Goodby Jumentos
12 February 2007 | Thompson Bay, Long Island, Bahamas
Jim Lea
Here is a photo of one of the better navigation marks in the Bahamas.
Yesterday's weather forecast confirmed that it was time to start back to more protected waters, so we set out to sail up to Water Cay, where we had spent our first night in the Jumentos. We decided to sail outside in the deeper water, for no reason. It was about two miles shorter, but required sailing through two cuts. The wind had sprung up to a fresh 18-20 knots, and we had to motor out Nurse Cut dead to windward, which took a while, but once out, we were able to lay off on to a close reach. With two reefs in the main and the jib also well reefed, we averaged 7 knots, so were pleased. Mid way up the leg, Jeannie was caught unawares by a larger than usual wave (the waves were running 5'-7') and was tossed across the cockpit and landed on her knee giving it a very painful bruise. But a quick application of ice seemed to prevent any swelling, and she was able to put weight on it later in the day. Arriving at Water Cay, we met two boats just entering behind us who had left Buena Vista Cay at the same time as we did, but sailed up inside the cays on the protected bank side. Talking with them later, they described the trip as like being in a washing machine. In the more shallow water, they had smaller, but steeper and quicker seas, so I guess we made the right choice. We were at Water Cay by mid-afternoon, so, after anchoring in a nice protected cove, we launched the dinghy and motored down the shore to a small beach where we landed and did some beach combing. Then back to the boat, dinner and to bed. During the night, we had one squall after another, with torrential rains, some thunder, a little lightening, but no major winds to speak of, so although a bit noisy, we got all the previous day's salt washer off the boat. Today we sailed from Water Cay to Thompson. Due to the shallow channel about half way through (the total distance is about 45 miles), we decided to delay our departure until 9:00 am to time our passage through Comer Channel with high water. So we set out with a forecast for fresh following winds, and motored out into a calm wind but rolly sea! When the wind did come up, it was not following (from the south-east) but on our nose! So we got the opportunity to charge the batteries and run the watermaker. The watermaker uses enough electricity that we have to run either the engine or the generator while it is running. And Thompson Bay has a fine silt in the water that plugs the filters, so we wanted to run it today to top off the tanks, anyway, but an hour of the generator and a nice sail (as the forecast had promised) would have been nicer. But as we got further onto the bank, the swell subsided and the wind did begin to veer, so we were sailing at last for the last half. Into Thompson Bay just at dusk, we dropped anchor and turned our thoughts to dinner, Spagetti Bolognese with a nice Chianti to accompany it! From here will depend on the weather, and today's forecast was off, so we will wait for tomorrow and see what that brings.