Laying low in Abaco

As you've read in our previous postings and probably heard on the news there is a preseason tropical depression forming just to the north. The result is high winds, squalls and high seas for probably most of the coming week. So we are back to the Man O War Cay Marina to ride it out. The marina here is well protected in just about every direction and based on the forecasts we should be on the lee side. It certainly won't be worse than Marathon where we had 20 kt or better winds on our nose just about every day. The really strange thing is that it has gotten cool. The temperatures for the past few days ave only been in the 70's. It has been in the 80's for the past 2 months. Certainly an omen of impending change.

Last week we had heavy squalls go through with 40+ kt winds and in one of them it hailed. The locals were talking about it because it doesn't happen often.

The sky here today was very eerie and prescient of  tropical weather. Here is today's sunset with the lower dark cumulus clouds and then constant upper level cirrus clouds and here at sunset the lower clouds look darker and the higher clouds reflect the sun's light. Rain showers or squalls are forecasted to start sometime during the overnight. I've put down and buttoned our cockpit enclosures to keep our patio dry.

We chose to hunker down here for several reasons. Besides the great protection the town is very pleasant. The island is dry so there's no bars to hangout in but the scenery is very pleasant, the people are friendly and industrious. This island unlike those in the Exumas actually has a thriving boat building industry, several well-stocked shops and stores. The island has lush vegetation with fruit trees and marketable fish in the nearby waters.

A very loaded mango tree next to a cactus with flowers.

Today we did boat chores as everything on the island was closed for Sunday. Since we will be here for a while I will see if I can get some of my tasks done that I had planned to do later. I did have a chance to dive under the boat and inspect the keel for damage from the grounding. As far as I could tell only the bottom paint and barrier coat were scratched off of about 4' of the bottom of the keel. Does not appear to be any gouges that will need filling. So that was good news!

So for this week we will try to effectively employ this time while we wait for a return to a summer weather pattern.