Mores Island to Royal Island - no pics low bandwidth

Mores Island Anchorage (26 16.453 77 36.725) 6:30am

To Royal Island Anchorage off the tip of Eleuthera (25 30.887 x 76 50.803) 5:50pm Twilight

We left Mores Island off Great Abaco at 6:30am (twilight) to NNW winds 10-15 knots and 1-3 ft swells. It was a much better traveling day with a glorious sunrise around 7am. We motor sailed by Gorda Cay also known as Castaway Cay. That island is for Disney Cruise Ships only – no cruisers welcome. We saw one cruise ship at anchor and from what we could see from our boat the island probably has a terrific Disney theme to it. It’d be interesting to see what Disney does with its little island in the Bahamas.

The last couple of days, the only visible sea life to be seen was flying fish. They appear like magical little creatures as they leap out of the water to soar and skim along the top, flying like little birds across the waves. The other evidence of life was one bite on our fishing lure as we made the turn off S.W. Reef to turn towards Royal Island. What ever it was that tried to take the lure, got away as Wayne tried to pull in the line.

Two years ago when we first approached Royal Island, I remember thinking that we shouldn’t be going in to the left of the rock – it looked to narrow, with a wider opening to the right of it. This time it was definitely more comfortable, even though it was past sunset. We pulled in at twilight with Azaya behind us and Aurora pulled in at dark. We’d all made good time for doing 70NM in one day (11.5 hours). We’d heard talk that the marina and resort that had been started might be finished but the anchorage hadn’t changed at all from what we could see. The one thing that did change was that there was another Bayfield 36 sitting at anchorage in the harbor! I got so excited to see it, Wayne yelled at me to watch where I was going! Heck, I knew where I was going. I was going to investigate the other Bayfield of course! That he was sitting about where I wanted to anchor was another bonus. So I headed there and circled the good ship Georgia E and called out “What a beautiful little boat you have!” My comment was echoed back to me. I love seeing other Bayfields – they have such striking lines. The thought that it might be a “Gozzard” and not a “Bayfield” didn’t enter my mind until later. But it was another little Bayfield. We have a sister ship here!

Long day today. This very still anchorage is quite welcoming tonight. I think we’ll all sleep well tonight. I doubt any of us slept well last night. Tuna salad for dinner then sleep time.