Yesterday morning the whole fleet in Thompson was obviously listening to the forecast, as by the time we hoisted anchor at 8:15 am, the fleet had dropped from about 25 boats to 12, and as we sailed westward, we saw about six others leave behind us, so that the bay must have no more than six or so boats left this morning.
The forecast sounds good into next week, so we set out for the Jumentos Islands, a chain of cays about 40 miles westward of Thompson Bay. The route, across open water, is in places so shallow (where we are out of sight of land) that we have timed our passage for high tide to ensure we can make it. We should be OK as we only draw 5' with our centerboard up (and 10' 6" with it down, but it is only necessary to put it down sailing into the wind, which is not the case today). We are traveling with another boat, Tabatha, a Rival 40 from England. Eric and Sue Orme have their two young daughters Elsepeth and Pita (ages about 7 & 9)with them, so it will be fun to have the company. But Tabatha draws 6', so we are in the lead, and will warn them of any shallow spots.
The Jumentos are virtually uninhabited, with only one cay that may have one hermit on it. Below them stretch the Ragged Islands, also uninhabited except for a community, Duncan Town, on one island of less than 100 people. They are a popular destination for fishing boats out of Salt Pond (the town in Thompson Bay) who come over and fish for a few days then return. The problem with the Jumentos and Ragged Islands is that there is virtually no protection from any direction except north-east through south-east. Hence the reason for waiting for a good forecast. In fact, from Duncan Town, it is closer to Cuba than Georgetown or Thompson Bay. But that is for another year.
Well, we made it (and Tabatha too) across the shallows and are now reaching south-west in about 18 knots of wind down to the top of the Jumentos. But the upper ones are so small that they provide no protection for anchoring, so we will sail on by to Water Cay. At the end of the bank, our course meets a course down from Georgetown (through Hog Cay Cut) where met up with three other boats, obviously headed for the same place. So with at least one down there (we heard him on the radio this morning), that makes 8 in all. Not quite so remote as it once was! But that will probably be it.
We arrived at Water Cay just as three catamarans that we met at Hog Cay Cut pulled in ahead of us. They seemed to do a lot of dithering about selecting an anchorage, wandering about, and generally getting in front of us as we tried to run down the cay to the spot we had selected. Finally we just rolled past, waved and left them to their dithering. They did eventually get anchored about 1/2 mile above us, and we are nicely tucked in for the night. To be certain, I took the dinghy out and checked the anchor with our glass (plastic)-bottomed "lookie" bucket to ensure it was buried in good sand, and it was fine.
As with all small islands that are close to the ocean, there is a roll that is nearly impossible to get out of, and Water Cay is no exception. But it isn't very big, and we are pointed nearly into it, so we are looking forward to a quiet evening and some nice snorkeling tomorrow. Today I caught another barracuda, but threw him back after a good fight to recover my lure. That;s enough trolling on the banks!