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--- Hard Bargain - Mores Island ---................................ ..........................................................--- To --- .....................................--- Basin Harbor ---

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.............................................................(May 21th) Anchorage --- N 26º 48.539´ ==== Trip Mileage = 1067 miles 7................W 77º 30.457´ ==== Day's Mileage = 40 miles

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My next major destination was Fox Town on the north side of Little Abaco Island and my route there would be just under 100 miles total, but required crossing the Bight of Abaco.

It was Thursday the 21st and I wanted to be in Fox Town by Saturday afternoon if possible to escape the heavier easterly winds starting then, as the last leg of the trip to Fox Town would be on a easterly course, on the north side of Little Abaco.

Before the wind report I'd hoped to go from Mores Island up to Joe Downer Cays the first day and take my time getting to Fox Town. If I stuck with that plan my run from there to Fox Town would of been a long one if I wanted to get there in the next day and a half. With that in mind I set my sights on Basin Harbor Cay to the north of there as my first day's destination on this leg of the trip.

If you try and find information on sailing the Bight of Abaco you won't find a whole lot as not many sailboats tend to go there. It isn't real deep but still deep enough for most, for most of it's length. The problem lies in finding channels into or out of the Bight from the south or north. Particularly from the north, where about the only channel shown is the one just north of Spence Rock, shown above. It is shown at just over 3 feet in depth on most charts, 1 meter plus on the one above.

I left Hard Bargain fairly early sailing off anchor on a reefed main with the Genoa just out a bit at first to turn the boat off to the north. I did have the outboard running just in case since I was sailing off a lee anchorage.

I put the island behind me but an approaching storm was following closely behind just of the stern. It passed quickly without too much drama although the main tryed too jibe over but the preventers stopped that, but not before the boat really heeled over. I use the preventers almost always while running and ....

.... I hoped to be running most of the day and I was, running wing on wing for a lot of the day.

The storms were always close most of the day and the wind changed some and ....

.... as it did I'd find myself sailing only on the main at times as I didn't want to get caught with too much sail up if the wind really piped up.

It didn't take too long and I sailed past the anchorages at Joe Downer Cays.

They weren't much in the way of a great place to anchor scenery wise so ....

..... I didn't feel like I was missing much by putting them astern of the boat and ...

... continued on north.

The wind was such that no matter the sail configuration I was making good time most of the time but did go through a couple slack wind periods.

The boat and I passed by a western point on Great Abaco Island and continued on towards...

.... Basin Harbour Cay. I was on a broad reach the last part of the run to Basin Harbour and 2-3 foot swells were hitting the boat on the port side. One 4-5 footer slammed the side of the boat sending water in and scared the hell out of me for a second.

The inner bay at Basin Harbour looks very well protected on the chart and is in the more normal easterly winds, but the winds out of the southwest were blowing waves directly into the inner basin of the harbour (notice spelling is a little different than usual but is what is on the charts). I still decided to try going into the inner bay to see if things were better off to the side of the cut going in, but the chart showed the water quickly becoming shallow on either side of the cut, once inside.

The cut in is pretty narrow but it was deep. I dropped the sails and went on the outboard in the rough water and it was a choppy ride in.

Once in, I turned to starboard as the protection there looked better, but it wasn't with a lot of chop, more than I wanted to try anchoring in for the night. Also the water quickly became shallow as per the chart, so I went off to the north side of the bay next. I couldn't get out of the chop there either and the rudder kicked up trying, so I gave up. Still with a more usual easterly wind this would be a nice anchorage.

I headed back out the cut on the outboard and the incoming waves were causing the outboard to cavitate, I turned it off as soon as I was a bit past the cut and went back on the genoa. This made the ride a lot more manageable.

The charts in this area are lacking in a lot of detail around these Cays but I wanted to try around the north end of the Island.

I sailed to the north end and around the point there and ....

.... sailed back into a very small bay there where the water shallowed rapidly. I was happy to of again been able to sail onto anchor, especially considering the conditions.

The boat clocked around on the anchor and the water was pretty calm, as you can see above, but there were some reflective rollers coming in that were rocking the boat side to side. I had been in this situation before and didn't like it, as trying to sleep like this feels like someone is trying to yank the bedding out from under you, side to side. I decided to try something different and got two paddles I had and put them between the two settees in the cabin. Then I laid the settee cushions on them so that I would be sleeping with my head on one side of the cabin and my feet on the other.

Other than the bed being a little lumpy, with the paddles under the cushions, it worked well. Now as the boat rocked side to side, my body would rise up and down head to foot, like it does when anchored with the waves hitting the front of the boat. I decided that if I was ever to return, I'd make a plywood piece that would span the cabin side to side. Then I could sleep in this manner, when there was a surge hitting the boat amidships.

The charts I was using and others, often show if an anchorage normally has a surge associated with it or not. If the surge is in the same direction as the wind driven waves and the boat clocks into the surge then it isn't a huge problem, but if the wind clocks the boat one way and the surge creates a second set of waves that are hitting the boat from the side, it can result in a very uncomfortable night's rest.

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