Having left Eluethera behind we made the 4 hour trip across to Little San Salvador Cay. This tiny oasis of the southeastern tip of Eluethera is it’s own little piece of heaven. The anchorage is on the Northwest side in Half Moon Bay. This anchorage, in addition to providing excellent protection from the prevailing easterlies, is the home to a resort. This is not just any resort though. It is owned by Holland America Cruise Lines. Every day around 8:00am a different ship pulls in and drops anchor. They ferry their passengers ashore (those that wish to) for a day at the beach. There is a main mall area which has an outdoor market for trinkets and souvenirs, restaurants, beach cabanas for rent (some with hot tubs) nature walks, a water park, and horseback riding just to name a few things. Once the cruise ships leaves (no later than 4:00 but at 2:30 the day we got there) you have the place to yourself. We went in to explore and were very impressed with the facilities. For the information of cruisers following us, the private cabanas with the hot tubs leave the tubs running all night and the showers as well. There are no staff there after hours. Just sayin’!
We departed Half Moon Bay the following morning for Cat Island. We had originally planned a few days on Cat but our friends Graham and Fi from SV Kairos were in New Bight in the southern part of Cat Island so we opted for the 40 mile day to meet up with them for a meal. It was a tough sail down beating into the wind all day which was not what the forecast had called for but after 8 hours we finally made it. We had decided to have a fish fry and we brought Mahi Mahi while Dave and Corrine brought Wahoo. Graeme tried to get some lobsters but they ended up providing a delicious salad instead and hosted us all on their Catamaran. It was great to see old friends again. We had originally met them in Long Island Sound at Port Washington back in August and this could well be the last time we see them. They are headed to Spanish Wells to get some bottom work done and we are headed south. They plan to sail to Cuba for a month and then head back up to Florida, then Bermuda and finish the year with a transatlantic crossing where they will reposition to the Mediterranean to be closer to family. We have an open invitation to join them in the Med anytime we want and they also have one to come join us if they miss the Caribbean. We will miss them for sure.
The next day we did some sightseeing which included a hike up the tallest mountain in the Bahamas. We hiked up and up until we could almost touch the clouds. It felt like we had reached the summit of Everest. Okay not quite. The “mountain” was only 221 ft with a monastery on the top. Great view of our boats but total time up and back down was about 45 minutes and that included the rest stop at the top. That not being enough exercise we decided to walk into town and have a look around. New Bight is very spread out but everyone is very friendly. From the anchorage it is about a 20 minute walk to the grocery store but you can easily hitch hike. The locals are very friendly in this part of the Bahamas.
With another front pushing in Graeme and Fi decided to leave early and reposition 20 miles up the coast so that they could make the run to Little San Salvador with a better wind. We stayed put with plans to leave the following morning. About 4 hours later Graeme called to let us know there was a squall headed towards us. We could see the dark clouds but assumed just rain. Within 15 minutes the temperature dropped about 10 degrees and the winds picked up to 25 kts. This wasn’t as bad as Graeme reported they had been hit by 50kt winds with gusts to 60kt. The main part of the squall passed east of us and we just got the edge.
The next morning we set out for Long Island. Right after we left we got hit with another squall before we rounded the point to head south. The rest of the trip had us in scattered rain showers but no more big winds. We sailed down to Long Island with 25 – 30 kts on the port quarter and averaged 7 kts the entire way. A good 42 mile run and we anchored behind Cape Santa Maria at a resort owned by a Canadian from Alberta. The next morning we got up to head to Clarence Town on the western side of Long Island but ran into 14 ft seas and 30 kts of wind. After an hour and a half we decided that there was no rush so we turned around and went back to our anchorage. The 90 minute trip out was only a 20 minute trip back with those winds and seas. We are now safely tucked in at the resort anchorage and waiting for a weather window.
Trivia time. What is the difference between an Island and a Cay (pronounced key)? Simply put, Islands have their own natural source of fresh water, Cays do not.