Exumas in January

January in the Exumas has been a bit of a weather challenge. We left George Town on 2 January and headed up to Cave Cay Marina to dodge a strong cold front. Winds to low 40’s. When that cleared we went up to Black Point and had a few nice days, enough time to buy some coconut bread from Mom. Yea! From there we went up to Warderick Wells. Again a few nice days, but mostly very windy, which tends to rock the boats around quite a bit. We then moved over to Emerald Rock but the swell and chop was pretty unpleasant there as well.
Our next stop was Cambridge Cay, where we volunteered as mooring field hosts for the park. In return for a free mooring ball, we collected mooring fees from other cruisers, inspected the moorings, and kept an eye out for poachers. We did get a few nice days, including a great snorkel dive at the aquarium, but then another strong cold front loomed. Our mooring looked strong, but with another bout of +40 knots coming, we knew we would get more sleep back at Cave Cay.
So that’s where we are now, about to leave and go back to Cambridge Cay. Weather looks promising. Meanwhile, we are re-thinking the logic of spending the entire winter down here. January has been pretty much a weather dodging experience. We hope February will be a bit gentler.