We really enjoy Black Point because it's got everything a cruiser could want ... internet, laundry, free water, several bars that host evening happy hours for the cruisers (featureing 2-for-1 rum drinks!), fresh baked coconut bread, a large, protected anchorage ... all wrapped up in a very real Bahamian setting.
We were there to help launch a new Bahamian racing boat and watch some trial races in the anchorage as they got ready for regatta season.
No trailers for this heavy wooden bad boy! Just lots of buff men to huff and puff and push.
Down the hill to the water.
After the lead balast was added, the boat was rigged and the sea trial races began!
Simply amazing to watch them underway ... so much sail on such a small boat.
That's Maja between the two racing boats.
And for those of you who wonder what we do when we're not working on the boat, or drinking rum punches on shore, or cruising from one spot to the other ... we do get the chance to explore the islands by foot. Many of the anchorages have trails over to the ocean side which gives you a nice contrast of protected water and ocean waves. Plus, there's the never ending hunt for sea shells and our current favorite: sea beans. They float across the ocean from Africa and land on island shores. They are incredibly hard to find among the stuff that washes ashore, but they bring good luck when found.
Here's Dan hiding with the cold beer he brought on the hike. Hey, where's my cold beverage???
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| Our current collection of 6 sea beans ... |
January 29 - On to Georgetown
The trip from Black Point to Georgetown requires leaving the shallow, protected banks into the deep waters of the Exuma Sound which means that we have to pick a weather window that gives us sufficient wind to sail (not too much/not too little), a reasonable ocean swell (not too much/but flat seas are sure nice!), and oh yes, no heavy squalls are preferred too! Since we've been having all 3 while at Black Point, we took the moderating conditions on Sunday as a sign that we should begin our trek south.
The passage is about 45 miles and requires find a suitable cut beteen the islands to pass from the banks to the sound. This is another tricky decision as some cuts are narrow with strong currents, reefs and rocks. We left Black Sound at noon for the short run to Cave Cut for the night.
At 6:30am, we were underway, catching slack tide for the passage thru Cave Cut. The winds are predicted to continue to be strong today, but at least they should be coming from the north, meaning that they will be pushing us downwind instead of bashing us on the nose.
Navigating a cut is always an anxious time. When the boat is throttled up to 5.5knots but only making 2knots over ground, you are humbled with the strength of the ocean current.
We were happy to see no breaking waves in the cut. Expecting just 4-5 ft swells.
You can hear the breakers on shore ... about 150 feet from the boat.
Engine don't fail usnow!
Entering the cut.
Smashing thru the swells! wheeeeeee
It probably took about 45 minutes to finally clear the cut, which went pretty much as we expected (very thankful to have a full cockpit enclosure to keep out the water coming over the bow)
However, the rest of the day definitely did not go as expected! The north wind never materialized so thoughts of a nice downwind sail quickly evaporated. We had high winds from the south (yes, right over the bow) and 5ft swells on the beam. So when we weren't bashing thru the swells, we were getting heavy rolls from the side. Items in the cabin that haven't moved an inch in two years found a way to come crashing to the floor. Latched cupboards opened and emptied their contents. Water came in the thru-hulls in the sink, and the sink in the bathroom was shooting water far enough to land in the shower on the other side! Not much you can do in situations like this but brace yourself as best you can and accumulate piles where things landed on the floor.
Needless to say, it was a long, 8hr passage. There were a couple of spots where we could have bailed out for the night, but the crashing breakers at the entrance to the cuts was motivation enough for us to keep plowing on.
Ahhhhh....arriving at the anchorage in Georgetown.
Georgetown - Jan 30 - Feb 4
Just so you know, not all is always easy, breezy in paradise. In fact, sometimes, it is so squally and windy that you cannot leave the boat because the 1.5 mile dinghy ride to town would be so rough and wet that you’d regret it by the time you were 100 yds from the boat.
The anchorage in GT offers good holding, so at least we didn’t have to worry about our anchor dragging as the winds increased into the high 20s … but it did keep us from even thinking about putting the dinghy in the water (it rides in davits on the back when we are underway) because the water was so rough. So what do you do when you cannot leave the boat? For starters, it took us a day to rearrange the mess that the passage south caused! Then there was one day of reading. One day of watching DVDs. One day of staring longingly at the beautiful sand beaches that we couldn’t run our toes in.
Six days in Georgetown, and we were able to leave the boat twice! On the 4th day, the wind dropped to 15 knots, so we were off to town for some shopping and walking around on hard land.
"Peace and Plenty" café and hotel.
We think the Devereauxs would love it here.
Best pina coladas so far....
There was not much of a break in the weather all week. High winds kept everyone anchored in Georgetown and hunkered down on their boats, and when it dropped to under 15knots, all the dinghy motors seemed to fire up in unison!
Chores to be done.
ONE nice day to go ashore and enjoy the beach.
The next 6 pictures show a panorama of the anchorage.
Thankfully, the wind moderated by Sunday so we were able to head north about 20 miles to Emerald Bay where we were meeting our friends, Ed and Karin, at the marina for the Super Bowl.
Georgetown was a far south in the Exumas as we got last year, so we're excited that we made it here by the end of January. After a brief stop over at the Marina at Emerald Bay (free laundry and showers where you can actually stand up!!), we'll start to explore some new places.
Next stop: Long Island
P.S. It's Feburay 5th so that means it's Renee Devereaux's birthday! Throw that girl a surprise party!
