The Voyage of S/V Estelle

Cruising the British Columbia Coast

27 September 2020
26 September 2020
26 September 2020 | The Broughtons
26 September 2020 | Vancouver Rowing Club
07 February 2020
03 February 2020 | Northern Georgia Strait
30 September 2018 | Vancouver Rowing Club
10 September 2018 | The Laughing Oyster, Okeover Landing
08 September 2018 | Von Donop Inlet, Desolation Sound
08 September 2018 | Port McNeill, BC
08 September 2018 | Port McNeill, BC
16 August 2018
16 August 2018 | Turnbull Cove, BC
15 August 2018 | Pierre's Echo Bay Resort
15 August 2018 | Kwatsi Bay Marina, The Broughtons
15 August 2018 | Potts Lagoon, West Cracroft Island, BC
05 August 2018 | Kwatsi Bay
01 August 2018 | Big Bay
01 August 2018 | Von Donop Inlet
27 July 2018 | Lancelot Inlet, Desolation Sound Marine Park

Turn-around day

26 February 2007 | Hog Cay, Long Island
Jim Lea
Today, we started back from Rum Cay heading north. This is the extent of our trip for this year. Although we were a few miles further south in the Jumentos, Rum Cay somehow seems to be "further away", maybe because its on the path to the Eastern Caribbean. And todaywe turned back, leaving Nahanni and a few others waiting for favorable winds to carry on south. It felt a bit odd but perhaps next year. We have no reason to turn back, but have decided that we want to sail north again this spring. There are lots of places we missed that we want to visit, and, wherever we spend the summer, Estelle will need some TLC. So north it is!! We left Maine on Sept 1, arriving in The Bahamas in mid-December, meaning we spent 3.5 months en route. But we didn't try to make it in a hurry. Our plan is to be back in Maine by June 1, or just over 3 months from now. But by the time we're back from skiing and my Belize trip, it will be mid-March. So that will mean 2.5 months for the trip back. So it's time to plan for it. We will spend another month or so in the Bahamas working our way up Cat Island, Eluthera, and across to the Abacos, then back to the US, probably arriving in Savannah, Georgia in late April. Then we will follow the spring north! Yesterday (Sunday)morning, we went ashore and biked over to the Sumner Point Marina, a bit of a loosely operated affair, and, after chasing off a bunch of barking dogs, we managed to find someone on duty who gave us the password to the wireless internet connection. So we caught up on some of that stuff. I checked out the Charlottetown Guardian and laughed to see the same energy stories making headlines as this time last year and the year before that!!! Then back to the boat for lunch, and back ashore for a bike ride on the other road in the afternoon. This one was shorter than yesterday's road, and ended about two miles out of town at the construction site of a huge resort and marina complex. The site has been cleared and some excavations begun, but work seems to have stopped. Rumor in town has it that they got digging in an area for which they didn't have a permit. But it seems to have all the signs of a lot of Bahamas projects... big start, and petering out into an abandoned project. But I may be wrong. The cleared site is about 2,000 acres... like I said, huge. If it goes ahead, it will transform Rum Cay from the quiet, pretty village it now is into a very upscale resort island. With a population of just 60, it will mean a huge increase just to staff the place. If it doesn't get finished, it will leave a huge scar on the Island. Back in town, we loaded the bikes back on the boat, and dinghied across to Nahanni and had drinks. We toured their very nice boat, a TaShing 40' designed by Robert Perry, a very highly respected designer of offshore boats, and built in Taiwan in the mid-80's, when they still did good work. It is a very nice and strong boat. They plan to head south to Trinidad, across the coast of South America then back up the Western Caribbean, Panama, Guatemala, Belize, etc. next winter. We loaned them charts of the Turks & Caicos as they were headed there and had none and they will mail them back to us. And we will drop off a couple of letters to their daughter in Whistler next week. Then back too the boat for supper of steak, rice& beans, cole slaw and plantain. We are in clean-out-the-freezer mode as we will be leaving next weekend, so the meals will get progressively