Sailing a beam reach, we made the 60nm passage from Little Harbor to Meeks Patch, near Spanish Wells on Eleuthera, in 9 hours for an average speed of about 6.5kts. The seas were 4-5’ most of the day with 13-18kts of mostly easterly wind. The boat and crew faired well.
We dropped anchor off a little beach here and noticed that a couple of our friends Neil and Stacy from the St Petersburg Yacht Club were anchored about 100 yards away. We launched the dinghy and went over to say Aloha. Sometimes it’s just a small world!
There was a night launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 that flew right over Hula Girl anchored here at Lynyard Cay in the Abacos! It was a very different perspective than the launches we’ve watched from the mainland of Florida. Beyond cool!
It’s our last night in the Abacos, we head to Eleuthera at first light. We left Little Harbor at 1:30, an hour before high tide. The shallowest spot we saw was 5.9 feet, which at low tide would definitely have been under the 4’ 9” we need.
We staged Hula Girl at Lynyard Cay, which is close to our exit point to the Atlantic, with about half a dozen other boats who appear to have the same plan of an early departure heading south. It’s always comforting to see other boats with the same plan. If you’re the only boat going out, there’s probably a reason!
Everyone waiting to head south in the morning
We made 40 gallons of water after we anchored. We didn’t want to run the water maker in Little Harbor, so we were down to about half capacity after a couple days there.
Our time in the Abacos has been wonderful and feels too short. We’re definitely looking forward to coming back and perhaps staying longer. We will be in Eleuthera through at least Sunday morning, perhaps longer if we need to wait for weather to head to Nassau.
Early dinner, getting to bed early so we can get rested up for the 53 mile ocean passage tomorrow.
