Today is Sunday, February 1, 2009 and we have decided to move on south to Staniel Cay. The winds are still pretty strong, but are beginning to move around to the northeast and east (a promise of normal weather?). Also, this is a sail boat and we are happy to use any available wind—even if we have to put a reef or two in the sails.
If you look at a satellite picture of the Exuma Islands (Google maps or Google Earth), you will see the light blue waters of Exuma Banks to the west of the long string of Exuma Islands and the dark blue seas of the Exuma Sound east of the islands. The light blue banks are generally easy cruising as the water is shallow (7 to 20 feet) and the big ocean swells don’t happen in such shallow water. It usually feels a bit like sailing around in a big swimming pool. The Exuma Sound is not at all like the sounds we know in Carteret County. The Exuma Sound is the deep blue ocean and the big waves/swells can and often do happen there.
Since most of the Exuma Islands can be reached by sailing either the Banks or the Sound side, we chose to head south today on the shallow Exuma Banks side.
As you can see from the pictures, the Exuma “swimming pool” had some heavy winds creating a steady chop. We sailed with both sails reefed in for the first two hours of the trip to Staniel Cay. Then our route turned east to take us back into shore and the wind was directly in front of us. That means it is time to crank up the good ol’ reliable diesel. We prefer quiet and economical sailing to noisy, expensive motoring. In fact, we have only used about 15 gallons of diesel since we arrived in the Bahamas on January 6th! But—that said—it is mighty nice to have the engine when your route goes directly into the wind.
With our bow plowing right into the chop, we spent the next 3 or 4 hours crashing through the salt spray. When we got to Staniel Cay, Caribbean Soul was covered with salt water and so were we! Later as the water evaporated, everything became encrusted with salt crystals. Our salt loving relatives (Nancy & Karen?) would have loved it—salt was everywhere—just lick the back of your hand, the corner of your mouth, or anything!
If you look at a satellite picture of the Exuma Islands (Google maps or Google Earth), you will see the light blue waters of Exuma Banks to the west of the long string of Exuma Islands and the dark blue seas of the Exuma Sound east of the islands. The light blue banks are generally easy cruising as the water is shallow (7 to 20 feet) and the big ocean swells don’t happen in such shallow water. It usually feels a bit like sailing around in a big swimming pool. The Exuma Sound is not at all like the sounds we know in Carteret County. The Exuma Sound is the deep blue ocean and the big waves/swells can and often do happen there.
Since most of the Exuma Islands can be reached by sailing either the Banks or the Sound side, we chose to head south today on the shallow Exuma Banks side.
As you can see from the pictures, the Exuma “swimming pool” had some heavy winds creating a steady chop. We sailed with both sails reefed in for the first two hours of the trip to Staniel Cay. Then our route turned east to take us back into shore and the wind was directly in front of us. That means it is time to crank up the good ol’ reliable diesel. We prefer quiet and economical sailing to noisy, expensive motoring. In fact, we have only used about 15 gallons of diesel since we arrived in the Bahamas on January 6th! But—that said—it is mighty nice to have the engine when your route goes directly into the wind.
With our bow plowing right into the chop, we spent the next 3 or 4 hours crashing through the salt spray. When we got to Staniel Cay, Caribbean Soul was covered with salt water and so were we! Later as the water evaporated, everything became encrusted with salt crystals. Our salt loving relatives (Nancy & Karen?) would have loved it—salt was everywhere—just lick the back of your hand, the corner of your mouth, or anything!
These pictures are of our beautiful and quiet anchorage in Staniel Cay. The first picture is of the limestone grotto that was used in filming the James Bond movie Thunderball. 
We were anchored right across from Club Thunderball which was advertising happy hour specials and a big Super Bowl Party. It seemed like a good thing to do after a busy day of wet sailing, but we really didn’t want to muscle the dinghy and motor into the water (particularly me as I have little or no muscles anyway!) Then—serendipitously – a loud Bahamian voice called on the VHF hailing channel, “Boat rides to Club Thunderball—call on channel 14!” Wow! Such a deal! We called, the water taxi came, and we partied Super Bowl style with beer, pizza, and large screen TVs. Fun but short-lived—we couldn’t make it past half time. We’re usually in bed by dark and sound asleep before all the stars come out. The nice water taxi guy took us home and the Caribbean Soul rocked these two sailors asleep.
excellent heelage. I feel sick looking at these pictures
ReplyDeleteI understant! If you come visit, we'll only sail on flat, calm days--promise.
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