Whale Cut/Green Turtle

When thinking about transiting the Whale cut, you always hear a story or two.  This season, it seems to be the one about a trawler who transited the “Whale” heading south. Just after they turned to port to head from the ocean and into the cut, a rogue, 10-foot breaking wave lifted the stern of their boat out of the water, they lost rudder control, the boat turned sideways and broached far enough over that water came in through the windows.  They struggled to gain control as debris flew throughout the cabin and fortunately the rudder finally grabbed and they slipped through the cut and into the safety of calmer water.  Ed and I never underestimate the power of Mother Nature when it comes to boating.  Captain Ed always takes the necessary precautions relating to weather and its effect.  Just north of Great Guana Cay lies the Whale Cay Channel where boaters need to take extra precautions.  Its at the “Whale” where boaters have to leave the relative safety of the Sea of Abacos and head into the ocean if they wish to travel further south in the Abacos.  You navigate  through a narrow reef out into the shallows of the Atlantic Ocean, making a 90-degree turn  and continue three miles to the lee of Green Turtle Cay. As fellow boaters reported, even under the best of circumstances, this passage is notorious for wreaking havoc, even sinking big ships when "rage" conditions (huge, breaking waves) are present.  We headed out at 7:30 am from Great Guana Cay.  There were no winds, so we couldn't put up a sail but did encounter some rollers of four feet. It was a little rolly, but very passable.  We were back into the Sea of Abaco in no time and heading to Green Turtle Cay.  Green Turtle has special meaning to us. It was the first settlement that we anchored at on our first trip to the Bahamas three years ago and it was there that we lost our "Max" who passed away only two weeks after arriving in the Bahamas.  After entering the channel, we called the two marinas, Green Turtle Club and Bluff House and found Bluff House to have a March Madness special of $1.25 a foot, free water and you can eat and drink in the restaurant using the amount of your dockage fee.  What a deal - stay free because we always have to eat!  After getting tied up into the slip the first thing we had to do was go and see Max's grave.  So Ed myself and Rylee took the short 10 minute walk to the beach where Max is laid to rest. RIP we miss you Max. 

We then met up with Pat and Bob from "Maverick" who are also at the marina and made plans for lunch.  Seems like alot of boats pulling in today all plan on making a crossing back to the states this weekend.  Another boat "Gorma" with Craig and Colleen are next to us and also planning on staging for a crossing.  No problem finding a buddy boat to cross with - someone is always going your way!

   We explored some of the settlement as it starting to drizzle, with the streets just wide enough for two golf carts to pass through.  Most of the properties are well maintained and painted in soft pastel colors.  We stopped at the grocery where the fresh hot homemade Bahamian bread was being delivered.  We purchased a loaf along with a few snacks and headed back as it began to rain harder. Had a nice relaxing day and as evening came, we noticed about 4 parrots circling overhead.  They reminded us of the wild parrots in Florida, so in the morning we took a walk and again saw them circling overhead close enough to see their colors. We found out that they are a subspecies of the Cuban Amazon parrot, 12-13 inches in length and its white head and green body makes it easily recognizable.  It has patches of red feathers on its cheek, throat and sometimes it abdomen, with it flight feathers a beautiful cobalt blue.  They are wild and very noisy. We are currently at anchor in Green Turtle as the Bluff House actually requested that we move from our slip in order to accommodate a larger power yacht.  We will be leaving tomorrow morning for Great Sale Cay, where there is no phone or internet connection and our last island in the Bahamas before heading across to Florida this weekend.