Spanish Wells to Highbourne Cay

 Well, not really. The forecast was for winds around 15 knots out of the East and the wave height predictions appeared to be within reason for us to make a transit from Spanish Wells to Highbourne Cay. The notion here was that we'd have a following sea until we rounded Yellow Bank after which point we'd be in the lee of that bank on the way to Highbourne Cay. The path we chose to take had us head SW out of Spanish Wells to a point past Meeks Patch. Then we'd go South West to Current Rock. From there we were going to turn to the Bank and pass through Fleeming Channel with a heading towards the West end of Yellow Bank where we would then turn towards Highbourne Cay.
 It started out all well and good and it turned out that the wave height predictions were on the low side. Cool we thought, and life is good.
 Note these predictions were also associated with the area South East of Current Island, Shilling Cay, and Rose Island which all form a sort of barrier between the Bahama Bank to the South East, and, the North East Providence Channel which we were in. The bank is shallow at around 15-20 feet. The N.E. Providence Channel is not shallow. It's deep as I have spoken about previously. While we commiserated with other boaters over the VHF radio about our intentions and theirs along the way we settled into a ride that included a few squalls that washed off some of the salt Freedom had been accumulating from the spray she'd been exposed to already.
 That clean feeling didn't last long.
 We turned into Fleeming [break] I'll call this Flaming Channel since it rolled up on us and we started stuffing the anchor into the next wave [/break] and motored along with about a knot and a half of current pushing us backwards even though we thought we hit this after low tide during a lull in the current. We associated the rough water with the fact that we were in the cut and it's residual tidal flow. So we soldiered on. Stooopidt that was. We should have turned around and gone back out to the N.E. Providence Channel and bailed out on going to Highbourne immediately. What was supposed to be about another 6 hours or so of boating had turned into a projected 6 hours of hell.
 Our course after this passage through Fleeming (sp based on my prior remarks) is not the least bit direct or smooth. We started to hunt for a path that gave us a relatively comfortable ride along our projected path but we had no luck. In fact, we kept ducking shallow spots of 15 feet because with 4 footers rolling under us we were starting to get concerned that Freedom would bottom bounce if we hit a very shallow spot that was not charted.
 But it all passed and after quite a bit of rolling and rocking we found ourselves committed to a trip across the Bank into Nassau. What would have been another 6 hours was now only 2 hours of bad boating. There are passages back out to the N.E. Providence channel but given the seas, shifting tide, and wind, we came to a consensus that a direct path to Nassau was the best possible route to take. It genuinely sucked, but it was a better decision than running a narrow break in the barrier with unforgiving water, wind and current. But we made it to Nassau ok. We pulled into the Nassau Harbour Club where dock hands met us and in spite of our rattled bones, we tied up without incident in a slip that is only two feet wider than Freedom.
 Once again the Exumas was looking like a destination to be denied.
 Upon arrival I was informed that all sorts of changes were going to take place. No solar panels, no more thought of Staniel Cay in the Exumas. If anything, that was a destination achieved only via airplane. I agreed. I did not argue. It really sucked that badly out there. Freedom rolls quite a bit and without a lower station it's all accentuated. It was fortunately only about 3 hours of some serious chop that was following us of the port side. It was about 2-3 most of the time but at a 2-4 second interval and steep. So it really shoved us around and had us pitching. But Freedom, to her credit just kept pushing us along and delivered us. Every cabinet, freezer, refrigerator, cupboard, compartment and cabinet was booby trapped with objects spilling out when opened, but Freedom delivered and in great form. A bit crusty with salt, but here we are parked in the shadow of Atlantis.

 Did I mention Deb has Strep throat and that this was her birthday? Ok, but we both  knew the goal was to get her into the Exumas on a good passage. Oh well. Maybe another time. Lightening is flashing in the sky off to the East of Nassau.