May 1-3, 2009, Ocean World Marina, Dominican Republic – George Town, Bahamas
The navy clears us out from Ocean World
Calico Paws leaves Ocean World
We expect the navy representative to give us our clearance, collect his 20 dollar fee, and see us off at 6.00 am. The alarm goes off at 5.30 am (unusual for us these days) and we get up in half light and scurry around to be ready when he comes. There are four boats leaving the marina, all at the same time, since we all have been waiting for the stormy weather to subside. The navy representatives (there are two) come late, and we are the last boat they release. We wave good bye to our friends Hans and Ursula, and who leave just before us, and we clear the breakwater at 7.15. We are uncertain of what kind of conditions we will meet, so we have entered four alternative routes into the navigation system. Each starts with the same first leg, but terminate at a different point along the way. We can go to Provinciales in the Turks and Caicos, or Mayaguana, Calabash Bay on Long Island or George Town on Great Exuma, all in the Bahamas. The wind is very light at the start and the exit from the marina very lumpy, but at about 8.00 the wind fills in at about 18 knots on the beam. It is apparent that we are getting a current boost since we are able to average about 8.5 knots over the bottom for 6 hours. The speed slacks off to the high sevens, and we continue to be quite comfortable. Beginning in the afternoon we trade 3 hour watches for most of the rest of the trip. If we are to go to Turks and Caicos we have to turn right just before West Caicos and go toward Provo over Caicos Bank. You only do this in daylight with reasonable visibility as there are a large number of coral heads along the way. We arrive at the turnoff at 2.00 a.m., far earlier than expected, so the decision to bypass T&C is easy. We round West Caicos and alter course by a few degrees towards Mayaguana. Around 6.00 a.m. we decide that we are going so well and are so comfortable that we will bypass Mayaguana and keep going. We fall off to a broad reach until we round Plana Cays at about 2.00 p.m. We get our first sight of the incredible, almost luminescent Bahamas color on the shallow water around the Cays. We harden up to clear North East Point on Acklin’s Island about 12 miles away, then it is a beam reach towards Cape Saint Maria on Long Island. We see no other sailboats on the entire trip, but a couple of motor boats and several freighters -- one every few hours. At the 8.00 pm watch change Larry notices some big dark clouds building up behind us. He turns on the radar, and sure enough they are full of rain. It appears to be one big line of squalls, with clear weather behind. We cannot avoid them, so as they approach, we shorten sail a little and wait -- Larry on deck in foul weather gear (first time this winter) and Elisabeth down below. There are only a few extra knots of wind in the squall, but Singoalla gets a much needed fresh water bath and emerges ¾ of an hour later salt free. The skies clear and we continue at good speed until we jibe around Cape Santa Maria at about 7.30 am. We see half a dozen sailboats leaving Calabash Bay and heading north. We presume that this is part of the giant spring exodus of the George Town live aboards who have spent a last night in the area outside of the reef strewn George Town harbor so they can get an early morning start. We think it is too early to stop. The wind has died down, and we broad reach slowly the last 25 miles to the tricky channels of the south east entrance to George Town. We drop sails before the channels and we motor at about 3 knots on several different legs, following the directions of the cruising guide. We are greeted by a small pod of dolphins who tire of us all too soon -- it is no fun playing with a boat going so slowly. As we prepare to anchor off Gaviota Bay on Stocking island we see and greet David Schramm on Jenny, whom we had last seen in Samana. We agree to get together for cocktails and anchor nearby. We enjoy a very pleasant hour on Jenny, catching up and are asleep within minutes of returning to Singoalla.
May 4, 2009, George Town
Houseboats for live-aboards in George Town
Volleyball Beach
Terry and Limon join us for cocktails
The happy hostess
The customs office was closed when we arrived yesterday, Sunday, so we flew the quarantine flag and did not go ashore. Soon after breakfast today David comes by in his dinghy to say he is going into customs and to load up on water. We decide to go in too, so we put the motor on the dinghy and head the two miles across the harbor, look for and find the narrow dinghy cut into Lakd Victoria, and tie up at the dinghy dock just as David is finishing filling his water jugs. Here the harbor is too shallow to bring in the “mother ship”, but you can load up your portable containers free. We walk together to the customs office. Clearing in is reasonably straightforward, but the fee is $300. For this you get a one year cruising permit with one exit and reentry permitted if it is within 90 days. You also get a fishing permit. The good news is that we will not have to clear out. We just have to mail a form back to them from our next port of call. We walk the quarter mile or so to the Immigration office where we fill out some more forms and get our passports stamped. Finally we go shopping at the Exuma Market, a surprisingly well stocked grocery store, then return to our boats. After stowing the groceries we take the dinghy to the St. Francis Resort for lunch – pretty good pizza – and to buy tickets good for 80 minutes access to their wifi network. At lunch we meet Terry and Limon Potts who are from Portland, Oregon and whose boat, Sans Cles, is anchored just in front of us. We invite them for cocktails at 5:00. We tour the coves in Gaviota Bay and return to Singoalla. When David and the Potts join us for cocktails we have a lively discussion about healthcare in the U.S., but more importantly to us, exchange information about routes to follow and places to see. When our guests leave we decide that our hors d’ouevres make a wonderful dinner and go to bed almost immediately.
