No sailing, just BS
A cold front has swept in over the Exumas. Down here, that means high winds and slightly cooler temps. We've seen 20-29 kt today ("kuling" in Swedish), but still had lovely temps around 74F/23C. So this morning we moved Halley to Redshanks, an anchorage a few miles south of Stocking Island. It's a nicely protected spot surrounded by low lying cays on all sides. This means that the fetch, the distance waves have a chance to build up, is short. But in the negative column, the anchorage is shallow and surrounded by rocky shores, so care must be taken.
And we did nose around the anchorage for a while to find a spot that would work. In fact, we stirred up mud and sand a few times as we got into very shallow territory, this while maneuvering in gusty conditions and close quarters; yes, tense. We were looking for a perfect circle since when on anchor, the boat will swing with the wind (boats naturally keep their bows to the wind, unless the current is strong). So when the wind is predicted to shift (which it is), the circle around the anchor must be free of sand banks, reefs, boats, rocky shores, pirates and other hazards.
Eventually we did find a good spot and we are now snug as bugs. The anchor is holding - thank goodness to modern conveniences like GPS; we have an alarm on our chart plotter that beeps if Halley wanders outside the circle we've defined as the boundary. Still, we don’t expect to sleep very soundly tonight. But all is good - tomorrow the sun is forecasted to shine again.
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