more unusual as we get further down. And we still have 3 meals of mahi-mahi, a complete roast chicken, and a bunch of other stuff. Just at sundown the ship from Nassau pulled out with the last of the weekend revelers aboard, a much quieter crowd than on arrival. And this morning, the normal quiet descended on the village. Today (Monday) we set out for Hog Cay, just south of Cape Santa Maria off the western shore of Long Island. There seem to be a lot of Hog Cays in the Bahamas. In fact, there is another one less than 10 miles from this one, and at least three others in the Exumas alone. We set out, raising anchor at 8:30 am, and set sail in a 15 knot broad reach with a following 2 knot current! Ideal! This is the same current that last week prevented us from getting to Rum Cay, so today it is nice to have it with us! But as the morning progressed, the wind slowly died. By noon, we had reduced form our 6.5 knots down to 3.5, of which 1.5 was from the favorable current. Just as we were finishing lunch, we were surrounded by a group (is it a pod?) of dolphins. They seemed to come out of nowhere, and swam and dove around our bow. How they avoided being hit by the bow was beyond us. At one count, I counted 18, all swimming and diving around us. They stayed with us in varying numbers for about half an hour, then they were gone as quickly as they arrived. But even at that pace, we were able to round Cape Santa Maria in the dying breeze. However as we approached our intended anchorage, we noticed that remnants of the swell were still making themselves felt. So we altered course for Joe's Sound, a snug hurricane hole into which no swell would be able to find its way. The entrance (no markers of course) is only 14' wide, and at high water it has just 6'. So we proceeded cautiously with Jeannie on the bow guiding me. But I got mesmerized looking at the rocks clearly visible on the starboard side no more than 8' away, and missed her signal. So we slowly eased up onto a sand bank. But I sensed that we could get over it, so I gunned it and we slid over and into the most beautiful anchorage we have yet had in the Bahamas! With two other boats in the anchorage, and a calm night, we quickly settled in with the Rum Punch! So began a perfect evening in Joe's Sound. Tomorrow, my plans are to do some snorkeling on the nearby reefs, and to put on my scuba gear and scrub the bottom of the boat, which is beginning to get a bit dirty. But I am actually pleased with how well it has held up so far. I have taken a few swipes at it with just mask and snorkel, but it needs some serious attention now before it gets worse. By the way, I have had a few comments from doubters about "The Fish". For a picture, go back to the blog entry of that day, and you will see I posted a picture of it when we had internet access yesterday!
Comments
Vessel Name: Estelle
Vessel Make/Model: Bristol 41.1
Hailing Port: Charlottetown, PEI
Crew: Jeannie & Jim Lea
About: Flag Counter
Extra: After cruising the east coast of North America for 10 years, from Nova Scotia to Panama, it's time for a change. Estelle will be cruising the coast of British Columbia and Alaska beginning in 2017.
Estelle's Photos - The Voyage of S/V Estelle (Main)
Cruise to Desolation Sound and the Broughtons, British Columbia
81 Photos
Created 26 September 2020
From Pender Harbour to Sidney, July 20-26
18 Photos
Created 4 February 2020
33 Photos
Created 2 February 2020
14 Photos
Created 5 August 2018
5 Photos
Created 1 August 2018
62 Photos
Created 10 July 2018
28 Photos
Created 19 November 2017
Our cruise of the Gulf Islands and San Juan Islands in May & June, 2017
84 Photos
Created 21 July 2017
Our first BC cruise, from Pender Harbour to Strait Marine in Steveston BC
26 Photos
Created 27 April 2017
Estelle's arrival in Vancouver
8 Photos
Created 31 October 2016
63 Photos
Created 28 July 2016
Our first year cruising... Exumas, Bahamas.
11 Photos
Created 28 July 2015
69 Photos
Created 24 July 2015
17 Photos
Created 31 May 2015
8 Photos
Created 12 April 2015
25 Photos
Created 4 December 2014
3 Photos
Created 30 November 2014
20 Photos
Created 20 November 2014
5 Photos
Created 20 November 2014
13 Photos
Created 13 November 2014
20 Photos
Created 9 November 2014
Pics of our trip from Mount Desert Islans to the Saint John River in July 2014.
