we left West End!!!

Finally, after 8 days, the winds were right and we left West End. So did all of the other transient boats.... 4 of us headed south to Port Lucaya and 4 headed north to the Abacos. Wish we could have done both.

It was an uneventful sail (yes! sail! - beam reach and a bit forward, 15-20kts) for 5 hours. Arriving at Bell Channel, into Lucaya, we had our first lesson at reading the water. We were in 7 to 12 ft of water, and could see the bottom perfectly -- yellow for sand, darker, green for other stuff - grass or rocks or reefs.

After 8 days in a marina, we wanted to anchor. Luke found an "anchorage" in the little canals of Port Lucaya. We are tied up to the posts that were to be for a dock at a luxury house. Unfortunately, as tourism has dropped, so has the housing market. This is a huge lot, gated, fenced, with the dock started but not connected to land. It's just an overgrown weed lot now, with the fencing and gate falling down.

OH, while we were under way, we saw lots of flying fish! They are much too fast for us to get a picture, but check out the website! They fly in schools of 2 to a dozen. Really neat.

We plan to leave tomorrow, crack of dawn, SE to the Berry Islands, if the winds are as promised. In particular - into the Bullock Harbor of Great Harbor Cay. That's about half way between here and New Providence Island, which includes Nassau. Odds of internet there are low, so we may not blog for a while, as things become more remote as we go south.