SAILING FINALLY
We hoisted the anchor early today and by 8:00 am we were on our way. Georgetown is known locally as the Velcro harbor. It feels good to tear apart the velcro and break ourselves loose from Georgetown. After 27 days it’d time. When we left the anchorage at Kidd Cove we weren’t entirely sure where we would end up tonight. We had a plan and an extension of that plan. As it was, we had a pretty good sail considering our course was northwest and the wind was from the north-northeast. We had just enough of a cut on the wind to keep our main sail and jib filled to power the boat rather than just steady it. We did keep the motor running, at first to charge the batteries but then to keep up our speed and stay in sight of Wyvern. It’s good to have a sailing buddy. About 11:00 am when we were near the Rat Cay cut, our first planned destination, we got on the radio and discussed the possibility of continuing on a little farther before we got off of the deep waters of Exuma Sound and onto the calmer shallow waters of the Bahama Bank. Though conditions weren’t ideal, we felt we would like to make a little more forward progress so we don’t had to sail back out into deep water again tomorrow, so we continued northward.
We sailed on another 3 hours and entered Rudder Cay Cut. It was a good decision. The wind was favorable to the current and it was an easy exit off the Exuma Sound. Now that we are again on the western side of the Exuma Chain, the waters are calmer, flatter, shallow and crystalline turquoise. Charlie, not one to let us miss anything immediately dropped his dinghy into the water, called us on the radio and invited us to take a tour of the shoreline of Rudder Cay. At low tide the shoreline is rocky and jagged. (It is at high tide too, but it’s more dramatic at low tide.) We walked a beach and up a rocky road to the site of a house which had now been abandoned and flattened.
The house was a local landmark, so that was disappointing. On the beach, Charlie found two nice net floats, so his trip was worthwhile. Next we motored down the shoreline and poked our heads into a pretty cave. Our phones and cameras were all out of batteries, so sorry no visuals here. Down the shoreline a bit, we stopped at another white sandy beach but didn’t find any further treasures.
Back on board Caprice we realized we were pretty tired. A six hour sail close enough into the wind to make the boat heel, and just enough waves to make it difficult to move about causes these two tired old sailors to be ready for their bunks early. We also remembered we’d had a tiny breakfast and no lunch, so we fixed a light dinner. This evening, we will watch the sunset and plan for more adventures in this lovely chain of islands tomorrow.