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Rock Sound to Warderick Wells

We left Rock Sound just before daylight to sail across Exuma Sound to Warderick Wells. The wind had subsided to the low teens overnight and varied from 13 to 20 knots from the ESE after we left the anchorage. Although it was nice to have enough wind to sail, Exuma Sound was quite lumpy. That is always the way. Wind=waves, no wind=calm water. The conditions were not my favorite. It was a downwind sail so we had to be careful to avoid an accidental gybe. The wind was always shifting and the waves were pushing the boat this way and that so I had to keep my eye on the sailing angle at all times. If it was too high we would be heeled over, if it was too low the jib would gybe over. I found that if I even took my eye off of the apparent wind angle reading to look around for a few seconds the boat would be immediately sailing too high or too low. At one point, 1 1/3 hour into my watch, I saw George check the time. I then said to him "I am counting the minutes (until my watch was over)". He very kindly offered to take over 20 minutes early. By the time his watch was over it was time to take the sails down and enter Warderick Cut so I drove the rest of the way in. Warderick Wells is part of the Land and Sea Park system. The mooring balls are first come, first serve. George was worried it would be crowded but there are only two other boats here and twenty empty moorings. The changes in depths of the water here make this place really beautiful. We plan to spend our time hiking, swimming and snorkeling before moving on.

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