On July 21th we crossed from Eluthera to the Exumas. Unlike the crossing from the Abacos to Eluthera, the Eluthera to Exuma run is along the shallow Bahamas bank. The depths average around 10 feet and the transit must be made in daylight hours to avoid the random scattering of coral heads. Beacon Cay (pictured above) and its automated light serve as a waypoint and welcome mat to the Exuma Isles. In years past the light required two light keepers live on this chunk of limestone.
Mid crossing we caught a 3 foot barracuda. The fish proved to be fun to fight, challenging to land, intimidating to remove the hook, and no good to eat. After we struggled to remove the hook from the toothy maw, we chose to cease fishing along the bank for fear of hooking more barracuda. More seasoned sailors have told us not to troll above 5 knots or we will catch nothing but barracuda.
All systems seem to be working well and our plan continues to be southward to the Dominican Republic. Now, if we could just have some north winds.