May 1-3, 2023 Moved from Alabaster Bay to Rock Sound, Eleuthera

5-1 Monday.  I didn’t sleep at all last night because of the rocking motion.  And Dave didn’t get very much sleep.  Once there was daylight, we could see that the wind had shifted to the west more, so Dave adjusted the line to the snubber, which helped some.  We talked it over and decided we should move to Rock Sound, a more protected bay.  Getting the boat ready to leave was a challenge in itself.  
First we cleared up the cockpit.  We consolidated the two buckets of clothes by partially wringing them out.  We’ll start over again once we’re settled.  We put away our snorkeling gear and arranged things so nothing would fly around unexpectedly.  
The next part was probably the most dangerous.  We had to lift the dinghy onto the davits.  Water had been filling the dinghy from waves.  We’re lucky we didn’t loose the few things we left in the dinghy (life jacket, a first aid bag, a hand bilge pump, oars that had come loose).
The dinghy is tied to the boat with a painter (rope) and a locked cable.  To lift the boat, Dave attaches lines to the bow and stern.  To do this, he had to get into the dinghy.  He made it, but it was a wild ride.  And getting back onto the stern of the boat was tricky too with the motion of both the boat and the dinghy,  He raised the dinghy until he could reach the plug for the drain.  While he was standing on the swim deck, the dinghy was swaying back and forth.  I was sure he was going to slip into the water under the dinghy or break a leg or hit his head, but he made it.  Then he finished raising the dinghy and securing it with straps.  
After a short breather, he went to the bow.  He had to remove the “scoop” that was over our v berth hatch.  I meet him inside the v berth to take the poles and the small tent like material inside and store it in it’s bag until we anchor again.  Then I went back to the cock pit to lower the Pudgy dinghy onto the deck with a halyard.  Then Dave secured the Pudgy on the deck.  
The last step was to raise the anchor.  First he had to remove the line he had added to the snubber to stop the rolling motion,  Then we brought up the anchor as usual, Dave giving me directions left or right or to idle as he followed the chain and brought it on board with the electric windlass.  But with the waves and swells, the bow was bouncing up and down about 5 feet or more the whole time. I suggested he wear a lifejacket, but he didn’t want it to hinder him.  I guess he figured he could swim to shore if he went overboard, but not if he hit his head in the process.  Oh well, he survived.  I never have been able to tell him what to do.  
It was about 8:45 by the time we had the anchor up and were moving.  That was without coffee, breakfast, or even brushing our teeth!!  I tried to nap on the 4.5 hour trip to Rock Sound.  We snacked on the way with fruit and bars and sandwiches.
We anchored about 1:15 in a beautiful calm anchorage.  I brushed my teeth, did my physical therapy and took a nap.  Dave tried to nap sitting up in the salon, so he wouldn’t bother me, but that didn’t go too well.  We had “home made” pizza with ready made dough and sauce and toppings.  It was an easy dinner.  We relaxed and went to bed early.  We should have come her on Saturday, but it was do beautiful in Alabaster Bay, neither of us wanted to leave and thought we could make it through the rough weather.  I guess we’re getting older.  We don’t like driving through the night anymore either.  
May 2 Tuesday. We felt like our life was normalizing again.  We started the laundry over and added our sheets.  I went “shopping” in my food storage areas to restock our easily accessible cupboards.  I always document what I moved from one compartment to another to keep track of what I have on hand when we’re in the Bahamas.  And I know what compartment to look into  to find something.  I use and app called What’s on my Boat.  Handy if you keep it updated.  We also made water with the water maker.  
5-3 Wednesday  We had a squall come through in the morning.  By early afternoon, we were able to go to shore for the first time in 10 days.  We wanted to go for a walk, but that led us to a restaurant for lunch.  We went to Wild Orchids on the beach.  The waitress, Kenya, remembered us from last year.  We also talked to her about her son, Wynitch (sp?), who lives in Boston.  He’ll graduate from high school this year and go to U of Mass next year.  Proud Mama.  We met Avery, one of the chefs.  He trained in Nassau and worked at Hilton Head before returning home to Eleuthera.  Great guy.  We had their excellent bbq chicken wings and their crab and artichoke dip.  They told us about their Cinco de Mayo party this coming Friday.   We decided we should come back for that and made reservations.  
We continued our walk and ended up having ice cream.
Back at the boat, Dave started the dough for bread for the first time this year.  He refrigerated it to bake tomorrow. 

peaceful anchorage

beautiful flowering bushes in the Bahamas