May 5, 2009, George Town -- Rudder Cut Cay
George Town
Singoalla Departs George Town
Rudder Cut Cay
Sunset at Rudder Cut Cay
We have a dilemma. The southwest entrance to George Town Harbor is relatively deep, but adds 10 miles to today’s sail, compared to the northeast entrance. Limon Potts from Sans Cles has given us the way points for the optimum route out from the Wavey Line Charts, the best and most current charts for this area. If we leave above ½ tide we should be able to make it out the north west route. The shallowest spot is fairly near our anchorage, so if we leave by about 8.00am we will be past it before the tide falls enough to make the choice of route questionable. So we raise anchor, swing by Sans Cles and Jenny to say good bye and head north west. We make it out without any problem. The depth sounder never shows less than 8 feet of water below the keel. Once outside in the Exuma Sound we roll out the genoa. The wind is very light but far enough north of east that we are on a very close reach and manage to sail around six knots all the way to Rudder Cut, about 30 miles. We drop the sails and follow the guide book’s directions through Rudder Cut to the anchorage behind Rudder Cut Cay. You have to time your entrances so you have the sun behind you-if not you cannot see the shallow spots or coral heads. We anchor when the water begins to get too shallow, and enjoy a quiet evening in incredibly clear water with only three other boats in sight. Elisabeth goes for her daily evening swim and prepares a marvelous shrimp dish, inspired by a dinner on Splendido with Michael and Jeremy in Fort de France. In a new first, made possible by our moving north and the advancing of the season, we have dinner in day light in the cockpit and are treated to a spectacular sunset.
May 6, 2009 Rudder Cut Cay- Cambridge Cay
Tide Rips at Rudder Cut
Spinnaker sailing is hard work
Last night we had good visibility coming in through Rudder Cut, so we were able to avoid potential coral heads easily. This morning we have to go out the same cut into the morning sun, so visibility is nil. Fortunately the GPS has a track of where we went yesterday, so when we leave at 8.00 am we are able to follow yesterdays “bread crumbs” and emerge into Exuma Sound unscathed. Today the wind is again very light, but coming from about 80 degrees, just aft of the beam. We have trouble maintaining 4 knots with the genoa so we decide to set the spinnaker. The difference is amazing. We over trim the spinnaker slightly so we do not have to tend it constantly and sail at 6-6.5 knots for several hours, Otto (our autopilot) steers and Elisabeth and Larry read. Unbelievable comfort. The wind dies off some and the last 8 miles are made at about 5 knots. We drop sails at Bell Cut and get ready to go through the narrow cut to anchor behind Cambridge Cay. The tide is flooding and there is a very strong current through the cut. It is across our path into the anchorage, and Larry makes probably the biggest mistake of his sailing life. He sails the prescribed compass course but fails to realize that he is being swept sideways at a great rate by the very strong current. Suddenly the water is turbulent all around us and it is apparent that we are in among a mass of coal heads. Larry becomes disoriented because we are not where he expects to be and then - BANG - we strike coral. Singoalla shudders, stops, then bounces over the head. But – which way to go? Coral heads all around us! How do we get out of here? We finally figure out where we need to be, but in the process of getting there we strike 3 more times. Fortunately we are going slowly and though noisy none of the bumps are serious. We are much relieved when we regain deeper water, find the route we should have been on, and pick up the first available mooring. This is the Bahamas Sea and Land Park and moorings are provided to protect the coral. We are incredibly shaken and thankful that we escaped what could have been a major disaster. Elisabeth dives down to inspect the keel, and reports that the damage is minor - a few dents in the keel that can easily be repaired. But we are shaken and thankful that we made it without more serious damage. A dinner of grilled pork chops and copious amount of wine make us feel better.
No comments:
Post a Comment