Okay now, with the dinghy and outboard secure, we headed south again. We had hoped to sail but we were into the wind again and needed to motor—boo! We made VHF radio contact with our friends Lynn and Ian Bashaw aboard Windward as we passed the Wardrick Wells part of the Exuma Land and Sea Park. Wow, it’s so exciting to reconnect with fellow sailors! Unfortunately, Lynn and Ian were going to Staniel Cay and we needed to press on south to Little Farmer’s Cay.
The challenge for us was to get as far south as we could, so the next day of travel would be do-able. The route to Elizabeth Harbor and George Town, Exumas requires at least 40 or 50 nautical miles of deep water travel on the eastern side of the Exuma chain. During this past week of heavy wind and squalls, the seas were big with waves around 10 to 12 feet—not exactly my cup of tea! The weather guys were saying that by Saturday, March 10, the seas would be way down to 7feet---still sounds like a lot!
We made it to Little Farmers Cay in about 8 hours, in spite of our restart from Shroud Cay. Again, we were not able to sail, but as the day wore on the sun came out, the wind died down a bit, and the banks-side waves became smoother. John tried fishing, but it seems the fish don’t like to bite while we’re running the motor. At Little Farmers Cay we anchored with several other boats planning to sail down to George Town on Saturday as well. We didn’t go ashore as the dinghy and outboard were already secured for tomorrow’s travel. It was a peaceful night.
At 7:30 AM Saturday, March 10th we were ready to jump out into those 7 foot waves and sail 40 nautical miles south to George Town, Exumas. We motor-sailed out of Little Farmers Cay Cut on a rising tide so that the wind, waves, and current flow were all going the same direction. Capt. John reminded me that if the current in these “cuts” is going against the wind, the sea creates huge breakers called rages—so I’m guessing you don’t need further explanation about why it’s a good idea to avoid that sort of thing! Off we went—not a sign of any rages and those seven foot seas were quite manageable. Apparently, if the wave period (time between wave crests) is long enough the high seas are not bad. And, the wave period at this time was 9 or 10 seconds. Caribbean Soul did her “happy boat” thing where she merrily plows through the dark blue sapphire colored seas! The predicted eastern wind was coming right out of the southeast instead, so we couldn’t sail it without spending the day tacking back and forth which would have added too many hours to our trip. We furled the jib and left the mainsail out to motor-sail directly southeast making the best time possible. It was a full day—about 8 ½ hours
It was a nice passage. The skies were clear, the seas were blue, and we had lots of company. Three sailboats followed us out the cut at Little Farmers and a couple more came out through some other cuts. Caribbean Soul and her very fine Westerbeke diesel took the lead and stayed at the head of the parade the whole day. In addition to all us south bound sailboats, there were herds of north bound boats leaving the George Town area. These north bound boats passed us in groups of 8 to 12 at a time with sails way out and one with a beautiful spinnaker as they all had the wind behind them.
We snacked on granola bars and sipped lemonade all day, as this fair-weather sailor was feeling good and didn’t want to risk sea sickness by messing in the galley below. Capt. John stayed at the wheel and I sat in the cockpit sightseeing all day—nice. We were close enough to shore to see all the little cays along the way. The seas that were quite manageable under our boat were looking pretty fierce when they crashed into the rocky shores—they were putting on quite a show sending huge plumes of water high into the air. Sometimes the crashing waves were bright aqua in color—just beautiful. Then John thought he saw a blow hole along the coast sending geysers of water up like Old Faithful. As he was pointing to where I should look, something big in the sea between our boat and Old Faithful rose up and flipped its tail at us. Wow! It was a whale—honestly a whale! We slowed the engine to watch it play. It was about 25 or 30 feet long—almost the size of our boat—and seemed to be having a great time surfacing and doing its own imitation of Old Faithful.
By 3:45 PM we were entering Elizabeth Harbor which is where George Town and 250 sailboats are located. The seas turned from sapphire blue to a vibrant aqua. It’s hard to get the camera to take a good picture of this water. It seems that all the auto adjust things can’t deal with the intensity and vibrancy of this water color. That said, here are some pictures that come close to letting you see Elizabeth Harbor.
Our next challenge was to go ashore to find an internet connection for a Skype call home, pick up the mail, and get gas for the dinghy and fresh water for us. But it was getting late and we were starving (granola bars will only take you so far!). We anchored on the east side of the harbor near Volleyball Beach. George Town would be a 20 minute dinghy ride over to the west side of the harbor. So we decided to put that off until tomorrow and head into Volleyball Beach for cheeseburgers at the Chat in’ Chill (one of our favorite beach bar and grills). In hardly no time at all, we had the dinghy back in the water and the outboard mounted on her stern (guess all that practice makes us faster). In three minutes we were walking on the soft sands of Volleyball Beach---the first time we’ve been ashore since Chub Cay a week and a half ago! Chat in’ Chill did not disappoint us—great cheese burgers and chilly Kalik beers—ahh!
Tomorrow we’ll look for internet and such in George Town.
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