Boy, that was Quick!

We made the crossing on Easter Sunday - Happy Easter everyone. We actually had a great sail for the 50 mile crossing - traveling at 7.5 to 8 kts (flying) under partially reefed sails. We are a couple of miles outside of our destination, in clear view of the inlet to the harbor, feeling great - when our story gets interesting. We towed our dinghy behind instead of raising it up on the davits (hoists on stern) - um, bad call. Captain Jimbo decides to check on the dinghy - no dinghy. Now, this is what you call an emergency as our "family car" is missing - replacement cost $15-16 K. We have insurance, but at this point a wicked hassle.

We had a decision to make; curl up in the fetal position and scream "we're not gonna make it!" - one I was favoring since I tied the damn thing off. Or, circle back south and pick a trajectory that assumes wind drift, current, etc. to hopefully intercept the boat somewhere out there. Now most sailors would say "good luck" as that is a BIG ocean out there. Personally, I was very confident we would find it - for about 30 minutes. Let me tell you, you keep scanning the horizon long enough, you start seeing things. "Is that ..., no." 35 min, 40 min, no sight of the harbor or land we turned away from. 45, 50 minutes go by. We are 7 miles south from our turn around point and per the chart plotter we are 1.5 miles east of our track coming up. Finally, Jenee spots it 100 yards off our port (back towards they way we came up). Hall-e-lu-jah baby! The picture above is the rescued dinghy tie to the back of Jungle as the seas were to rough to hoist it up on the davits - honest.

We are now back in Marsh Harbor, peacefully preparing our sail to Bermuda.

We left the Exumas and sailed for two days (50 miles a day) north to Royal Harbor at the tip of the Eleuthra Islands. This was our staging spot for the 50 mile crossing over Northeast Providence Channel (Atlantic Ocean) to Little Harbor in the Abacos. We're heading back to get Jungle ready to cross the Atlantic to Portugal. We will also meet our sailing friends Ron and Linda who will help us make the 6-7 day passage. The weather was not ideal as it was blowing 25-35 kts with 6-10 ft seas - a little bumpy, but nothing Jungle can't handle.

We spent this night in Royal harbor, which was to be an upscale resort with golf courses and all. Roger Staurbach and Jack Nicklaus were behind it, but everything stopped a few years ago - sorry boys. We did see this 100+ ft, schooner sail in. The folks on board appeared to be more tourist-o types than sailors so we assumed this was a charter.

Here's the happy couple now.

We were told about this neat little island resort - Foul Cay Resort, near Staniel Cay. Well, the admiral just had to go to dinner there. Nice folks there, nice resort. You get a golf cart and ski boat with your room.

The Jungle crew is wrapping up their Exuma Experience with a visit to Staniel Cay and Blackpoint - two happening and friendly stops on the southern most point of our Bahama trip. Staniel Cay has these caves called the Grotto where some famous scenes were shot in Thunderball (James Bond flick). At low tide we anchored our dinghy outside the caves and snorkled in. It's pretty cool as you can swim around inside, you see all these fish and the sunlight comes through holes in the ceiling. I hummed the James Bond theme while swimming around which made me a lot cooler. Yes, Ms. Mony Penny. Later, we snorkled at a place called the aquarium. Both places had lots of fish and lots of people - we liked the fish better.