Wayward Sun Sailing

Sing us a song, you're the piano man, sing us a song tonight - oopps got a little sidetracked there. Capt'n playing the underwater piano at Rudder Cut Cay in the picture.

So, back in time a bit - we moved on to Blackpoint, Great Guana Cay Tuesday morning (Jan 29th), after the Capt'n had to visit everyone in the harbor and delay us a couple hours. So much for leaving after listening to CP's forecast as planned. I wanted to get an early start and get to the laundry before it got packed, but all I could do was slowly watch all the boats heading out of the harbor ahead of WS. Finally, we left and motored to Blackpoint with no wind and got there around 11:30, only to find the laundry packed and without electricity. Had we left as planned I would have at least got the laundry started instead of hauling it back to the boat for the next day so I wasn't a very happy camper, to say the least. When we had talked to WSC they said they were now thinking of staying in Staniel and so was All In. Mid-day WCS arrived in Blackpoint so we got some hiking in and enjoyed HH at Scorpio's with them. Next morning it was off to the laundry at 8am and luckily only one other person in there so far. I had feared the worst (I have laundry anxiety when cruising) since when we first got into the harbor there was a handful of boats anchored, by the end of the day Tuesday there were over 50 boats & with the best laundry in the Bahamas - everyone would have the same idea. Well the laundry definitely got packed, but luckily I was done by 10am and Capt'n was done with his job, jerrying 26 gallons of water back to the boat in our 6 ½ gallon jugs. No gas or fuel dock here, but they have a spigot with H2O water for the cruisers. This is the first time for adding water since we left the states, so not doing too bad and Capt'n said our 115 gallon tank was still pretty full. Did get some fresh eggs at the market, some awesome homemade coconut bread for the Capt'n and a few other items at the small stores. All In came in midday so we all ended up getting together on WS for HH this time, which was a blast as usual. Plans are now to head to Rudder Cut Cay in the late morning and get into the cut at slack tide with WSC. All In has decided to stay in Blackpoint for a bit and a superbowl party there, hopefully we'll catch up with them again down the road.

Left Blackpoint around 10:30 and headed out Dotham Cut into Exuma Sound. A little bit of a salty sail down, WS had her full main and almost full headsail out and was healed over, getting knocked around a bit by 3-5 seas, with 6 or 7' rolling under her at times. A lot faster sail than expected and reached Rudder Cut Cay - cut around 2 a few hours before high tide. Since it was wind with current and the charts only mentioned that the current screams at ebb tide, we were good to go in. We had a flood tide and east winds and only felt a little washing machine effect going through the cut. Of course, another big catamaran had just beat us in and anchored right on the deep spot we were thinking of, leaving too little room for another boat, so we both anchored in the cove above, which left WS out further and not as protected. Winds picked up to 20-30 overnight and a bit rolly, but ok. Next morning the Capt'ns decided that an overcast, cold, squally, blowing 30+ knot day was a good morning to go fishing in the dinghy. NOT - they were back on WS within 10 or 15 minutes, soaked and a bit cold. The other big Cat had left at that point so we moved WS into the nicer protected spot. Ended up calming down a little bit later and decided to go check out the Piano, it's a sunken Steinway Concert Grand Piano put there by David Copperfield with a mermaid sculpture leaning on it in about 15 feet of water. We all snorkeled on it and it was pretty cool, just would have been nicer to be sunny. Cold fronts have passed, but there is a stalled trough over the area bringing high winds and squalls, but supposed to lift N later in the day. However, to our surprise, Saturday ended up actually being worse in the morning, with squalls and high winds, but finally cleared and winds decreased later in the day so we were able to get some hiking in on the island. Sunday's winds are forecast to be light so plans are to move on to a spot you can only get into in calm conditions.

Sunday we moved on to the next deserted island - Prime Cay via the tiny Prime Cay Cut - about 250 feet wide. The entrance looks tiny with rocks on both sides, but it is deep (and a little wider than it looks when going in). WSC went in first with no problems and just stayed dead in the middle. WS went in next and did the same, couple big rollers tried knocking her around, but Capt'n got her in with no problems. It was finally a beautiful sunny day and we anchored off this drop dead gorgeous beach on Prime Cay. Capt'ns went out hunting on some reefs, but no luck. I had read the islands were private and you couldn't walk on them, but Michele's active captain said otherwise, so later in the day we ventured in and to our surprise found some cool marked trails. This place is off the beaten path and very few boats stop here - charts say, swift current, poor holding & surge in the anchorages, not to mention a very nattow cut, which I'm sure scares most people off. We found quite the opposite and deserted beaches with turquoise waters you only dream about seeing. So, we decided to stay another day since we still had a window to get out through the cut on Tuesday morning at high, slack tide.

Monday morning Michele and I took the paddle board and kayak to Lignumvitae Cay, while the Captn's went out hunting again, supposedly for a couple hours. We had barely got back to the boats when they returned, this time with a very nice size lobster and some fish. WOW, about time - needless to say it was an awesome dinner. We did hike to another stunning beach in the afternoon that was also marked somewhat. So now we have had two beautiful fun days, but time to leave this gorgeous place before the high easterly winds kick in, making the cut dangerous to transit. WSC is heading for Lee Stocking, while we have decided to push on for Georgetown, Great Exuma on Tuesday instead. It is literally the perfect sailing day so we don't want to miss that, plus after a month my freezer (filled with meat etc. from home) is finally getting a little low, so I'd like to fill it back up in Gtown. We'll catch up with them when they get into Gtown sometime over the weekend. Weather is good for the next week or so, some higher winds later in the week, but should be sunshine and NE to E winds, no ugly CF for a while, hopefully!