Day 33 – The big reunion – Thursday 1/3/19

We dropped the hook at 5:20pm tonight just moments before the sun set.  The kids (and parents) were thrilled to be anchored next to Bliss again!  What a reunion it was – you would never believe we had only spent a mere 4 days with this family right before Christmas.  It was like they were long lost family.  Our kids were jumping on the deck and waving.  Harry (the dad) jumped right in the water to help set out anchor in tough grass, the cheers and arm waving in response from their kids was heartwarming.   

It was not our plan to move so far today, but after a very rolly night last night…we were ready for a better place to settle.  That piggy beach off the backside of Meeks Patch provided wind protection but the swell wrapped around the ends of the island and had us moving all night long.  We picked up anchor at 8am and had a lovely peaceful sail ….went 4 knots with only 7 or 8 knots of wind – way to go Amel!   We anchored on the north side of Current Cut by midmorning.  We had to time our passage through this cut with the tides due to strong currents in the channel.  That gave us time to drop the dinghy and do a drift dive through the cut.  It was impressive how quickly the current pulled us through.  We saw the BIGGEST turtle ever and lots of fish 2-3 ft long.

It was a spectacular blue sky hot sunny day.  We warmed up in the sun on deck after our drift dive and just hung out till about 2pm.  Emma decided to climb up the mast and loved it (harnessed, with Mike pulling).   About 1hr after the local tides had changed and the current had slowed enough that we could motor through it.  Dicey navigation on the other side, with only 3 feet of water under the keel – though never comforting, this is quite normal in the Bahamas.  We were happy to be out on the calm shallow banks for the rest of the 3hr motor to Hatchett Bay, Eleuthera.   Neko (the autopilot) did a fine job while Tina worked on laptop, Mike documented Amel’s solar installation while at the helm and kids got to watch a movie in the aft cabin.

We were all up too late sharing stories with Bliss who surprised us by having a delicious dinner cooked and ready when we arrived.  Here’s hoping everyone sleeps in tomorrow!