April 20-23, 2021 Pipe Creek

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The anchor has stayed down these last few days.  We are in a beautiful spot completely protected from wind and swell.  

 The afternoons get a bit warm. What a delicious problem to have in April!  We find ourselves staying out of the afternoon sun and trying to stay cool in the light to slight wind. 

Yesterday we took a short dinghy ride to a spectacular coral reef nearby, then walked a sand bar that emerges when the tide is low. Today we discovered coral reefs and an impressive underwater drop off full of fish no more than 100 feet from the sandy spot our anchor sits in.  

Italian ice has become a late afternoon ritual.  Lois has perfected lemon and lime flavors.  Today peach and orange will be trialed and evaluated. (Verdict on orange: Meh. Too sweet.)

April 23
It's moving day. Anchor up 8:30 and heading out the cut on the shallow bank side.  It was another glorious sailing day.  The wind was 2x the forecast, peaking at 19kts, so we did take a reef early, but it didn't slow us down.  We wanted to end up around Shroud Cay to be ready to run for Rose Island then the Berrys on Saturday.  

There was not a lot of enthusiasm for Shroud Cay since it was crowded & noisy last time we were there, and a glance told us it was still crowded.   A few more miles and we ended up off Normans Cay.

We couldn't help but notice two rather distinctive ships along the crowd. Infinity
And it's support ship, Intrepid, complete with 3 tenders and a helicopter.  Wow- floating money!  Rumor has it Bill Gates is in the Exumas...?

The wind stayed strong until around 3AM, and Norman's Cay was very rolly.  Not too interesting to look at either, even if there were fireworks off the point at midnight.

April 24
Up at 6:30, under sail by 7:30, let's go back to the Berrys.

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