Weather

A perfect morning for a beach walk.  But storms were expected later, as a line of nastiness was just off the Florida coast, headed our way.  We opted for the ocean side, northbound.  Love the sound of the surf – soothing.  The water is so clear it’s translucent as it races up the beach.

Breezy, but beautiful.  Flowers on the sand.

Pink sand.  Turquoise water.

Sure enough, about mid-afternoon, impressive dark clouds rolled in.

With rain.

Then, an unexpected lull.  Eerily quiet.  No wind at all.  The boats all out of alignment.

Normally, the boats are facing into the wind.  But Motu Iti’s bow is perpendicular to the white boat and facing the red boat on the far right, almost head on.  With barely a breath of air, Motu Iti is responding to tidal currents.   The other boats, farther inside the harbor, aren’t as affected by the tide.  But the wind filled in and by nightfall, we were rocking and rolling on our mooring.  Gusts up to 40 mph were recorded during the night.  Hard to sleep.

It rained all night and into the morning.  But evening gave us this glorious sky.

And by the following morning, the harbor was back to normal.  An Abaco dinghy cruising past the lighthouse.

This is one of the longer Abaco dinghies handmade by Winer Malone right here on Elbow Cay.  Very traditionally rigged – no aluminum track up the mast, just lashings to hold the sail on.  A classic beauty.