Shelter island - Magenta Line
28 March 2018
The forecast was for a front to go through on Tuesday 27th with 20-25kts easterly wind, so we returned to the west coast of Long Island.
Thompson Bay is a favourite among cruisers and sure enough there were about 15 boats here and more came in after us. For over 20nm the passage south along the west coast of the island is in water 2-4 metres deep. We were motoring along around Low Water and the tidal range is about 0.9 metre.
Magenta Line then. Over the years, by and large we have made a close examination of the charts and plotted our own courses, but the electronic charts have very helpful “Control Points” and Magenta Lines that show routes through shallows. It is fairly straightforward just to follow the Magenta Line and change course at the Control Points, keeping very tight control on XTE … until the Magenta Line takes you through a collection of rocks that could rip out the bottom of your boat. So they are a good navigation AID but you have to jink about to avoid some of the rocks and coral heads, so a good lookout at all times and recognising the difference between cloud-created shadow and rocks is helpful.
Anyway we arrived safely and were immediately invited to join the Cruisers’ Monday gathering ashore where we met some very nice people and experienced Bahamas cruisers.
The wind did its stuff but we are expecting it to ease and then we will head for the great metropolis of Georgetown in the Exumas.