Passage to the Abacos

After we bid our farewells to Leroy, Ole' Pot and the gang at the Spanish Wells marina, Makai was free from her slip and heading to Royal Island for an overnight stay in anticipation of the crossing to the Abacos.  Despite the rumors of major construction of condos, Jack Nicholas golf course, marina and hotel on Royal Island, we felt the need to check it out and look over the anchorage.  As we pulled into the anchorage area we saw 3 other sailboats were already at anchor and then we noticed all the heavy equipment, construction trailers and vehicles running around.  We wanted a nice quiet evening and this was not going to the place for that, so onward we went.  Egg Island is only a short distance so we decided that would be our destination.  We dropped anchor close to shore with nothing around but the deep blue sea and beautiful blue sky. After a nice quiet relaxing night we awoke to Chris Parker with the weather at 6:30 am.  Forecast was for very light north winds and little chop on the waters.  The anchor was up at 6:45 am and we were on our way to the Abacos.  Little Egg Island cut was no problem other than watching out for coral heads.  With light winds of about 10 knots coming directly at us and gentle swells of six feet or so, we had to motor the 50 plus mile trip maintaining of speed of 6 1/2 knots making the trip in 8 hours.  Surprisingly as we traveled through the Northeast Providence Channel and Atlantic Ocean we only encountered 4 freighters and 3 other sailboats passing us by heading the other direction.  At 2:30 p.m. Eva yelled "Land Ho" as the island came into view.   Within an hour or so, we were approaching the Little Harbor Channel/Cut and Lynard Cay. This area can get really rough under some weather conditions but today was great. We picked our spot and anchored for the evening with 12 other boats in the vicinity.  We will stay in the Abaco Island chain (northern Bahamas) for the remainder of our voyage, before heading to the states. The Abaco Islands is a beautiful destination for cruisers. It is situated in the northern region of Bahamas and consist the big islands of Little Abaco and Great Abaco. Among Abacos' smaller but popular cruiser havens include Great Guana Cay, Treasure Cay, Sandy Point, Moore's Island, Green Turtle Cay, Hopetown and Man-o'-War Cay. 
Not far from the eastern coast of Florida, these beautiful islands are easy to reach as a final destination with mostly protected waters.  These islands are also considered to be one of the best places for inexperienced or first time cruisers. They are both close to the U.S. mainland, and full of plenty of ports and easy-to-find sites. And, of course, the ocean in this part of the Caribbean is usually always sunny and warm, however this year the weather has been somewhat different as in the U.S.. Cold fronts have been marching in one after the other causing cooler then normal temperatures and much higher winds of 30-40 + knots with squalls blowing to 70 knots as reported in some areas. A good anchor and chain setup is required. There are also many marinas to tie up in a blow and some mooring balls in various locations.  Our main anchor is a Mason Supreme with 220 feet of 5/16 chain and an additional 180 feet of 5/8 line.  We have found this anchor for our needs to be highly effective in the Bahamas and way better then a  Delta, or Bruce as we used before.  We do carry a Bruce side by side to the Manson Supreme http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVoYc0dL124     and a Fortress as an emergency 3rd anchor if needed.