Can We Make It?

We are now back on our mooring in Hope Town, after our 6 week vacation at Man-O-War Cay. The day we left to head the 5 miles back to the harbor, there were showers and a nasty cold front expected. When we were about halfway back to Elbow Cay (with our floating marina attached) the wind started blowing and the sky turned dark. To the west, the the mainland started disappearing in heavy rain. Uh oh! There was only a slight chance we would make it before the squall hit, but we couldn't increase our speed because we were towing our skiffs in increasing waves. Then it started sprinkling rain and it got heavier and heavier as we entered the harbor and headed to our assigned mooring. What a sight for sore eyes, when out in the rain, holding our mooring lines up for me to grab on to, was Muffin from Antares. No struggling to lean over the side of the boat with my boat pole or Dave maneuvering so I could grab them under the boat. After securing the lines, I quickly rewarded her efforts with a portion of my Valentines day stash of M&Ms (which she immediately hid from her husband Will...but he got HIS share today when we had to switch moorings and he came out to help. That's what being a Harbour Rat is all about!). Muffin raced back to her boat just as the squall arrived and we were hit with the full brunt of the storm. We made it!

Footnote: After the storm, the wind steadily increased and by nighttime there were 30+ mph winds with gusts to 45, that continued into Sunday. We've just now had our first major cold front of the season (and hopefully last!), with two days of 60 degree temps and high winds. I know this seems warm to my northern readers, but we have thin blood now, and as I've said before, that wind goes right through the boat. Very few people even went out of their houses and boats yesterday (although we did take a long walk to get warm). Today however, everyone was emerging as the sun came out and we've talked to more people today than we have in the whole time we were at Man-O-War! Hope Town is really bustling with what seems to be an extra amount of tourists and guests. It will take a while to get used to it, but it's been great catching up on all that's been happening around the island.