Feb 9th Hatchet Bay 26 NM To Date 392 NM

To get to Hatchet Harbour, one must cross through Current Cut. Given the wrong tides, a boater can be facing or going with a current of 5 to 7 kts. I got the math slightly wrong we got there 15 minutes later than the optimum, but it was still no biggie with a 1+ knot current in our favour. Halfway through, Wilma called out, “There’s Brad” — Brad is the chap we are on our way to visit. We found out later that he decided to drive the 22 miles from his place to get a good picture of us going through. However, rather than wait at the small ferry dock he decided to drive a bit further. Unhappily, he mistimed it and only got a quick shot through some trees. Oh well.

We arrived at Hatchet Harbour about 2:30 and Brad arrived not too much later to pick us up at the dinghy dock. We had exhausted our main propane tank the night before so Brad very generously drove us the 25 miles to get it filled. Along the way there and back he gave us a good tour. We stopped in Governors Harbour to get An ALIV Sim card, but they were closed even though their sign said that they should be open. When we next door to the booze shop, we found why: the electricity had gone off. We continued on the road back north but stopped at Delish at James Cistern Beach. They said the power was off there too but, yes, we could have a beer. The chef came out and said that she could cook us Grouper and veg on the stove (presumably gas) so we eagerly ordered it. It really was delish, and we ate dinner watching the sun go down. Then it was back to the boat with a big thanks to Brad. Brad has done the Gulf Stream crossing 19 times and many of the solo unless you count the dog. Early in the 2000s he built his house in Eleuthera and spends as much of the winter here as he can. Needless to say he was a great resource for us in planning our trip this time and the time 4 years ago.

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