In late February Chris Parker, our weather source, forecast that the first few weeks in March would be plagued by a series of cold fronts with South/West/North components. In general, it gets hard to find comfortable anchorages in the Bahamas with this sort of forecast. And so when we hear, “…with wind from the west…” we look for a marina.
In part because of the forecast we chose to head north via Eleuthera, as it offered a more interesting set of marinas than the northern Exumas (Highborn and Nassau). Our first hidey-hole in Eleuthera was Cape Eleuthera Marina, which I mentioned in a prior post. As it turned out, we might have been as comfortable in Rock Sound, which is protected from the west. Friends who weathered the same front we did, said Rock Sound was OK.
When we left Cape Eleuthera we had 48 hours to find protection before the next front, again with strong westerly winds. We decided to head up to Spanish Wells with a stop at an anchorage half way there. Alabaster cove was quite nice. Calm night so setting the anchor wasn’t critical. It did set, but only half buried in sand before catching in underlying hard pack. Apparently this is typical of many Eleuthera anchoring spots. Anyway, some dolphins came by to wish us well so we took it as a good omen.
The next day we passed through Current Cut (more on this later) and came into Spanish Wells and Yacht Haven Marina. Very well protected and a nice marina, albeit a bit expensive at $2.50/foot. At that time, we figured a 3-5 day stay until the weather pattern improved. I must have forgotten Chris’s forecast for a series of fronts through mid-March. Well, we have been here 5 days and will likely be here 3-5 days more. As I write this we are just emerging from a series of thunderstorms passing over. Still raining pretty steadily. Not much wind but that is coming. So far, the fronts have been rolling over us every 48 hours or so, and are predicted to continue through Thursday. And that is about how far the forecasts go. Here is a picture of the next one:
With each of these fronts the winds clock from SE > S > SW > W > NW etc. The winds are strong enough from each direction, 20 knots or so, that, if at anchor, one has to move with the wind shifts to find protection. And of course the wind shifts usually occur just after midnight. Hence our choice of protected marinas vs anchoring during these weather patterns. But it is getting old.
We hope to leave soon and either explore the Berry Islands or the Abacos, depending on what sort of weather and sea states emerge once this pattern of cold fronts subsides. Meanwhile, we are enjoying Spanish Wells. Now, back to Current Cut.
This cut is the most direct route to Spanish Wells from the South. It can carry upwards of 8 knots at max flow. And lots of private and commercial shipping passes through here. Slack current is preferable, but not so easy to compute as it is affected by winds and tide levels. Also better at high tide as there are some shallows as one approaches from the East.
Our best estimate for slack current that day was 1pm. We got there 10 minutes prior and the current had already reversed and was ebbing outbound at 2 knots. No big deal but I am not sure when slack tide did occur. For our cruising readers, slack tide at the cut is estimated to be 1:30 to 2 hrs after Nassau tide. In our case, my best estimate is that slack current occurred at 1:40 after Nassau high tide. Based on discussions with other boats passing through with us, slack lasts about 5-10 minutes.
There are a few turns in the cut, and with any current at all, the eddies can push you around quite a bit. Plenty of room to fishtail as long as you have the cut to yourself. In our case, we met a cargo ship just at the narrowest portion of the cut. He generously gave us more than our fair share of the channel. Thank you captain, whoever you are.