Today was finally the day, making our big crossing north to the Abacos. It was a bit of a northern migration with the 30+ other boats from our anchorage all heading the same way. I'm not sure why, but we were a bit apprehensive about this passage. I guess we haven't been doing any large open to the ocean crossings, and this was the first place we were going that wasn't re-visiting past places we'd already been in quite a while.

Anyways, the wind forecast was good, the wave forecast was alright, and it looks like we weren't the only ones to come to the same conclusion either. We had intended to wake a 4am and go, but that plan never works out (not morning people), but we did get underway at 6:30. The large catamaran that was next to us had already left, and so we had a nice easy path to sail off anchor, and that worked really well. It was still dark when we snaked out of the anchorage and then pointed north, but the sun wasn't long in coming up and it was daytime which is preferable when there are that many other boats around.

We were making ok way under full sails, but it was rolly. A few hours in the wind clocked more southerly (directly behind us) and we struggled along as close down wind as we could point for a long while. We were getting to the point where we'd have to put the sails away and motor, but we decided to give the spinnaker a try before accepting defeat. It wasn't promising with the kind of confused waves we had, but for the most part we could keep the spinnaker full, and it pushed us along at 5 to 6 knots so we rode on that for the entire afternoon. That is the large track to the left, and then we gybed the spinnaker and took a long track back to the right.

And then the seas seemed to get bigger, and/or the wind got lighter and it was getting impossible to keep the spinnaker full enough to sail on. So we dropped it, and motored in the rest of the way for the last couple of hours.

We ended up timing the cut well, and got in just a slack so no drama there, and then it was just a matter of finding a spot to anchor. Just about the entire fleet of boats that were with us motored past us while we bobbed around under sail, and so I think we ended up being only the 3rd or 4th last boat to make it in. Thankfully there is lots of room at Lynyard Cay, and even though there were probably 20 boats there we easily found a place to anchor up.

Nice to finally be in after a long rolly day on the sea, and we put the dingy together and went ashore. Met some people there that also made the crossing today, and someone we had met way back in Georgetown in the Exumas who was up here picking up family and then heading back down that way. Had a nice chat, and got the low down on places and things to do here in the Abacos which was handy.

And with that the day was over and we got to sleep for some very well deserved rest.