64 Photos
Created 14 August 2014
15 Photos
Created 9 May 2014
60 Photos
Created 20 September 2013
18 Photos
Created 3 April 2013
50 Photos
Created 14 January 2013
104 Photos
Created 12 December 2012
40 Photos
Created 1 December 2012
23 Photos
Created 10 November 2012
19 Photos
Created 25 October 2012
14 Photos
Created 13 March 2012
47 Photos
Created 6 March 2012
59 Photos
Created 1 March 2012
70 Photos
Created 27 February 2012
107 Photos
Created 21 January 2012
Nov/Dec 2011
48 Photos
Created 17 December 2011
San Blas Islands
4 Photos
Created 17 December 2011
58 Photos
Created 17 November 2011
23 Photos
Created 29 October 2011
22 Photos
Created 26 October 2011
49 Photos
Created 10 May 2011
52 Photos
Created 29 March 2011
18 Photos
Created 18 March 2011
18 Photos
Created 18 March 2011
Feb, 2011
67 Photos
Created 11 February 2011
33 Photos
Created 7 February 2011
34 Photos
Created 4 December 2010
33 Photos
Created 4 December 2010
62 Photos
Created 17 November 2010
39 Photos
Created 15 November 2010
41 Photos
Created 31 October 2010
25 Photos
Created 4 October 2010
17 Photos
Created 4 October 2010
15 Photos
Created 3 October 2010
13 Photos
Created 1 October 2010
9 Photos
Created 1 October 2010
14 Photos
Created 1 October 2010
Some photos at John Williams Boatyard as we prepare for departure.
7 Photos
Created 14 September 2010
Our trip to various BC ski resorts Jan-Feb 2010
69 Photos
Created 7 February 2010
August/Sept in Maine
58 Photos
Created 29 August 2009
Our trip from Norfolk Va to Mount Desert Island, June 20th to July 7th, 2009. Gerard Watts aboard as crew!
89 Photos
Created 8 July 2009
11 Photos
Created 26 April 2009
65 Photos | 2 Sub-Albums
Created 22 March 2009
65 Photos | 2 Sub-Albums
Created 11 February 2009
43 Photos
Created 29 January 2009
42 Photos
Created 29 January 2009
5 Photos
Created 23 December 2008
27 Photos
Created 22 December 2008
Our trip from Maine to Miami
108 Photos
Created 19 December 2008
Pics from Jan to June 2008, Bahamas to Maine
50 Photos
Created 18 June 2008
Trip south from Maine to Bahamas, Sept-Dec 2007
42 Photos
Created 26 December 2007
14 Photos
Created 25 December 2007
4 Photos
Created 21 August 2007
These are pictures of The Hermitage on Cat Island, Bahamas. It was built single-handedly by Faather Jerome who was sent out by the Church of England to rebuild churches destroyed in the hurricanes in the early 20th century. He then converted to catholicism and built a number of Roman Catholic churches until he sought and received permission to build this hermitage where he spent the remainder of his life.
10 Photos | 1 Sub-Album
Created 24 June 2007
1 Photo
Created 24 June 2007
21 Photos
Created 23 June 2007
3 Photos
Created 12 June 2007
These pictures were taken while on Long Island, Bahamas, in February, 2007
6 Photos
Created 11 March 2007
This album contains some photos of our time in the Jumentos Islands, in the Bahamas
11 Photos
Created 11 March 2007
3 Photos
Created 11 March 2007
9 Photos
Created 11 March 2007
4 Photos
Created 11 March 2007
19 Photos
Created 11 March 2007
18 Photos
Created 11 March 2007
13 Photos | 2 Sub-Albums
Created 11 March 2007
9 Photos
Created 11 March 2007
5 Photos
Created 11 March 2007
18 Photos
Created 11 March 2007