A reader wrote in this month with what I considered a very good question.  He was reading my description of Bakers Bay on the Northwest end of Guana Cay, hoping to spend the night there on an anchor.  His question was why I considered it only a day anchorage. He went on to seek further clarification as to what, in my guide, I consider an “overnight anchorage” and why.  Here I have tried to clarify the point.

First of all Bakers Bay is a great spot, and a nice anchorage.  It would certainly be fine as an overnight weather in prevailing SE winds.  The beauty and ambiance of the nearby beach and reef certainly makes it an attractive stop.

For the purposes of the book, I have mentioned several very nice anchorages, which I do not recommend as an overnight stop.  In several cases, these are spots where I would be perfectly content in the southern Bahamas or the Caribbean.  There, the prevailing winds are more consistently out of the SE, so we use a lot of anchorages which have little or no protection from the SW W or NW--one simply doesn't need it (in most cases).

In SETTLED weather you can anchor almost anywhere.  Sometimes crossing the Great Bahama Bank or the Caicos Bank, because it is such a long trip, sail boats will anchor right out in the middle of the bank with no protection in any direction!  This is fine in settled weather.

The problem is in Abaco, cold fronts roll in with a fair regularity, even as late as mid April.  Getting good forecasts about their arrival can be tricky, particularly by VHF.  That means tricky in a couple of ways.  Depending upon the installation, you may or may not be able to receive the US weather stations (West Palm Beach or Miami) on Marine VHF in Abaco.  Even if you get the forecast, sometimes they’re off as to whether the front will stall or not, or when it will arrive.  My experience, which I shared on page 17, was one of those occasions.

The reason I was "surprised" by the front, was because I had checked my weather, and that front was forecast to stall out in Georgia--but it did not.  Space limitations did not permit me to go into that much detail--besides I didn't think it a good idea to blame my predicament on poor weather forecasting!   After all, no matter what happens, it's ultimately the captains responsibility--and that includes making an accurate assessment of the weather from whatever sources are available. 

Now back to what happens in one of these open anchorages, when a cold front passes, look at page 196 Powell Cay, starting with the second paragraph, "Wilensky once came into..."

The strong SW wind he encountered arriving at Powell Cay could have alerted him that a cold front was probably on it's way.  In my section on "The Winter Pattern" page 63, I implied this; but on the re-read, perhaps could have said it more implicitly.  When I said the cold front comes in with a west to NW gale, and a wind shift.  I'm assuming the reader understands that this is a 90° clock-wise shift in the wind!  Meaning that one should be wary of a strong south or southwest wind, as potentially being the first sign of an advancing cold front.  Now Wilensky was an experienced sailor, with a strong and experienced crew when he got caught in this situation, and they managed just fine.  A family crew, with limited experience, might have had an entirely different outcome.  At the very best, it could have given a family crew second thoughts about sailing vacations in the future.

I can’t make every reader into an amateur meteorologist.  In the book, I simply recommended these open anchorages as day anchorages, based upon protection; and based to some extent upon the proximity of better anchorages.

You will notice, in my description of Powell Cay I went on to say that I've spent many nights there!  But only after a careful assessment of the weather.  The same thing could be said about Bakers Bay.  If you think there is an approaching cold front, you'd find much better protection in the marina over at Treasure Cay; or slightly better protection down in the main harbor at Guana. 

The bottom line is almost anywhere will make a good anchorage in settled weather. Where I don't recommend a place as an overnight stop, I'm thinking about that unanticipated cold front.

There is one other thing about Bakers Bay that may for a different reason make it less than desirable for an overnight stop.  Because of it's proximity to the ocean pass, you may get a bit of surge coming around the end of the island, making for an unpleasant roll. 

I hope this discussion has helped clarify this situation.  Don't let all this talk about fronts and weather worry you or cause you to approach your trip with trepidation.  Just be flexible and pick your anchorages based upon the weather you find and expect.  Be cautious of a itinerary which locks you into say spending Tuesday night at Bakers Bay, or any other anchorage for that matter.

In summary, Bakers Bay makes a great stop.  It offers great snorkeling nearby and a lovely beach as well.