Onward To New Providence

Chubb Cay to New Providence

As you know we changed our route to get Brenda to a hospital in Nassau, New Providence, the only place in the Bahamas that deals with broken bones. Along with Amata Marie and Island Tyme we crossed from Chubb Cay to New Providence arriving in West Bay. It was nice that we had an easy 7 hour crossing, but the lack of wind was disappointing to Wrinkle's crew. We are the smallest boat with the smallest (by far) diesel, so we need to press on sails in order to keep up. We try to put up all three sails whenever possible which helps us stay with our sailing companions.

The waters in the Northwest Channel reach 2700 meters and are a super dark blue color. All three boats ran out fishing lines in hopes of catching something tasty. Unfortunately the fish just weren't interested today. The seas were flat and the winds were calm. We had the mainsail up and the staysail pulling most of the day, but the poor little diesel had to run at 60 percent all day. We averaged 5.5 knots which is all we usually plan for in our routing.

West Bay anchorage

We could see multiple burn sites on Andros off to the west as they are still cleaning up after hurricane Matthew. The three boats chatted on the VHF occasionally which helps on an uneventful passage. The first sighting of New Providence was the Atlantis Resort. It looked like a monster freighter off on the horizon. We don't plan on visiting the resort because it is way out of our budget range.

We took the northern pass into West Bay watching the reefs on either side. There were a few boats in the anchorage ahead of us, but this bay has lots of room. All three of us set our hooks in the sand and began tidying up. Instead of rushing to get our dinghies launched, we chatted with each other on the VHF. As the sun set Mike blew his conch shell and then Island Tyme played Amazing Grace on their stereo. After grilling chicken we added potatoes and a salad for our our celebration dinner aboard. Another major step accomplished in our adventure. Now we need to find out how to get Brenda to a hospital for a permanent cast.

 

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