After spending a day in Staniel Cay catching up on things and getting a few groceries it was time to head back to Black Point for the mandatory laundry run. The anchorage conditions were more favourable this time around so we spent an extra day beach combing with friends before moving on. Although we had managed to find a few things in Staniel Cay we really needed to get to a good size grocery store but didn't want to go to Georgetown. We weighed our options and figured Cat Island would be a great spot but we needed to stage ourselves further south before striking out for the 55 mile sail east across Exuma Sound. Unfortunately, the winds were light plus from the wrong direction so we decided to motor 25 miles south to Lee Stocking Island to wait for our weather window. We were pleasantly surprised to find our friends on 2 Outrageous in the anchorage when we arrived and even more surprised to find out they wanted to go to Cat as well.

We knew we would have to wait a couple of days for favourable winds so plans were made to snorkel with Paul and Laurie who took us on a conch hunting trip. We spent two successful days conching and gathering a few fresh coconuts while waiting. Finally on Monday morning our weather window opened and we motored through Adderly Cut an hour before high tide. Even though we had a 2 knot current against us the cut was fairly smooth and we punched through into the sound in no time. The sailing conditions were perfect and we enjoyed a nice beam reach in 15-18 knots of breeze until the last 5 miles of the trip when the wind faded away. In all we ran the motor for an hour but covered over 55 miles in 6.5 hours. The only down side was Bev struck out again even though we tried a new lure that everyone said would work. Oh well, hopefully our luck will change soon because the freezer is starting to get low.

As it turns out when we arrived in Lee Stocking Island and met 2 Outrageous they were already hanging out with 3 other boats. The leader of the group had arranged with one of the fish fry shacks in Cat Island to put on a special for us and as well as organizing a Rake and Scrape. A Rake and Scrape is like a kitchen band and one of the instruments is an old hand saw bent over like a bow and played with a screwdriver. Once the floatilla arrived plans were quickly made to hook up on shore for the festive evening. It had been a very hot day and as soon as the boat was put away it was time for a swim and bath. After Bev had finished cleaning up it was my turn, however, I had no sooner jumped in the water when our neighbour called over and pointed to something between our boats. You guessed it a shark, not one of the bottom feeding Nurse sharks but a 6 or 7 foot Lemon or Reef shark cruising around between the boats. I quickly decided I was clean enough and hopefully everyone else felt the same.

As the sun set the flock of dinghies descended on the beach and rendezvoused for dinner. We had a great time meeting new people, exchanging boat cards and swapping stories about our trips. Of the 6 boats who crossed together only one caught a fish, but it was made up for by the great meal served on shore. The music was led by Pompéi, who is a legend in this area, it's amazing to see what people can do with simple instruments.

Today's picture is of the Rake and Scrape band. Photo by Paul