We managed to depart Georgetown after spending only two nights, including waiting out another cold front, doing three loads of laundry, and buying some groceries, rum, and dinghy gas. Our White Magic happened also to be in Georgetown at the time, so we had a brief reunion with them. Since we had left Georgetown in early January on our trip southward, the boat population there had increased to around 275 and they were packed in like sardines. Getting a clear channel on the VHF radio could be a challenge. The daily announcements communicated every morning on VHF were taking almost an hour to complete. It's a real circus but a lot of cruisers really like it and spend the whole winter in Georgetown year after year.

Our departure on February 24 allowed us a brisk spinnaker sail north to a location in the harbor between Big Farmer and Little Farmer Cays where we could (once again) sit out a passing cold front . This approximately 43 nm passage paralleled the Exuma Cays on the deep Sound side. We saw more boats on this passage than at any other time while underway - they were all either leaving or heading to Georgetown on the same north or southbound route. It was like an interstate highway. Enroute winds increased upwards to 20 knots and at times we reached 10 knots speed over ground. Most of the time we traveled at 8-9 knots, blowing past the other seven sailboats and two trawlers traveling northward. We also outpaced another big power yacht following us who was visible on AIS. One sailboat headed southbound reached us by radio to complement how "beautiful" we looked under spinnaker--they had taken photographs and asked for our email address so that they could forward them to us!

Dave stood anchor watch for a period in the early morning hours (0400) at anchorage with driving rain, wind 25 kts from the WNW ahead of the cold front due to pass at dawn. These fronts have been coming one after another since before Christmas . Routinely, as the front passes the wind will increase to 25-30 knots and shift to the NNW, then decrease back to around 20 kts for the remainder of the day. This has been the second front in the last two days, with two more coming in the next five days. As each front approaches the normal easterly winds clock around to SE, S, SW, W and then NW to N in a period of 12 to 24 hours depending on the strength of the front. To prepare for each front, we have to be anchored someplace with "protection" - ideally surrounded by cays or in an enclosed harbor since the winds will come at us in every direction from start to finish. As the wind clocks around our anchor has to twist around in a circle and hopefully not slip in the process. Of course, the nasty squalls and high winds preceding the fronts always seem to come at night. If our anchor slips we'd have a real fire drill in the dark to retrieve it and attempt to reset it before being blown against a shore or other boats. According to our weather advisor this has been the worst winter in ten years in the Bahamas . These fronts trail low pressure systems marching across the States that have been causing all the bad weather stateside. At least we don't get the snow. Wind now up to 35 kts. We love our anchor...!

On Friday, February 26 we sailed northwest on the Exuma Bank some 16 nm to the Pipe Creek area which we had not visited on our trip south. This is a very diverse area with dozens of small cays separating the "harbor" into a series of narrow passages, hence the "creek" description. Our approach from the Bank side at calm mid-day was absolutely stunning and beautiful. Expecting another cold front on the 27th, this area afforded decent protection, but with tenuous anchor holding. We did manage to get in some cool water snorkeling and sightseeing via dinghy. We noted this area as probably a really nice stop in better weather with more opportunity for snorkeling and bonefishing.

Surviving the Pipe Creek cold front, we transited on the Bank beginning March 1 towards the Berry Islands, north of Nassau, New Providence, expecting to take two days with an overnight stop somewhere on the Great Bahama Bank . The weather between fronts was forecast to be favorable for anchoring out on the Bank and this gave us the scheduling flexibility to arrive in the Berry Islands during daylight on March 2, and in time before the next nasty cold front was due. En route we learned via radio that Our White Magic was also heading for the Berry Islands, skipping their intended stop in Nassau due to the poor weather forecasts. This was an unexpected, pleasant surprise. We anchored on the bank as planned before dinner time approximately 10 nm south of the western end of New Providence and settled down for the night. The wind and seas turned out to be not as calm as forecast making it hard to sleep, so we got underway again at 0130 on the morning of March 2 and had a downwind run arriving at Frazer's Hog Cay in the Berry Islands around 0800. We intentionally kept the boat speed down sailing with only the genoa reefed in order not to arrive before daybreak, but it was much more comfortable than trying to sleep at anchor on the bouncy Bank. Our White Magic had reserved a mooring ball for us at the Berry Island Club - the last one available - which was very welcome in light of the nasty front due early the next morning. There were about a dozen other boats there with the same idea - a good place to sit out the front.

By now you should have gotten the impression that our cruising itinerary is largely dictated by the timing and duration of the passing cold fronts, or have we been too subtle?

We spent three nights on the ball at the Berry Island Club as the weather passed and had some quality time with the crew of Our White Magic . We departed the morning of March 5th with destination further north in the Berry Island chain. Our White Magic would be departing another day in the opposite direction to Miami with further goal destinations in Mexico and Belize. We were touched by their gathering on deck waving goodbye as we motored out, knowing that we would not see them again until they returned to the Chesapeake in the summer.

We had a nice motor/motor sail a short distance to the Hoffman Island/Devils Cay area, probably the nicest anchorage in these islands. On the way we caught a dinner-for-two size Cero Mackerel which we wasted no time working into the menu.... We were the only boat in this beautiful area and we spent three nights here waiting for north winds to abate to permit further travel north up the Berry Islands chain. This afforded us some high quality beach combing excursions as it was too cool for snorkeling. This was a very nice location that will go on our short list for good stops in this section of the Bahamas .

On March 8th we continued our tour of the Berry Islands, sailing north the short distance to the Great Harbour area, the northernmost area of the island group, where cruise lines own two islands. On this passage we had the most fishing action in a single day of our winter cruise so far - we landed an Amberjack, two yellow tail Snappers, a mystery Jack, and one standard issue Barracuda. We also had two additional strikes. However, none of these got on the dinner menu (the Amberjack and 'Cuda are suspect for ciguatera poisoning and the Snappers were a bit small). But it was great fun! In Great Harbor we explored a mangrove canal and Dave tried some bonefishing with his fly rod, but had no luck. We watched cruise ships come and go in the area, with smaller boats issuing passengers off to local beaches or dispatching them to buzz around on jet skis.