Whale Cut and Green Turtle Cay

After hearing horror stories about how bad the Whale Cut can be, listening to daily reports for the last couple of weeks while we've been in the Abacos, we decided that today was the day for us to go through.
'The Whale' as it is known, is a small island which any boat with draft deeper than about 3' must go around on the ocean side. The trip on the ocean is only about 2 miles, but it is ocean nonetheless and that requires going through a cut to get out, and a cut to get back in. The cuts are often the worst part of these trips, as current opposing wind can make for nasty wave conditions, and in these parts, usually both sides of the deep water are flanked by reefs, over which ocean swells crash making it all very dramatic! In actuality, the worst part of our trip was getting to the ocean. Leaving Treasure Cay, we had to point directly into the wind, slowed by the waves at our bow. As we were headed upwind, we couldn't put up a sail which at least offers some stability in rough seas. We were about an hour and a half getting to the outbound cut, and during this time heard reports from other boats headed through that the conditions were pretty good. Once we were on the ocean, we could turn north, put up a sail, and we not only picked up considerable speed (at one point we saw 7.8 knots, which is unheard of for us), but our ride smoothed out to something quite pleasant. Our ETA for the waypoint where we turned back in was only 22 minutes. Too bad, after all our suffering to get here. Very soon we were back on the bank in the northern Sea of Abaco, and were able to turn off the engine to enjoy a quiet afternoon.
Green Turtle Cay was our destination, and we radioed ahead to see if there was room, and if our 6' draft would allow us to enter their channel. No problem getting a dock for you, but it might be 'a bit skinny' on the way in. We decided to give it a try, though we knew it was risky, as we were on a falling tide. If we did run aground, we'd have to be quick about getting off the bottom, or we'd be stuck, leaning to one side, until next high tide 6 hours later. We slowly nosed into the channel, and with only a few tense moments with less than 6" under our keel, we made it through!
We were greeted at the dock by a smiling dockhand "you made it!".
And so glad we did. The Green Turtle Club offers a great dockage deal: whatever you spend at their restaurant or bar, that amount is considered a credit toward your dockage fee. So we were able to enjoy a great dinner out, very likely our last in the Bahamas, as we head out Wednesday, making our way across the northern Abacos, hoping to cross to Florida on Saturday.