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Francesca suffered without stabilizers rolling so badly that we had to tack to avoid serious consequences. Marv said that he was able to see the keel of our boat on several ocassions and was concerned that we might broach. Maggie was sliding from one side of the fly bridge to the other, but finally wedged herself in between things to stay put. She took it in stride and didn't seem overly concerned.

Arrival at Allans Cay was a relief as it was fully protected with small islands ringing the anchorage. There were about 15 other boats there, but the anchorage would easily hold 25 or more. Current runs pretty good through the anchorage, but holding was excellent with deep sand on the bottom. After setting the hook, Joan and I checked all of the compartments for gear that might have come loose. No real damage though.

Allans Cay is a santuary for iguanas and there are plenty of them. When you dinghy to the beaches, they scurry out of the bush to greet you with expectations of a free meal. Some of them are so large and agressive that you take pause before attempting hand feeding. Allans is frequented by local conch fisherman and there was a boat heavily laden with conchs. Sometimes you see these boats so loaded down that there is little freeboard. This particular boat was also drying fish on the deck and it was really memorable if you were unfortunate enough to get downwind of it. I guess the crew was used to it, but I suspect that their heavy drinking was helpful in tolerating the stench.

The local fisherman were also responsible for leaving some of the beach areas cluttered with tin cans, conch shells, and various debris. It was the only place in the Exumas where we saw this type of disregard and clutter. Most of the places were exceptionally clean with only the ocassional driftwood and flotsom.

One night, there was a bit of a blow. Joan and I took turns at anchor watch. On Joan's watch, one of the power boats broke loose and went careening through the anchorage. It hit one sail boat which then broke loose and the two of them ran into another sail boat. In the dark, trying to straighten out anchors (whose is whose), miminize damage and avoid running aground or other boats can be pretty darn exciting even if you aren't involved. Every boat in the anchorage maintained high alert the rest of the night. I slept through the incident.