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There's something I failed to mention in the Green Cay stormy night episode.

Our dinghy, small and light, was brought aboard before the storm hit. Heide's dinghy was too large to be so protected. Marv's only means of protection was to tether the dinghy on a long leash (painter) behind the Heide. Apparently sometime during the night, the combination of current and surge maneuvered the dinghy up close and it managed to get underneath the Heide's swim platform. Understand that to clear the dinghy's bow rail, the platform had to be at least 4 or 5 feet out of the water. When the platform came back down it pushed the dinghy's bow under water, smashed the bow rail, and wrecked Heide's teak swim platform. The dinghy, having floatation, did not sink or overturn, but altogether the damages added up to several thousand dollars.

A few hours after leaving Green Cay, the weather began to settle. We turned back toward the Exumas and began crossing the banks in a new and unfamiliar region. The charts indicated that there weren't many coral heads to be worried about on this course. As we cruised, we passed several very large, abandoned towers. A little research and it was determined that the US Navy used to traverse this section of the banks using the Decca light range. The range and station on Pipe Cay were closed down sometime in the 70s. Later, we would stay at the abandoned Decca station, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Returning to Big Major Cay, we assessed the damage from the previous night and licked our wounds. Francesca survived with only jumbled cupboards, refrigerator, etc. No real damage. Outside of the dinghy problem, Heide had only similar upset.

The storm had hit the Big Major area, but boats there only had to contend with wind and sea off of the banks. We heard of a few boats dragging anchor, but no damage.

For the next few days, Marv and I explored further north by dinghy. We had heard that the abandoned Decca station, on uninhabited Pipe Cay, had a nice little protected harbor with a concrete dock and anyone could go there. A trip there by dinghy offered an almost unbelievable sight. Here was a man-made harbor about 200' by 200' with tie ups, ramp and metal buildings and not a soul or boat around. The concrete dock area was protected from all but westerly winds. After at least a nanosecond, we made the decision to move the big boats there and use it for a base for further dinghy exploration.