Rum Cay

Scott-Free’s blog
Steve & Chris
Thu 12 May 2011 19:55
23:38.34N 74:50.53W

Thursday 12th May 2011

Distance run: 145 nmiles

After a good night's sleep we raised the anchor at 0730 on Tuesday 10th and
set a course for Rum Cay, where we hoped we might be able to get fuel.
Although we still have half of what we left St Thomas wth, we would prefer
to keep topped up if possible. This island is also in a good position up
the chain and according to the pilot has some good snorkelling.

We had anticipated a slow start in light winds but hoped they would blow
just a few knots more than forecast and keep the sails filled. We more than
got our wish as they were blowing 15-20 knots - but from the North West
which is exactly the direction we were going! There was no making tack and
so we had to put up with motoring into the wind until we changed course
around an island and the wind began to move around to the North. This meant
that we could eventually sail, and made reasonable speed on a close reach
all night. Around 0800 the wind died away, and we motor-sailed the rest of
the way. This anchorage was slightly more tricky to get into as it had two
large reefs and we had to pick our way through the middle. This is where
the polarised lenses really come into their own, clearly showing the
different colours of the sea where the shoal patches are and the darker
patches of the coral heads.

We found a suitable spot and dropped the anchor, and then just stood back
and took in the view. Wonderful! A white sandy beach ran around the bay,
backed by bushes and trees, here and there interspersed with small
buildings. Not a soul around. The turquoise blue of the sea and a clear
blue sky. Quite breathtaking.

The first thing we did was to have a swim, and Steve went over to one of
the coral heads to snorkel. Whilst he & Michael were in the water, a huge
shark appeared and swam lazily around under 'Nimue'. He seemed to have no
interest in humans, fortunately, and eventually just swam away.

We ran ashore in the rib and found the 'marina' where the pilot said we
could find wifi. A very friendly lady called Chris who runs the 'marina'
was very happy for us to use both the wifi and the office as the signal
didn't reach very far. Although extremely slow and intermittent, we were
able to get some internet jobs done, then went in search of the bar. Chris
apologised that she was all out of beer at the moment but had some rum, but
then recommended Kaye's bar over by the Goverment dock, where we could tie
the dinghy.

This turned out to be a little problematic because although, yes, you could
tie up the dinghy, no, you couldn't climb up to the top of the dock! So we
beached the dinghy instead, and wandered along the sand road to Kaye's bar,
where they did indeed have cold beer. They also had millions of flying
insects who thought Christmas had come as they feasted themselves on us,
even though we had sprayed ourselves with insect repellent. Needless to
say, we only stayed for the one!

We went for a walk along the sand road and found ourselves on a tarmac road
with a few buildings along it - the 'town'. A grocery store (closed|), a
Police station and a pretty little blue and white church, and still not a
soul around, so we wandered back to the rib and back to the boat for an
early night.

Today we went ashore to use the internet again as we needed to order a new
inverter, and once more we were made welcome in the office, with no charge
at all. Having sorted out that bit of business, we went back to the boat to
change and went snorkelling on the reef, where we were rewarded by seeing a
range of colourful fish (and no sharks!)