We had decided a week ago at least to continue on from the Abacos to the Exumas. It didn’t even become a question until after we had been in the Bahamas for several weeks. We were content upon leaving Maine to just have a plan to “get to the Bahamas” this included any part of the Bahamas and our plan beyond that was pretty nebulous. By way of explanation on why we didn’t plan better, well we didn’t even purchase the charts for the Bahamas until we got thru Georgia.

I guess at that point Boyd began to believe that we might actually make it all the way to the Bahamas and that the investment into charts was a wise one, “just in case”. Prior to our coming to the Bahamas each day we looked at the charts for the next day (or two if we thought we needed to jump outside or watch for tides or something special). When we got to the Bahamas we were inclined (at first at least) to bump our way around the Sea of Abaco and took a “wait and see” attitude towards the rest of the Bahamas.

Two things influenced our decision to continue on. First we talked to other cruisers all of whom made great lament that the weather was “too cold” and that if we were only “further south” we would have “better” weather, “warmer” water, and more fun snorkeling, fishing, and laying around. The second thing that influenced us was our desire to continue along with other cruisers (particularly kids boats) that we already knew. In this case the particular kid boat is Taua. We have become very attached to Peter, Monica and Claudia as they are great people, and Nicole and Claudia are beyond inseparable.

In order to move on we would have to make another jump. Just a day trip from the Southern most point inside the Sea of Abaco to the Northern (ish) most point of Eleuthera. This is not a huge distance just about 60 nautical miles but it is really deep water, some of the deepest we have been in yet. The charts show some 3621 meters (about three ft to the meter, you do the math) it’s deep! Weather conditions and wind direction and wave height can therefore be of great importance and can significantly influence the enjoyment and success of the journey. Okay, I won’t keep you on pins and needles, we made if fine.

We stayed the first night anchored at Royal Island Harbor and the next day started out early to get through Current Cut and make tracks towards Rock Sound in the southern portion of Eleuthera. It was windy and there was a fair amount of chop. Both Nicole and Claudia were not too happy about the conditions since our passage from the Abacos to Eleuthera just the day before had been rather rough and both had been seasick. I kept assuring Nicole that once we reached Current Cut things would “smooth out’.

Current Cut is a narrow slot in the top of Eleuthera, which allows boats to enter into the interior, protected area of water, which it is much shallower than the outer side. When we arrived at the cut we could see that the waves in the cut were confused. The cut itself was very narrow and I knew that at the other end of the cut we would have to make a pretty sharp right turn and stay close to a line of rocks. It seemed a bit hairy to me. Boyd however, was not so concerned and we took the cut at something over 10 knots (with the current) and then as we got just onto the other side, made a near 90 degree starboard turn to follow the line of rocks. Probably the most challenging part was something none of us had anticipated – isn’t it usually?- when following the line of rocks there turned out to be a couple of substantial openings which made the breaks more like elongated islands. In the breaks the water, which was flooding and moving along like crazy poured out and as we motored by it would hit the boat underneath along the keel and try to spin the boat. That pivoting motion was stronger than we had anticipated and nearly swept us off course the first time. I tried to get a photo of the changing water conditions but I’m not sure if you can really tell, how close the rocks were, how strong the tidal push and in general how narrow turbulent Current Cut really was. Fortunately both Taua and Passages have great captains. We made it through without incident of any kind and were able to put up the sails and have a great rest of the trip to Rock Sound Harbor. Two full days of sailing in a row, what a treat for Boyd!