We left Warderick Wells mooring field in the Park last Thursday before the front was scheduled to move through the area on Sat. We found a protected anchorage behind Thunderball Grotto in Staniel Cay and we stayed there through the blow. There were many boats trying to find a safe place to be in the days leading up to the front. We feel like we lucked out as our anchorage was fairly calm throughout. John kept an hourly watch on Sat. night as the wind clocked around from S to SW to W to NW throughout the day and night. We don't know how high it got since our wind indicator is not functioning. It was noisy at times. Our anchor held fine. (Thank you again Sheila and Chris) In fact, in our anchorage, no one dragged. There was a 64 ft. Hatteras, brand new, that lost it's anchor up between the Majors (which is a narrow corridor between two large cays where many boats rode out the blow even though the current is quite strong). He ended up on the rocks and started calling for help around 4 a.m. Finally a salvage boat came to his rescue and towed him off the rocks and into the marina. We heard on the VHF that he had prop damage. He was very fortunate that he didn't end up with a hole in the hull.
We snorkeled in Thunderball Cave when the wind settled down some. It was full of many beautiful colorful fish of various sizes and shapes. Many more fish than we remember from last year. (cousin Mary-my snorkel gear worked wonderfully well-thank you).
After listening to the weather guru on Monday at 6:30 a.m. we decided it would be a good day to leave Staniel and head for Black Point. We had a wonderful sail down and found a good spot to anchor just off the settlement. We visited Scorpios for happy hour on Tuesday and are now doing laundry and preparing for a long walk and later dinner at Lorraine's Cafe. Tonight is the special buffet.
Tomorrow we plan to sail through Dothan Cut and on down to Georgetown.
Hope you are all enjoying the winter.
Elyse and John
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