Date: Thursday 8^th May 2014

Position: 23:57.952N 76:19.427W

We had to wait till late afternoon before the tidal rise was sufficient for us to leave where we were anchored behind Cave Cay and make it back through the cut into the Atlantic so we could continue northwards.  There were few anchorage spots that were deep enough to accommodate us, the first of these being at Farmer’s Cay.

The current was running fairly strongly as we re-entered the calm in the lee of the islands.  The charts showed a good spot to anchor just inside the northern end of Big Farmer’s Cay but as we approached it was clear that they were incorrect as the area was completely silted.  With the depth sounder showing that we were about to go aground I reversed away and we looked for an alternate spot to stop.

Because of our late departure from Cave Cay and our draft limiting where we could sail there were not many choices available to us.  We finally anchored in a narrow channel that runs around the northern end of Little Farmer’s Cay.  This was not an ideal spot as a pretty strong current ran through it. To add to our concern the charts indicated that the holding in the area was particularly poor and very shallow water lay all around us so a dragging anchor would have been extremely unwelcome. The wind was gusting up to 25 knots and with the boat lying at an odd angle across the stream as the wind and current battled for domination it was not particularly comfortable. 

Fortunately the anchor held well overnight and in the morning we were keen to move on as soon as possible.  It was not a spot where we wanted to spend a second night.  I had left the depth sounder on and in the morning it showed that with the strong current running under the boat all night we had ‘sailed’ 16.4 miles.