Up the Exuma Islands Chain
SY Cookielicious
Private
Sat 4 May 2013 19:59
76:48.91W
Back in the shallow but familiar grounds of the Exuma chain in the Bahamas, with its good old Bahamian lighthouses - only visible in daytime, not when you need them on your early morning departure. We left before the moon was up, 3.30, overcast sky and minimal wind. Luckily during the morning the wind piped up more, backing SW, WSW, and at the end of the day even NW. At last we could sail at a decent speed without having to keep the engine going. Great speed, Cookie the upwind sailing shark. Fastest today: 9 kts. Had to reef shortly afterwards as it was really piping up for a bit, due to a nasty rain cloud off to port. Luckily Cookie ran fast enough to escape that wet mess.
Lovely flat seas, sheltered by the Exuma Island chain to port. She was going like a greyhound. Another long day, not enough daylight left for the eyeball navigation (to escape coral heads, also known as "bommies") needed in the shallow waters, to get through the cut at Highbourne Cay, so anchored off the deep end of Highbourne Cay, in the Exuma Sound. We have the sneaky plan of taking a shortcut tomorrow over the Great Bahama Bank, West of the Exuma chain, rather than around Eluthera Island to our East, which means an overnight sail at a more upwind angle to get to the same waypoint in the Berries Island Group. There is a way through over the bank with a 4 m route, enough for Cookie which draws 3.05 m. In the Bahamas 0.10m under the keel is considered ample, assuming a conch is not crossing your track. It will involve eyeball navigation so the polaroid sunglasses have been polished up, ready to go. All we have to hope for now is a sunny day and winds that are not too strong. If those are against us we will go for Plan B, but really we would not mind to cross the bank again, familiar waters for us.
Had a few things happen today - autopilot quitting without a peep. All of a sudden the foresail backed and we were more than 90 degrees off course. Easy to correct when you have your daylight bearings and it's not a total whiteout, but why??? And what if it happens in a whiteout or in the dark without a moon - harder to determine, not so great. Remains to be resolved.
Later we were sailing too much heeled over to prep lunch (Cookie was running like a greyhound, doing really great actually), so straightened up into the wind and motored for a bit, which made a better course to our waypoint too. After lunch getting back to point of sail, shut down engine - massive, noisy alarm going off. Almost made us jump overboard! Something in the engine room. Smoke alarm. Probably a whiff of smoke when we switched off the engine without the engine fans running (as it was such a short engine use period). It stopped soon enough, investigated what else could have been the problem, nothing noted. Ok, back on track after that. Until the outside chart plotter totally crapped out once more. However, once at anchor Geoff seemed to be able to breathe it back to life again. Luckily there are multiple backup systems on board, so that we do not have to do a "Captain Ron": "If we get lost, we just ask the way".
The waters and the islands here are so pristine and unspoilt, it is really a privilege to be able to be here. We both confirmed another item on our bucket list today: one day we will bring our own boat back to the Bahamas to spend an entire winter season here once more! Love the remoteness, unspoiltness and self reliance.
And now we go to bed and have our well-earned night of sleep after another 102 miles done.
Cheers,
Geoff & Merel