Our last day at Great Giana Cay was spent enjoying the debaucherie (sp?) at Nippers, the famous bar on the beach.

Ziggy had gotten attacked by a little dog and the wild cat Eddie that lives there the day before, so she had slinked in carefully to avoid another assault.  They had given us free conch salad due to her attack so it wasn’t all for naught.

Well, despite its reputation on Sundays, it wasn’t really that crazy, at least not while we were there.  The have a big pig roast buffet, with bbq, macaroni and cheese to die for, peas and rice, Johnny cakes, potato salad and some kind of bread pudding.  It was all you can eat for $26 – kinda steep but worth it if you go back for seconds.

I couldn’t do that, but from the looks of some of the diners around me, they more than made up for me.

The music was a lot of throwback 60s interspersed with Bahamian Junkanoo- cool.

We were told later we missed the best entertainment – when a young couple went out in the surf, took their swimsuits off and couldn’t get them back on.  So they ran around the beach naked for awhile.

Back home they would get arrested, at Nippers they got cheers.

We left Guana early this morning to sail the 3-4 hours to Green Turtle Cay.  To reach this island you have to traverse the much-dreaded Whale Channel.

You go outside on the ocean around Whale Cay, and if conditions in the ocean are in any way rough, the Whale can get really treacherous.

They call it a “rage,” if the Whale whips it up.  You’ve heard of mad cows, I think a mad whale might be meaner.

Where’s Captain Ahab when you need him? Not Jonah though.

Anyway Cap’n Ed had done his homework and found today to be the best conditions – light wind and the seas had had a couple of days to calm down.

So we set off, listening to the Cruisers Net for any reports from people crossing the Whale.

There were none, which was a bit concerning. But as we got near, Ed got on the radio and asked if anyone was in the Whale, could they give us a report?

One guy, I think a fisherman came back and said it was fine, no problem.  Whew!

Then he came back a few minutes later and said it was getting some fresh roll.  Whatever that means.

Well we had been in swells before so we thought it might be fine, better rolly than choppy.

And once we got there we got the swells.  Not too bad though, we’ve been in worse.

The worst thing about the Whale Ed said is you’re in it for several miles.

Nothing for a car, could be over an hour for a sailboat, even motoring like we had to do today.

But we made it and turned back into the Sea of Abaco to calm aquamarine waters. 

We are docked at the Bluff House Marina for now til the next westerly blow comes through on Wednesday.  They have free wifi and showers, laundry facilities and two bars/restaurants to enjoy.

Nice break, no stress, the Whale is behind us.  Only the Gulf crossing looms before us- but hey that could be weeks away!