We have been so lucky to spend some beautiful, sun-filled days at Conception Island. It worked in our favor as strong weather is looming. It gives us just enough time to make the long passage across the Exuma Sound or tongue of the ocean to the gorgeous Exuma islands.

The morning of March 5, 2016 came way too early for us. It was before 2AM when we got up and moving. It would be about 65 miles due-west to the Rudder Cay cut. We anticipated a 15-17 hour day at 4 knots. With 2 reefs in the main, we should be good if a storm or wind burst hits while its still dark. But there was barely any wind to speak of as we left the harbor – only about 2 knots.

It was exceptionally easy to leave in the dark. I (Jill) took first shift. In only a few minutes I had us set at 280 degrees (almost due-west). I set our little Autohelm 3000 to make my life a bit easier. We find that our Autohelm works best in light conditions when we motor. Its less effective when the seas are big or the wind is finicky.

Jake tried to get some sleep before his shift at 5AM. Everything above deck was mellow. We passed a few small cruise ships but they were miles away from us. Otherwise it was just our little Bosco all alone. Even though there were some stars in the sky, it was much darker than our other night passages. We could still see the bioluminescence in the water, which is always amazing.

The moon rose about 330AM and it was beautiful. It had an orange glow to it, which never faded even as it reached the full height of the sky. It was then that I realized how cloudy it was. I could make out the clouds directly over the moon, but the distance beyond was pitch black. I guess that’s why there aren’t many stars after all. As the minutes ticked by, I noticed a slightly lighter shade of darkness on the water up ahead. It was such a bizarre thing I thought maybe I was about to go through an area of fog. As we drew nearer, the wind picked up and then we crossed the threshold and a huge deluge of rain dumped down on us. It was so sudden. There was no sound of it. No lightening. No thunder. Just rain.

It hit so quickly I didn’t even prepare myself for cover and was soaked to the bone in a manner of seconds. At that point I was yelling to Jake to wake up so that I could get my foul weather bibs and coat on. Its kind of amazing how quickly you can go from total comfort, slightly warm, to completely cold and freezing. Even in the Bahamas!

He came out to take over for a few minutes while I went below to don the fowl weather gear in full. It was kind of difficult to maneuver in the boat rocking all around but I was so thankful that I had this gear. It made for a much more comfortable morning.

The sun rose a few hours later on Jake’s shift. The wind picked up nicely as well, so we decided it was a perfect time to stop our motor and let the jib out. We took out one reef in the main as well. With our wind about 8-10 knots off our beam, we thought we could get some distance under sail. Our average speed was between 3.5 and 4.5 knots for the next 30 miles. We put a message in a bottle and saved it for about halfway across the Sound. How cool would be if someone finds our bottle?

The day went by extremely slow. Even though we were so happy to sail, it wasn’t fun or fast. The boat was kind of uncomfortable with all the rolling, because we just didn’t have enough wind. We held our line until about 20 miles from shore. Our wind shifted behind us and slowed down. We veered off the course to keep our speed for the next several miles. Eventually we lost all of our wind completely and started up the motor.

With about 7 miles to go, we thought to give ourselves another chance to fish. Since we lost our big hook, we didn’t have much hope but figured we’d try. And we completely forgot about the line until we were just a few miles from the cut and our line snapped tightly. We definitely have something!

Jake worked on reeling in while I fumbled for a camera (because obviously the most important thing is catching it on film). We could see that it was definitely NOT a barracuda. It looked very bright. Bluish green and vibrant. As it got close it jumped out of the water and we saw the bright yellow of the mahi. This is the most beautiful fish we’ve ever caught. Both of us said that it would be a shame to eat it because it was so pretty…but its also so tasty. While we pondered these thoughts, Jake got the line in his hands and was about to grab the fish off of it, when the hook slipped off and our fish got away. Dang…so close.

In the end we were okay with missing the fish because we thought it was too pretty to kill. Plus it was a great way to pass the last hour of our trip – which always feels the longest. Before long, we found our way into Rudder Cay cut. We chose this location for a few strategic reasons:

1. It has an easy entrance from our current wind direction
2. It is the south-most location in the Exumas where we can travel north without entering Exuma Sound. And with the crazy strong weather coming, this would be the only comfortable way to make miles.
3. We knew our friends would be in the area and wanted to see them again.

