March 23, 2015 Great Guana Cay, Bahamas

Windy day at anchor
There is a “cruiser’s net” on the VHF radio on channel 68 every morning at 8:15.  The further south we go, the better the transmissions.  But we still can’t hear a few of the calls .  They go through the weather, ask if anyone at any of the cuts through the islands can report on the condition of the water in the cuts, announce high and low tide, ask for any safety announcements, announcements of activities in the area, businesses can tell about their business or specials that day, welcomes and departures and recap of the weather.  Then afterwards, people can contact each other for more information.

This morning we heard that a boat in a bay north of us, but on the same island, was hit during the night by a power boat.  It put a hole in the side of the sailboat, and the power boat left the scene.  Nothing was said about anyone being hurt or the boat sinking.  But they wanted to remind people to be sure to have your anchor light on and additional lights if possible, especially if you are in a remote area.  And power boats shouldn’t speed through areas of anchored boats.  Wow, you always think, that could have been us. 

We spend a good part of the morning checking weather sources to decide if we are staying put or moving the boat.  And if we move, what is the wind doing in the next few days so we can look for a safe anchorage.  It could get nasty on Thursday, so we are watching that.

We decided to stay here and do some boat projects today.  Dave started the updates again with the slow wifi that we get here.  Then the wind came up.  So it ended up being a bad day to do the outside projects he had in mind. 

I made a great breakfast, as usual, cleaned the heads and made banana bread.  I had to  rotate between those activities since I didn’t want to be forward very long or have my head down very long with the motion of the boat. 

Computers and and a nap were Dave’s important inside duties today.  Somebody has to do i t.

Nice dinner on the boat and sat in the cockpit until after dark.  THEN turned on our anchor light, a little late tonight, especially after hearing that announcement this morning.