It was not easy to leave Georgetown….
yes, It was tempting to stay another week for the 57th annual Family Regatta, a week of festivities centered around the racing of small wooden sailboats owned and sailed by local Bahamians who converge here each year... It sounds like a great week, but my time has come to start me long trek back toward Georgia...
After filling my water tanks, and final groceries, I buddy boated along the sailing vessel, Rachel, with friends Mark and Julie... They were actually a mile ahead of me the whole way, but it nice to be in radio contact with someone “out there” when you are a single hander like me.
It turned out to only be a 44 mile sail north with a following tail wind the whole way... I used the whisker pole to keep my genoa sail stretched out to port while the main sail was filled to starboard in downwind configuration known as wing and wing... It was a leisure day for the most part.
heres a pic of a catamaran on my stern with his spinnaker sail up just before he passed me... Cats are known to be fast, level, and comfortable... and rather pricy.
My route plan to enter Little Farmer cut at slack tide proved to be wise, as I flew through the narrow channel making a cool 6 knots... Then I found my self on the “inside” of the island as I made my way to this great anchorage just 8 miles shy of Black Point... Along the way, I passed a Hunter 50 footer who appeared to be anchored right smack dab in the center of the narrow channel.... But then it struck me... he was not anchored, he was aground... there was not much I could offer, so I just gave a friendly wave as I passed his stern less than a 100’ feet away.... been there, done that... thank God for shallow drafts like mine.
It's one thing to run aground at low tide because you can always wait it out and get yourself free once the tide rises.. But if you run aground at high tide like this guy was... Well you're pretty much screwed... He could still be there for all I know
These shadow images of the main sail made me think of the Cat Stephen song, Moonshadow... but I changed it to “I’m being followed by a MAIN shadow”
I dropped the hook at 5 pm at a little protected area called Issac Bay... ahh.... peace, tranquility, and a light breeze out of the south... the journey north has begun.... How bout some dinner now?
Tomorrow I will chop off about 45 miles to Shroud Cay, the last island in the Exuma National Park… I could probably make more miles in a day, but why work so hard?
Here I am getting my final gerry cans full of R.O. Water (reverse osmosis)…. i'm ready for the next leg… bring it ON!
My plans are to head north back to Exuma Park, over to Eluthra, across to the chain of Abacos Islands and then cross the gulf stream and land at Ft. Pierce, Florida… One could linger in the Abacos I am told, so we'll see how it all unfolds… I just love a good mystery.
This is the public water source... What a welcome site it is...
Everybody fills up their Gerry cans here and lugs them back to the dink, then across the harbor, then up on the boat deck, then into the boats water tanks, then out of the facet into my kettle for coffee or whatever you choose... black point is one of the few communities that offers both free water and trash receiving.... Since their whole village economy relies on transient cruisers, it's little things like this that keeps us coming back, eating in their cafés, buying groceries, buying fresh baked bread from Lorraine's grandmother, and making friends with little guys like Keshan below
Bye Bye Mr. Joe… Will you ever come back…?
Joe, Are those 'groupies' from your Black Point singing gig?
ReplyDeleteDuane and June
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