WOW!
22 March 2012 | Albuquerque Cays, Columbia, SA
Mark
Wednesday, March 21. It was a great night. The wind built slowly until by dawn we had double reefs in the main and about 1/3 of gennie not because the wind was too strong, but because we wanted to slow down to arrive mid-day. The stars were phenomenal. The Southern Cross was high in the sky and rotated through the night, its tail always pointing to the non-existent South pole star just like the big dipper (which we could also see) rotates about the North pole star (which was below the horizon). At about 0300 there was a meteor shower. One even appeared to curve and change course as it passed the Southern Cross. Even with our sails reefed down, we were making 6-7 kts in ~ 15 kts of true wind on a close reach these cats do love to reach! Salida and we changed places through the night with them appearing to the East and South of us by morning. Instead of reefing so much they had just sailed tighter to the wind (and thus more East) to slow down and and were heading back West (and thus down wind and slower) by morning. We arrived at the Albuquerque Cays nearly together. I first saw land at about 0730. Two small rounded bumps on the horizon and one ragged bump quite a ways to the West, but still East of our way point on the SW corner of the atoll. As we got closer it became obvious that the ragged bump was not an island, but a warship. Hmmm, maybe we'll swing a bit wide of that point. The Albuquerque Cays atoll covers an area of several square miles, but except for the two islands on the SE corner, nothing breaks the surface or really gives an indication of the depths which rise from off soundings to 30' in several boat lengths. What a shock early explorers must have had! We had good charts and way points from previous cruisers so entered without difficulty. Salida chose to go first and I let her. Once we were into the lagoon, it was easy to see where the water was 50' and where it was 6'. We followed the waypoints and also eyeballed it in too the center and up to the islands. At one point we saw a large motor launch filled with soldiers that we thought might be approaching us, but they turned and disappeared behind as we kept our attention forward to avoid errant coral heads. Off the Northern end of the Northern most island there stretched a beautiful patch of white sand that might have had 8 or 8' of water over it. We approached very slowly and watched the depth jump from 25' to 6' in a boat length. Larry always says that Six feet is good water. (He is from the Gulf coast of Florida.) But when it jumps up that quickly, I get nervous so we dropped the anchor right there in the sand and backed out to deeper water. As we drifted back, Deb noticed that the chain was going off at an angle and, sure enough, when we went back and picked it up, it had snagged a coral head. Since it never had tension on it, it came up easily and then I backed carefully straight back form our anchor as we laid the chain. It set well and we let out more chain, the kellet and the bridle. If we were to drag, the anchor would quickly be in 25' of water, so we set up for that possibility. When we swam the anchor, the first thing we noticed was the incredibly beautiful coral right below the boat. We then swam up to the shelf and it turned out to be ~8' deep and extended at that depth for quite a ways. We probably could get the boat all the way on to the shelf. (Maybe tomorrow.) After lunch and a nap, we took the dinghy exploring. There were three tiny atolls within easy distance of where we anchored. Each went from ~30' up to 6' or less with sandy centers and coral surrounding. We anchored dink in the closest one and went snorkeling. Unbelievable! Very healthy coral, lots of reef fish and crystal clear water. This is definitely hookah territory-the walls are fantastic and spread out across the bottom in fingers at ~30' in pure white sand. The others were the same. Tomorrow we dig out the hookah and set it up. Craig and Liz from Salida are certified divers as well and we will offer them to use it too. The launch that had left full of men returned with only two and ignored us. Then we saw that the warship was gone. Probably this was the changing of the guard with new soldiers dropped off and the old ones relieved. Generally the guards here welcome cruisers. You cannot officialy clear in to Columbia here, but as long as you have a Zarpe to San Andres, they welcome you to stay a bit and enjoy the atoll (You cannot go on the military island, but the other island is for fishermen and I believe we can go ashore there.) We had heard that the Commandant in charge a few days ago was not welcoming at all so hopefully it WAS a change and the new ones will be more usual. We will find out tomorrow. We invited Craig & Liz over for sundowners and chicken wings. It was a typical Belizean sunset, i.e. no sunset as a cloud bank covers the horizon, but we had a good time and got to know Craig & Liz better. An early bed to catch up on sleep and a peaceful night in very tranquil waters with a nice Caribbean breeze to cool things off.