Going Through Current Cut
13 February 2012 | Current Cut
Fred
After the winds from the latest front died down we were off again. We wanted to go through Current Cut on our way to the Glass Window as close to slack tide as we could. It is a short cut about a quarter mile long but rock on both sides and the water can flow through at 6 knots. Also, at the exit heading South one must make a hard turn to starboard and come very uncomfortably close to the rock shore line.
Interestingly enough Monty and Sarah Lewis who make all the charts for the Bahamas that we follow religiously, were in the mooring field with us at Spanish Wells. So I asked them what they recommended on timing the cut since the guides said go through at 1 to 2 hours after high tide in Nassau. An hour can make a big difference in current speed through a cut like this one. Well Monty's reply was it depends on the wind and which way it is blowing the water. Since the wind was blowing lightly perpendicular to the cut we timed it to be there at 1.5 hours after the high in Nassau with the assumption that there should be no impact from the wind. It worked out perfectly. It was an easy passage with exception of our skipper stopping our route on the chart plotter by accident. She quickly recovered before the critical turn and off we were to the Glass Window.