29 April 2014 | Normans Cay, Bahamas 24’36.87N 76’49.85N – Hatchet Bay, Eluthera, Bahamas 25’20.96N 76’29.21W via Tea Table Bay & North Bay, Highbourne Cay, Bahamas
A life should not be measured by the number of breaths you take, but instead by the number of times your breath is taken away. Over the last few days our breaths have been taken away by the startling beauty of the bays in the Exumas, the scary crossing of middle ground and by the subterranean delights of Eluthera.
Craig & Karene, on ‘Il Sogno’ were forced to hold their breaths as we left in convoy and negotiated the shallows off Normans Cay. Things were made easier for ‘Il Sogno’ with their monster draft as they used Ruffian as an extreme form of forward looking sonar. The following morning the tables were turned and we held our breaths as we negotiated the reefs and rocks to rejoin ‘Il Sogno’ in what was going to be our last anchorage together.
Without a breath of wind disturbing the surface of the water and the sun beating down without a cloud in the sky a huge dinghy and snorkelling adventure was on the agenda. For the first time we were able to venture out into the deep blue of the open ocean and swim on the wall where the ocean floor plummets to unimaginable depths. Amazingly we couldn’t find anything worthy to swim on but were wowed by the reefs and abundant colourful fish that sat just yards from Ruffian.
Once again ‘Il Sogno’ flicked on the ‘yummy smell’ switch and we said our goodbyes over more amazing food that magically appears from their galley. The following day we’d be off early negotiating a cut, sailing across a coral strewn unsurveyed bank, around an ever moving sand bar and then through a narrow harbour entrance that had been blown through the iron shore giving access to a completely enclosed lagoon. The day was going to be stressful and hardly a breath would be drawn.
With the sun just peeking over the hills of Highbourne Cay we waved goodbye to ‘Il Sogno’ and pottered towards the first of our challenges. Through the cut we went and in front of us we could see the water change from a deep azure blue to a shimmering white. The unsurveyed bank was sighted and the first of the coral heads made its presence known. For hour after hour Iain held his breath on the bow navigating Ruffian around their boat breaking reefs and Fiona drove with her heart in her mouth watching the amount of water under our keel slowly reduce.
Ruffians track looked like we were sailing through an invisible slalom as we dodged around the coral heads and as quickly as the heads came, they went. All we could now see was miles of iridescent water that was hiding a sandbar that out charts helpfully marked as unsurveyed. Our depth slowly crept down as we crept on. We had no idea where deeper water was and we just hoped that we’d continue to float. We finally exhaled and we watched as the numbers increase from the point of being able to just fit a cigarette paper under the keel to a whole packet of cigarettes.
We thought that our stress for the days was at an end as we beat our way upwind to Hatchet Bay. But alas, as we put in our second to last tack of the day, in the lee of the land, our poor Genoa, which has faithfully covered 18000 miles with us, decided to get rather too intimate with the spreader and split along it’s leach. This was of no consequence as we had to negotiate the entrance into Hatchet Bay and if we thought there wasn’t much water under our keel earlier in the day was scary this paled into insignificance as we now had the same amount of water between Ruffian and the high stone walls marking the entrance.
With Ruffian safely in Hatchet Bay and the Genoa all fixed, thanks to the sewing machine donated by ‘Serafina’, we could now explore the island. There is no public transport on Eluthera and the most effective way to get around is to stick your thumb out, within seconds a friendly car or more likely a pickup will pick you up and whisk you along at breakneck speeds.
The main draw was some local caves and after finding a black hole down we went. It felt like the journey to the centre of the earth as we ventured further and further from the light and into the realm of bats. The further we went the most fascinating the rock formations became, but what was even more fascinating than the rocks was the graffiti from every age that covered every surface.
We have now caught our breaths again after the beauty of the Exuma’s, the crossing of middle bank and the timeless splendour of the caves and so now need to think about escaping Hatchet Bay with its high walls, flat water and fast internet.
Craig ‘Balls of Steel’ White uses Ruffian as forward looking sonar in the shallows.
The early morning sun in your face. Not what you want for navigating through reefs and rocks.
Il Sogno & Ruffian spending one last day together in yet another amazing bay.
Night night Ruffian.
Coral and shallows everywhere.
Yousers! 6 knots with 60cm’s under our keel!
That entrance doesn’t look 90 feet wide.
Oops. This is why we don’t like sailing upwind.
We have all the gear and a little idea as to how to fix things.
We never expected to find a Christmas cake made out of rock in the caves.
The caves go on and on and on.