still doing 6.5-7.0 knots!  Lutz explained how to nose up to the western shore off of Russell’s Bay and drop anchor.  We arrived 41 hours after we’d left GT at midnight where it was so much calmer in the island lee.  The next morning we motored five miles up the long and reef-riddled Abraham’s Bay where we’re now waiting in strong winds for the next window in a few days.  It’s a little rolly, but not bad.  We’re glad to be here and have been doing boat projects and this morning visited the small village with Lutz and Krina. 

In 1985, Lutz and Krina began living aboard and have traveled the Med, Atlantic, US East Coast, and Central and parts of South America.  Lutz is from Germany and Krina, from Holland.  Learning so much from them.   Kind, kind souls.  Must keep this short as am trying to send via satellite. 

Hope this finds our buddies well and sailing along smoothly.  Next stop for us, Luperon, Dominican Republic with Spray.

Love to all!!!

Linda and Dave