We woke up Thursday, March 24, to a very cloudy sky. The wind was still howling in Rock Sound and we were excited for some adventure.

After wolfing down a quick breakfast of yogurt and cereal, we got in the cockpit and prepared for launch by 830AM. With such prime conditions, we decided to sail directly off the anchor. No motor is our favorite way to go.

Jake put 2 reefs in our main and pulled anchor while I maneuvered us out of the anchorage. There was just one boat directly in my path, forcing me to sail on a deep run. I practically performed a single-handed jibe to avoid colliding with the boat or the shoal. That was super fun!

And now we’re off…Today’s conditions were much stronger than forecasted. We expected winds out of the South East around 15 knots. The reality of the day was more like a North East wind at 20 knots, gusting to 30. Not for the faint of heart, but we’re seasoned cruisers now, so its become the norm.

The seas picked up once we cleared the bay and set our course. Due North for 25 miles.

The elements were fierce and cold. I was pretty bundled and still had a hard time keeping warm. Jake and I took shifts at the helm to make it a bit easier on ourselves. We had just a tiny bit of jib out and 2-reefs and kept our pace between 4.5-5.5 knots all day. Despite the stronger conditions, it was a fantastic sail.

We only started the motor about a mile out from the harbor. According to our Active Captain reviews, this area can be a tricky place to anchor. There were 5 other boats spread out, making it pretty clear where we would settle; right in front of the pink hospital building. We dropped anchor in 16-feet and she set right away. Jake was suspicious that it was too easy…maybe we’re stuck on something? Oh well, I guess we’ll find out when we next depart. 😉

It wasn’t the most calm anchorage we’ve experienced, but at least we were protected from the wind. And according to our sources, the conditions should improve over the next 12 hours. But it sure was pretty!

I got straight to work on linner…a cross of lunch and dinner. Our meager breakfast didn’t do much to abate hunger and I had a craving for ‘bangers and mash.’ I’ve never made this meal before, but since we had tons of potatoes and sausages, I thought I’d give it a go. And boy was it tasty.

Jake was in the mood to bake. We had an old jar of pumpkin puree sitting on our shelf since before we left on this adventure that was asking to be used, so he made some homemade pumpkin bread.

Smack in the middle of prep, our buddy Giles from Calista came by on his dinghy. He hung out aboard Bosco for a good 30 minutes, informing us that his family-in-law were aboard and driving him a little crazy. I could only imagine how difficult it would be to have 6 people on one little sailboat. He also informed us that there was a fish fry in town tonight and that we should check it out with them. The impromptu fun is what this cruising thing is all about.

Once Giles left, Jake got back to bread-baking. It smelled simply fantastic aboard the boat for the next few hours (which is how long it took to prep and bake the bread). We made kind of a lot and decided that we would slice half of it up and take it to Calista for them and their family to enjoy.

The conditions were much calmer this evening. We got to see the beautiful sunset before heading over to Calista on calm waters (for a change).

We planned to have a little happy hour before heading to shore for the fish fry. Giles made a round of dark and stormy’s for the adults to enjoy. Annick’s brother and his family were visiting, including their two children ages 12 and 14. All of them are from Nova Scotia and were planning to stay with them for the week aboard their 36-foot boat. That’s quite a vacation!

Well wouldn’t you know but we had so much fun hanging out, eating and drinking that we didn’t even make it to the fish fry. Instead we got to learn more about our new friends while enjoying a beautiful starry night sky in Eleuthera.

The next morning came slowly. Or rather, we were moving slowly. Both of us were feeling hungover.

Today is Good Friday. We learned that the entire island will be shut down for the next 3 days, in celebration of this most-celebrated Easter holiday.

We hoped to explore Governors Harbour a bit, as it sounded like a great little town. There are supposed to be some beautiful pink sand beaches and historic monuments and buildings. We made our way to town a little after noon. It felt like we were the only people out here today. I think we saw 3 other people during the entire 2 hours we hoofed around.

The town looked adorable. I only wished we came by when things were actually open. Our desire to explore was outweighed by the stifling heat and our hungover state. So we went back to the boat early and tried to relax and recover a bit. And so we slept…