27th April 24 10N 76 27W
Agua Therapy
Don Graham Glenys Graham
Sun 28 Apr 2013 13:09
We left Little San Salvador immediately after the arrival of the cruise liner “Carnival Splendor” we had to wait for the boats which collect the tourists go to the liner that was anchored behind us. Oh boy we wish we had left an hour or so earlier but that would have been in the dark.
So off we go sailing downwind big red flying making good speed but the swell was a bit of a pain, oh well Sampson Cay was our destination not to far away. Our plans are to just do day sailing now towards Fort Lauderdale except for perhaps one overnighter. So we crossed and saw the very dangerous looking reefs of the 'Exuma Cays' in front of us, you can only see the entrance when you are almost on top of it. The sails were down and we motored into depths seeing so little under our keel as we entered Sampson Cut, talk about heart stopping stuff. After clearing the cut, Don had plotted a route through the deepest parts to steer us towards the anchorage but, we just ran out of water and ended up sitting on the sand with zero on the depth sounder.
Lesson 1 learned, don't plan a route through very shallow water on a falling tide one hour before low water.
Deciding that sitting on the sand was not such a good idea, we lifted the anchor, for all the good it was doing anyway, and ploughed our way into deeper water, anchoring once again to wait for the rising tide. Twice we attempted to break out of our enclosure and could not understand why we could not find deeper water, as marked on the chart. That's where lesson 2 comes in, check the tide tables carefully as the tidal range can be negative of LAT (as shown on the charts) during springs, that we are in. Our concern was that if we waited for high tide, we would be moving in darkness and trying to find a safe anchorage. Not the best idea in these waters so, we plotted another route through a charted channel and finally made it out with 0.1 mtr under our keel for most of the way. Eventually dropped the hook in safe water just before dark. Not the best day of our sailing experiences so far. Having said all that, the surroundings, rocks and so many different shades of blue sea makes a more than stunning picture postcard, when we do manage to get decent internet I will post pictures and maybe even get to call someone.
We listen to other boats calling one another, some of the names are unbelievable, we hear "Oh My calling Naked Lady, then Naked lady, Oh My.
If not it will have to be in Fort Lauderdale which will be after crossing the gulf stream which is some distance and time away yet.
Going to try for fuel shortly then back to rest until tomorrow.
BFN
Agua Therapy
Don and Glenys