From Shroud to Hawksbill Cay
Seafever
Mon 8 Mar 2010 00:08
76:45:39.4 W
Sometime overnight, the rudder dropped into its downward position. When Garth woke at six, he found the rudder dug deep into the sand at an unnatural angle, pinned there by the force of the wind against the boat and the dropping tide. By the time I woke up, he had been digging for an hour, trying to free the rudder. Finally, he was able to lift the rudder from its sand trap.
We left Shroud at 11:30, giving us an hour and-a-half to get to Hawksbill in time for high tide, which we would need to get into the anchorage we had in mind. The waves on the bank were biggish, but when we turned south, they were coming behind us, which made for good surfing and a comfortable ride. Our first stop at Hawksbill was a beach on its western side near a trail head that lead to Loyalist ruins. After the Revolutionary War, some Loyalists fled to Florida, until it became a French Colony under the Treaty of Versailles, and then they hopped across the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas. When they arrived, with their slaves, they doubled or tripled the population of the Bahamas. (This we learned from The Story of the Bahamas by Paul Albury, a book purchased at Highborne Cay Marina--the best thing about that stop). Ruins from Russell family's homes were fascinating--rock used for tiny house structures, smoothed on the inside with a mortar made from burnt conch shells. How they farmed this limestone and sand land is a wonder. The land is thick with palmetto palms, cacti, scrubby bushes, and spider plants. Everything seems to grow straight out of the limestone. Soil seems nonexistant.
After our excursion back in time, we got back on the boat and motored to the southern end of Hawksbill, where we rounded the corner, coming into what looks like a tropical lagoon, surrounded by little islands, sand bars, coral heads, ironshore outcroppings, and, of course, filled in with torquoise waters. No one is here but us. We had the same experience on Shroud.
The sprouts are practically exploding out of the jar. Both Isabel & Rose like them! They had them with their chicken and rice tonight. We ate half the jar and half expect the jar to be full tomorrow. Sort of like the magic wallet that never empties.