The entrance was easy and we chose the anchorage from our first visit to Rudder Cay. We stopped the engine at exactly 2PM. Obviously much better time than we anticipated for this trek.

Not more than 10 minutes after we arrived, a dinghy pulled up along Bosco and guess who it is? The BEANS!!! Our favorite cruising buddies. They were nearby and saw us come in. They had about 30 pounds of fresh Mahi (they caught 4 huge ones that day) that they were trying to unload and we were happy to oblige. They gave us 8 filets then and there AND invited us over for dinner tomorrow, to give us a chance to recover from our long day.

After that we were super excited at the prospect of dinner. We get to enjoy fresh mahi after all!!! It took us a few hours to clean up and shower, as we were both pretty shabby. And even though exhaustion and starvation kicked in, we enjoyed a most delicious meal including teriyaki mahi, basil cous cous, green beans and cookies for dessert, topped off with a yummy and cold beer. A great end to our day that left us passed out before 7PM.

Neither Jake or myself stirred again until around 2AM, when the boat starting bucking like a rodeo clown. It didn’t stop all night and into the morning, but we got used to it. We both fell back into restless sleep until around 5AM when neither of us could sleep anymore. I’m just glad we got to bed so early because we felt okay even though it was still dark and very early.

We’re so used to rolly anchorages and this was nothing compared to our past experiences so we didn’t care too much. We took advantage of our early rise and enjoyed hot coffee, breakfast and finishing all of our boat chores (cleaning the galley, the living space and the head) before 8AM. Listening to the VHF we heard all of the other cruisers chattering about the unexpected shift in weather (about 6 hours early) and all of their unpleasant nights at anchor. So it wasn’t just us!

Today was a leisure day for the most part. It was very sunny but windy too. I was hoping to do a bit of snorkeling and Jake decided it would be a perfect day to teach me how to scuba. We have all the gear and figured I could play around in the shallows. After my quick and dirty lesson about the regulator and how to control the vest, I was off. It was strange breathing out of the compressor, so much easier to do underwater than above. I had the most difficulty with his vest because I was too buoyant and couldn’t sink. I guess its not really set up for my weight. It was still fun.

After a time we took our lesson a bit deeper. We went back to the David Copperfield mermaid piano sculpture. Its about 20-feet to the bottom here. We both took turns going down and playing the piano – we got some great footage of the mermaid up close and personal too. It was so much fun.

An hour went by, maybe more. We always lose track of time out here. We played around the mermaid then back to the shallows for some more snorkeling before making our way to Bosco. It was still early in the day but we were ready to move our anchorage, which was still pretty uncomfortable.

We planned to link up with our friends The Beans about a mile away to a very protected anchorage near the Darby islands. We’ve been there before also, which made it much easier to stomach, especially upon entering at low tide. We dropped our anchor in 4.5 feet of water – maybe a bit more shallow than we’d like, but we knew tide was coming up.

And talk about a HUGE difference. We were completely protected from the swell and wind. It was definitely picking up out there but the sun was still out in full force. We were totally comfortable.

The rest of our day was a combination of naps, reading books and enjoying the scenery. I also worked on putting together a little slideshow of our latest adventures to share with our friends. We’ve actually done quite a lot in the month since we’ve seen them. Jake whipped up a sesame ginger salad (with mandarin oranges, almonds, carrots and green tomatoes) for us to bring over to dinner.

The Beans entered the anchorage around 5PM – they went all the way up to the very narrow cut and around the corner. It is completely surrounded in there, but its a harrowing spot to maneuver unless you are familiar with the way.

We dinged over with our goodies around 530PM and enjoyed an awesome time with our friends. There was a little remora hiding under their boat that we tried to get to come out, but he was shy. They cooked us a most delicious fish curry with a pineapple chili sauce, rice, and a homemade coconut cream pie – holy moly it was GOOOOOOOOOOD.

The dinghy ride back to Bosco was not so fun. We thought our 2 headlamps would provide enough light, but they barely penetrated the darkness. No moon and no stars and no lights made for no visibility. I was happy when we got into the warmth of our little abode.