Where's Serendipity

Serendipity
David Caukill
Sun 3 May 2015 21:29

Sunday May 3rd,  2015

Mayaguana Island 22 20.5N 73 00.9W

Today's Blog by David  (Time zone: BST -5.0; UTC -4.0)

 

We left the relative civilisation of the Virgin Islands  and set sail for the Bahamas,  headed, on Anastasia’s  advice to Mayaguana Island.   

 

When we were three hours off (circa 8.00AM)  the heavens clouded over. Now, an entrance eastward into what is a large, five mile long, shallow, coral studded bay would be a challenge at any time but with the sun in your face and grey clouds reflected off the water it was going to be  nigh on impossible to get in without local knowledge.  The alternative was to keep going to Georgetown, but with the wind now  NNE 15-20  and forecast higher, Georgetown (160 miles uphill,  overnight) was not a happy prospect.

 

So we hove to, and stood off,  waiting for the sun to pass over us and praying  for a subsequent break in the clouds to illuminate the sea from behind us as we approached.  Meanwhile, Lenie prepared a fulsome, if not entirely wholesome, fried breakfast (with fried bread - yummie!!!)

 

Around midday, our virtue was rewarded as  the cloud thinned then parted  and blue sky and sunshine appeared momentarily.  We edged in carefully,   about 2 miles into the bay.  The anchor gave a satisfying tug as it held first time and we settled in for a 48 hour stop over - waiting until the wind veers more into the east, and perhaps SE, to allow us a more stately passage north on Monday.

 

Would that were the end of it – we were not yet legal; we needed to complete the normal immigration and customs formalities for entry into the Bahamas. This we arranged by VHF though “Scully” - just a guy who happened to answer our VHF call -  who then called to say that he had arranged for the  Officials to be in their office in 10 minutes time.   

 

The problem was that we had to get there.  We had taken the boat as far in as we dared before the light failed and so we still had 2.8 miles to travel  by dinghy.   Our dinghy does not plane with four people  so it was clear that it  would be long – at least a 30 minute - journey  but the real problem that we would need to motor into the chop cause by a 15 knot breeze over a 2.8mile fetch.  

 

To say that the journey was unpleasant is an understatement.  Four very wet souls  landed on a decrepit jetty about 45 minutes later and we traipsed about half a mile towards the town; its name, Abraham’s Settlement,   tells all.  

 

 

 

The Harbour Master/Post Authority’s Office at the end of the Jetty J

 

The population of this island is about 500 very friendly people;  everyone knows everyone;  news of our arrival spread fast.

 

The first problem - finding the Customs offices – was soon solved, right in the centre of town:

 

 

The Customs and Immigration Post ­– usefully marked by a Bahaman national flag

 

The whole place was a step back in time  - to the Marquesas Island – perhaps even the Las Perlas Islands

 

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The town centre was a Hive of Activity

 

Behind the blue building was a bar with a barbeque; we stopped by for a beer (would have been impolite not to!)  but any inclination to linger we might have felt dissipated once they began the music ahead of that night’s Saturday Jump Up.  

 

So – back to the boat?

 

 

The End of the World?

 

(Serendipity is roughly in centre of the picture if the in=mage had been large enough to resolve it!)

 

Sitting in the dinghy on the way back, Serendipity was so far away that she appeared  “Hull down” on the horizon. In other words, we couldn’t  see her hull from the dinghy - it was masked behind the curvature of the earth!  (There, I TOLD you it was a long way!)

 

Tomorrow, the wind looks fair and we expect to do our last overnight passage before crossing the Atlantic ; this time to Conception Island – we expect it will be Immaculate (Boom Boom!)  Thereafter we will be day sailing in the Exuma Islands.