Black Point- Great Guana Cay
Moonbeam
David and Lynn Wilkie
Fri 22 Apr 2011 16:30
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24.06.137N 76.24.055W
Monday morning by the time we had visited
immigration and got back to Moonbeam it was too late for the next planned leg
although we could have done a shorter trip.
Tuesday we left at 08.30 and followed our way
points out of the north end of Elizabeth Harbour. Although it was approaching
high water there are still several very shallow patches to avoid! We headed
north up the Exuma chain on a glorious broad reach-- we could get used to
sailing here! 50 miles on we entered Dotham Cut-- chosen because the pilot
said it was deep! and we entered just as the flood tide started. The pilot had
not said it was narrow though and we surfed through with 5 knots of current
beneath us! I had a major panic as I could pick out bolders on the seabed but we
we still had 15ft of water!
    We followed the coastline down to Black Point Bay
where we slowly headed in with sometimes only a couple of feet beneath the keel.
We anchored in white sand and I swam down to check the clearance under the
keel!
The big bay has a settlement on it's south side and
on Wednesday we went for a walk and ended up having lunch at Lorraine's cafe
with some Canadian cruisers. The community is served by mailboats and ferries
and the only tourism is aimed at "Bonefishing"
 
Backyard boatbuilding
  Bahaman racing 'dinghy'
  The Bay has a glorious sandy beach although
it is even shallower at the
head. Bahaman
dinghy - note the length of the boom!
In the afternoon "Wings" arrived to our
surprise---the threatening weather forecast had encouraged them to move North
earlier than mentioned.
It would have been fun to stay in Georgetown for
the "Family Island Regatta" which is sailed in local Bahama sloops and is a big
excuse for partying ashore!
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