Hiding from wind in Cape Eleuthera Marina

Friday 17 Jan, BHS day 18, Eleuthera: The marina facilities not as we expected, and before the wind kicks in I attempt to stitch the main sail.

Alarm at 7am and we are on the move 30 minutes later. This afternoon a strong NE wind is coming so we have booked ourselves into Cape Eleuthera Marina. Like all marinas it’s not cheap, so while we want to get there before the wind arrives, we also want to get our money’s worth!
As we motor away from Pineapple Cays it’s utterly calm. Not a ripple on the water and you can see everything on the seabed as if looking through glass. Hard to believe we are running for shelter! We end up motoring the full 25nm which takes us through a mass of sand banks via the Davies channel and out of the Eleuthera Sound. The marina is perched here, on a peninsula at the western tip of Eleuthera.
As we approach it looks very civilized. A deeply dredge basin with neat hotel rooms around one side. We are given a nice T-dock where the wind will blow us away from the dock – a perfect position thank you.

As so often happens in marinas, as soon as we are safely moored up we are roasting hot in the sun and no breeze. It’s one of the many reasons we avoid marinas. Once settled we take a wander. First to the resort’s Sunrise Beach on the east side (maybe I’ll kitesurf there tomorrow), then checkin at the office, then to the Sunset Beach on the west side, which is a very nice beach. The swimming pool sits at the marina entrance, quite a distance from both the hotel rooms and the marina docks. Why did they put it over here, so out the way, we wonder? The restaurant is here too. Certainly nothing special about it or the pool.
For a moment we wonder if we really want to stay here for the $150 price tag per night. But the only other place to go would be 25nm west to Highborne Cut. And the wind is supposed to arrive by 4pm. Tempting as it is, given it’s still totally calm here, I don’t want to risk arriving to the shallow Exumas with a forecast 25kt tail wind. So we opt to stay.

While it’s calm I take the opportunity to repair a tear we’ve noticed in the leach of the mainsail. With a third of the main unfurled, Oana lifts me in the bosun’s chair. The damage is a bit worst then I expected. It’s only the leach line that’s holding the sail from completely ripping across! Oopsy, that would not have been good 🙁
I start the repair but when I come back down for more thread the wind suddenly picks up. From 5 to 20kts in just a few minutes. So the sail gets put away. Let’s hope those few stitches I managed to get in will hold till the next calm day.

With the wind comes rain, which I’m happy about. The boat has been very salty for a week now. So I’m out in the rain de-salting wherever I can reach. The rain doesn’t last long but the wind is steadily increasing. We are nicely tucked in behind some of the 2-story hotel rooms so at ground level we don’t feel it, but the upper section of the mast is catching the full beam-on gusts and soon Cloudy is swaying around. I’m very glad we didn’t try to leave for the Exumas!

During the evening we upload the video on a very slow internet (how is it that marinas never have good internet?). It will probably take all night to upload. Meanwhile, Oana is taking advantage of the shore power, cooking and making bread. A nearby private party and band entertains us till late in the evening. We had thought to gate crash, but we aren’t really in a partying mood this evening.
By mid-evening the wind is a steady 30kts, gusting 34. Almost seems surreal seeing this wind speed on our masthead instrument, while we sit in the calm marina listening to the band. At anchor it would have been quite a different kettle of fish!