Royal Harbour

Wednesday April 16, 2014

25 30.881 N

76 50.724 W

Anchor was up sharp at 7 AM about 15 minutes after sunrise. The cut/entrance/exit from the Sea of Abaco between the islands was a bit choppy but otherwise easy. The sea state in the Atlantic for the first few hours underway was “confused” and we both felt a bit queasy. The stabilizers were earning their oil. The southerly breeze was on our nose at about 10 to 15 kts. Mid-morning we were watching a big squall developing to our west. The clouds were dark and the sea underneath an inky blue. It seemed to be moving north east as we headed south and so we thought we might slip past us before it reached us. As it got nearer the wind turned west at about 15-20kts and we could see the deluge heading to us across the water. It rained for maybe 30 minutes and then it was over. The rain was heavy enough to “flatten the water”. The sun came out, the wind reverted to south and the chop had disappeared, leaving the underlying 3’ swells, making our ride a lot smoother. As the miles slipped by the conditions continued to improve

Squall

We were crossing the NW Providence Channel. In parts it was 14,000’ deep. We spotted two large ships, a couple of flying fish, but that was about the sum total. We made the turn around Egg Island at about 2:30 PM. As we did we saw a huge turtle – he looked at least 6’ long. By the time I found the camera we were past him.

The anchorage at “Royal Harbour” (on Royal island) is an improved natural harbor. It was deepened by a resort developer but the project was never completed.  We seem to have heard this story frequently in the Bahamas. But it is a great anchorage for cruisers, although there is nothing ashore. We anchored in about 12’ and launched the dink to have a look around. There was a dozen boats in the anchorage, including 4 trawlers (Nordhavn, Grand Banks, Hampton and DeFever) We stopped and had a chat at several boats, ended up enjoying a “painkiller” on Mud Puddle Rose.