Loon: Goodby Abacos

May 18 - 27, 2014

After I got back, Captain Hondo had decided that the weather window for crossing looked good for the next few days and decided we should take advantage of the good weather and leave soon. We went to "Wallys", a great restaurant in Marsh Harbour and then to Guana to say goodbye to people we know there. We left very early on Wed, May 21st and had a little bit of misunderstanding about the sea conditions in the Whale Passage. This area is similar to two inlets which must be transited in order to avoid shallow waters as we left Guana for Green Turtle. As we approached the Whale, there were 2-3' swells, no problem for Loon and her crew. However, as we got farther out (about a mile into the Atlantic), the swells became 7-8', still no problem for Loon, but a little "sporty" for the crew. Grady and I hunkered down holding on inside the cabin and Randy was driving from the bridge. He and the boat were able to handle it better than Grady and I. After that bad experience, the weather couldn't possibly have been any better. We spent Wed night at anchor at Great Sale Cay and all went well until the next morning when we were pulling up the anchor and after much work Randy could not get the anchor loose. He kept working at it and finally got it up and discovered it was jammed into a six-foot root and had to break the branches to release it. The final stop before crossing the Gulfstream to Florida is West End, a small village on the western tip of Grand Bahama Island. We had stopped there on the way in to clear customs but this time discovered it is a great resort. We would've been happy to have stayed there a little longer. The water was unbelievably clear and we could see literally hundreds of starfish in 15 or more feet of water. That same day we saw sea turtles, schools of flying fish and one shark. In West End we met four wonderful little boys who went fishing for starfish and a conch shell for me. We have found the children in the Bahamas to be so polite and appreciative. On our next trip we plan to take some things for the children. They would be so thrilled to get clothes, shoes or anything from the States. The resort had rental bikes and Randy borrowed one to go to the store a couple of miles away which involved ending up at the West End police station! He parked the bike outside the store (which was really not much more than a shack) and someone came in to say that the police had taken it. The store owner thought it was a misunderstanding and called the police station to bring it back but they didn't see it that way. They claimed the bike was parked illegally in the road and later one of the policeman said he thought a local had "borrowed" the bike while Randy was shopping and then parked it in the street. The owner and Randy went to the police station where things were very testy with the police and Randy wisely knew to keep his mouth shut this time! They finally released him and the bike (which had a $200 deposit from marina) and followed Randy back to the resort in the dark with the admonishment to be more familiar with the local laws when he visited again! We left West End at 6:30am on our 60 mile trip across the Gulfstream to Palm Beach, FL. The winds were light and variable and the sea was 1-2'. Since the conditions were so pleasant, we fished along the way and caught two dolphin. We crossed Lake Worth Inlet about 3pm and docked at North Palm Beach Marina for the night. Back in the USA! I didn't expect to be saying this but I told Randy with the weather so nice we could travel outside in the ocean rather than in the ICW which is what we did the next day and it was as calm as a lake! Now we are back in the ICW and heading North...