At Staniel Cay
AJAYA'S CRUISE
Phil & Nikki Hoskins
Sun 4 May 2014 17:04
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24:10.77N, 076:26.71
We left George Town last Tuesday having delayed departure by
one day. Monday morning dawned with ominous clouds although a lot of yachts
decided to make the move. We stayed put. Sure enough around the middle
of the day a violent squall blasted through George Town complete with torrential
rain, lightening and forty-five knot winds which pinned us all onto the lee
shore at Monument anchorage. With excellent holding and the fetch only about a
mile from the other side we just sat it out and congratulated ourselves on not
being out in Exuma Sound.
Nasty squall on the way ..........
Tuesday was a better day with lots of blue sky and a steady
breeze. It was our time to leave George Town where we've been circulating around
Elizabeth Harbour for over fifty days. Having scrubbed the hulls and with the
wind building to seventeen knots the boat romped along at seven to eight knots.
(That's romping for us anyway). Having eaten through most of the stores we'd
left the USA with also helped our speed. One disappointment was the lack of fish
on the forty-five mile trip despite trailing four lines. Not even a bite.
Feeling it wasn't our day for the big ones we entered the banks again at Farmers
Cut instead of Dotham Cut and enjoyed the last five miles of sailing on the flat
calm waters of the Exuma Bank. We spent the night in Jack's Bay at White
Point before moving on to Black Point the following morning to deal with
our pile of festering laundry. There we met up with some old friends on
'Three Penny Opera' whom we'd last seen in Cuba in 2011.
With laundry smelling nice and clean it was time to get
out. Yet another weather system was rolling in from the Gulf of Mexico with more
predicted forty knot winds in squalls. Black Point is wide open to the
southwest, west and northwest. With many boats running for cover most of the
best protected spots were already taken in the anchorages at Staniel Cay. We did
manage to grab a patch on the sandbank behind Thunderball Grotto where
hopefully the promised bad weather will not be too bad and we can head into
Staniel Cay Yacht Club to celebrate our seventh wedding
anniversary.
No piccies of the run up from George Town but one of a
drift wood stick the 'Admiral' liberated from the beach at Stocking
Island. It looks very much like a small snake. 'Skip' checks
his side of the bed occasionally to make sure there are no uncomfortable
surprises.
Looks life-like to us..................
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