Normans Cay, Exumas    February 1-13
From the start of this adventure, our main focus has been to get south! Get to the warm! Shed those coats! Now, we are so happy to be in this incredible paradise! No jackets required and shoes are optional. For the past 13 days we’ve enjoyed being in one place. And what a wonderful thirteen days it has been!

Upon arrival at Normans Cay, we anchored at South Table Bay. It was a fine anchorage at first, but on the third night, the wind shifted making it rather rolly and uncomfortable. In anticipation of bigger winds in the forecast, we, along with several other boats in the bay, decided to move into the protected anchorage inside Normans Pond. The charts and guidebooks recommend that the entrance to the pond should only be attempted by boats drafting 5’ or less and only at high tide. Dagny drafts about 5’ so the decision to move was not something to be taken lightly. We approached the pond behind several other boats; each of us taking our turn entering one boat at a time. We watched a couple of boats ahead of us make it through but then a sailboat grounded in the entrance blocking the rest of us from being able to enter. It took about 15 minutes for the stuck sailboat to get turned around and head back out into Table Bay. When it was our turn, it was fairly easy to follow the boats ahead of us plus there were folks in their dinghies who were kindly leading people through the shallows and away from the many sandbars to the safety of the main part of the pond. It’s a twisty and windy path, but once inside, it was calm, deep, and lovely! 

Over the next five days, we weathered the big winds in the company of the thirty or so boats in the pond. Along with winds gusting over 40mph, welcome heavy rains washed all the salt off Dagny. We made friends with the folks around us including the crew of another sailboat named Juma. We enjoyed several evenings aboard each other’s boats for sundowners swapping sailing stories and other life experiences. We also joined Juma for dinghy excursions around the pond and walks on the sandbars at low tide. We attempted to get to the pond's southern end in hopes of snorkeling the famous sunken plane wreck once owned by the drug lord who controlled Norman Cay, but the tide was too low and our dinghies could not make it through. Still, it was fun to try it! 

On the morning of February 9, with the winds much improved, a parade of boats made their way back out of the pond at high tide. No one got stuck and other than the outside being a bit rolly, everyone seemed to have made it on to their next destination. We were in no hurry to leave such a lovely spot and were glad we stayed as we enjoyed the next five days in complete solitude. This party anchorage with dinghies zipping back and forth and people kite surfing and playing with the various water toys they had brought along turned into a tranquil paradise that was ours alone. We kayaked, swam, and walked the beach each day marveling at the many shades of turquoise water and the wildlife that inhabits this cove. We also enjoyed the calm waters inside the pond as the ocean kicked up some pretty big waves on the prevailing easterly winds.

With Dagny steady at anchor, we were able to give our attention to some of our never-ending boat projects: the big one being the installation of the watermaker which involved making sure there was the proper amount of electricity being generated by our solar panels to magically turn seawater into fresh, drinkable water. Yay! Science! It also meant a big plumbing project of pipes and T’s and prefilters and post-filters all needing to be installed somewhere between the device itself, the engine, the pressurized water pump, and the electrical panel: no small feat on our little 33’ floating home! We had a few setbacks and without a local hardware store, it will take a little more Macgivering to make it work. But. Peter's middle name is Macgiver so we should have fresh water on board soon. 
The plan is to pull up the anchor tomorrow at high tide and follow our breadcrumbs back out of the pond and onto our next stop along the beautiful Exumas! ❤️⛵️🇧🇸