24:33.75N 75:38.45W   Bennett’s Harbour Cat Island

 

We had word from our friends Alan & Marita (sv Alleycat) that they were heading to Cat Island, and we decided to meet them.

 

Cat Island is a long thin island, shaped like a fish hook. It is about 60kms long, but at the narrowest point, only 1km wide. The population of under 1500 people is spread out all over the island.  A notable feature is that Mount Alvernia (63m) is the highest point in all of the Bahamas.... yikes, that is barely a hill.

 

We left the Exuma banks through the Galliot Cut – just after high tide. The weather was good, but we had not heeded the warning – to always go through the cuts on a rising tide.  As the tide turns, and the water from the banks flows out these narrow cuts, and standing waves can form making things quite dangerous. In our case, it was just a bit uncomfortable, but we did have water coming though a port light that we had not secured. Damn! that will teach us not to be complacent. 

 

We had an good 7 hour trip to Bennetts harbour where we tucked in right behind mv Marisol.  Dave and Dotty, the forward party of the AlleyCat flotilla had already arrived.  We spent a lovely evening having cocktails on their motoryacht, which they had recently lovingly restored.

 

The next evening AlleyCat and Shiloh (John & Holli) arrived – and the fun began.

 

Bennett’s Harbour is not really a harbour at all, as the government dock is closed. The goods for the area arrive by ship in a container, which is  offloaded at Smiths Bay, and trucked down to Bennetts Bay, where it is unpacked. The harbour does however have a nice creek – and we discovered a great new activity. Going up the creek with the dinghy,  then jumping into the water with a pool noodle and floating all the way down back to the boat – with the falling tide pulling us down. The water is insanely hot in parts of the creek – I’m guessing around 33C !!