Indecisionitis

Location: Lee Stocking Island, Exumas, Bahamas
Position: N23 46.258 W076 06.409

We really want to go to Conception Cay, part of the Bahamas National Trust, that lies east of the Exumas sort of between Long and Cat Islands. But there’s no protection from a westerly wind and the anchorage can be quite lumpy when there’s a big swell. So you need to have settled weather to spend any time there.

We also really want to go to the Jumentos, south of the Exumas. These islands are pretty remote, the only town being near the southern end of the chain. Shallow water, quiet anchorages, and self-sufficiency are the order of the day there.

We’re ready to leave Thompson Bay, Long Island. We’ve been here long enough and we’re starting to get antsy. We can’t decide whether to go to Conception or the Jumentos. The weather forecast sounds both good and bad for both places, with some westerly wind predicted for the next couple of days.

The heck with it. We need to make a decision. We figure we can find some protection in the Jumentos if we need to, so we’ll head there. Some friends on another boat are already there, and some other friends are heading out tomorrow morning, so we can tag along with them. The plan is to leave Thompson Bay early and sail through the Comer Channel on a rising tide (it gets shallow in there – about 6’ at low tide – and we draw 6’), then head further south to the Jumentos.

We get up really early to listen to the most up-to-date weather, it’s pretty much the same as yesterday.

Ok, we’re going to the Jumentos – woohoo. We call our friends and let them know we’ll be tagging along.

Yes, but the wind is supposed to turn west tonight and it’s farther than we can go in a day to find any protection there from the west.

It’s only supposed to be 5 knots, it will be fine.

You know the weather forecasters always mess up and what if it’s 15 or 20?

Ok. So let’s sail to Calabash Bay near the north end of Long Island, spend the night, and continue on to Cat Island or Conception the next day.

OK decision made. We raise the anchor, let our friends know we’ve changed our minds, and start to head north.

After about an hour we are not too happy with the seas, the wind is directly behind us, stronger than predicted, and there’s a pretty big swell bouncing us around.

Darn, this swell is going to make it miserable in Calabash Bay. We could go all the way to Cat Island but there is also a big north easterly swell in Exuma Sound today which would make the crossing very uncomfortable.

We could just turn back to the west and head to the Jumentos like we originally planned?

Yes but there is still that westerly we don’t like. And now it is later and it will be dark by the time we get there. We only just had enough time as it was….

Sheesh!! What shall we do then? Silence…….Sigh………More silence……..

Well, we could go back to Thompson Bay?

No we just spent a week there and I want to go somewhere new.

In outer space, when an object is between and attracted to two other objects, it tends to follow a path that lies somewhere between the two attracting objects. It’s pretty much the same in “Rachel Land”. Drawn to both the Jumentos and Conception, we find ourselves vectoring toward….

George Town?!?!?!

Sheesh. Talk about “we’ve already been there”….

At least we can find some protection from the west there. So we go on to George Town where we spend the night. A night, we might add, that has absolutely NO wind from ANY direction, much less from the west!

It’s hot and still the entire night. We’re disappointed to miss both the Jumentos and Conception Island, but decide to make the most of it. We visit with some friends, and head out in the morning for Lee Stocking Island in the Exuma chain. We gave Lee Stocking a miss on the way down due to a great sailing day, so we’re looking forward to visiting it.

On the mend from our latest case of “indecisionitis”