March 13, 1998

Hi everyone,

It is now March 13th and we are in Hatchet Bay, Eleuthera awaiting the arrival of Robin and Jane Hewson. We spent a week anchored in Royal Island with a short hop to Spanish Wells for supplies. Yesterday we sailed ( actually turned off the motor ! ) here through a very narrow gap, called Current Cut. We calculated our arrival time to co-coincide with slack water and had a relatively easy passage through the cut. There are rocks and shallows to avoid.

Hatchet Bay is a small town with little in the way of shops or groceries. The marina office has a few fresh vegetables for sale but they had seen better days. We have had very little fresh fruit and veggies since Nassau. And there was little fruit there. I am glad I bought all of those cans.

In a week or so, we will head towards the Abacos and Marsh Harbour. A lot of the other cruisers are also heading in that direction and we are looking forward to meeting up with some old friends. Dromenon is headed that way and we heard that they were lucky enough to recover their dinghy which had been missing. Silent Running is in Rum Cay awaiting weather to return to George Town due to transmission and autohelm problems. I’m not sure if that will postpone their trip to Venezuela or just delay it.

Hope all is well with you and the winter is almost over. Think warm thoughts.

Love to all

Heather
Heather & Murray Rand
aboard Windswept IV
Ham Radio VE3 ZUA