Red Shanks and George Town Cruising Regatta

Sorry about the long silence – it’s been a busy time here in George Town! We just arrived two days ago, after spending three wonderful days resting up in Red Shanks after our long cruise. The pics below are mostly from our time spent there – walking the beach, eating at the Rusty Anchor Restaurant (a twenty-minute dinghy ride from our anchorage), and enjoying the lovely, peaceful harbour with about 25 other boats, all sheltering from the howling wind.

Now we’re anchored off Volleyball Beach with its Chat ‘n Chill beach bar, along with 333 other boats, preparing to participate in all of the regatta activities. Yesterday I signed up for beach golf, a bocce ball tournament, a coconut challenge (more about that in a later post), and tomorrow Jeff and I will attend the opening variety show, where I plan to enter the conch-blowing contest 😊.

I’ve just finished making costumes for both of us for the 40^th anniversary  “formal” gala on the beach – a decorated straw hat for me, and a sparkly bow-tie and top hat for Jeff – should be fun.

So it’s Summer camp for adults time – quite a contrast to the serious cruising we’ve been doing for the last two months. In between activities, we’re working on the boat in preparation for our departure in a little over two weeks. Tomorrow is my Captain’s 73^rd birthday, so we’ll be celebrating that with a lobster-tail dinner aboard Sea Change, with a friend from Toronto who is here on his own boat.

The pics from the Regatta should be fun – more anon.

We Made it Back - On the Many Faces of Old Man Sea

(Written yesterday)

If our sail from Cat to Long Island was like a roller coaster at Wonderland, today’s sail back to George Town was a cakewalk! This time the weather prediction was accurate – 4-5 knot winds and flat seas – an easy ride all the way across the Sound for 3 hours, at 7 knots. Amazing how much the sea can change in one day….

We spent yesterday hanging out in beautiful Joe Sound, with 5 other boats – two of which were damaged and aground and three on which no one was aboard. It was almost like being in a boat graveyard, but our neighbours were quiet 😊. 

So I painted, blogged, and rehearsed choir music, and Jeff finished a variety of small boat repairs he’s been wanting to get to. We admired the pink sand bars against the turquoise water – exposed as the tide went down, and grilled lobster tails for dinner.

After 500 miles of sailing over the past two months, we’re delighted to be in our favourite harbour called Red Shanks, about an hour from George Town, where we’ll sit out the predicted big blow for the next few days, along with about 14 other boats, before heading in for the Regatta.

Our only problem now is that we’re running out of food, and there’s nothing here but a beautiful beach. But we’ve heard that you can take a dinghy around the back of the harbour, about 2 miles to George Town – so we might try that later today. Now I’m off to clean the dinghy while my Captain rests.

Next day: the 45-minute dinghy ride to George Town was great, and we totally provisioned the boat. Good thing, because today it’s blowing stink, and we’re just staying aboard!

WOW!

We always pay close attention to the weather, and yesterday, we were particularly concerned, as we were setting out on the longest leg of our journey so far – 5.5 hours on the open Sound, out of sight of land.

After a day spent exploring Cat Island by rental car – mostly interesting for its modern and historic churches and ruins – we consulted our trusty Inreach (no cell phone coverage at the boat) for the weather forecast. At least we thought it was trusty … It reassured us with a prediction of 8-9 knot winds (light) and almost flat seas – perfect for our sail to Long Island!

So off we went, leaving the Hawk’s Nest Marina, where we’d sheltered for two nights, ready for many hours of hand steering in calm seas. NOT!! From the start, the wind was blowing 14-16 knots (not so bad), but the waves were humongous – over 2 metres- 6-7 feet ☹. Sometimes it felt like a tsunami heading for the boat. At first, I was terrified, but then, after I reassured myself that the boat could handle this, I found it exhilarating.

However, it was exhausting, constantly wrestling the helm onto the course against those waves, which were on our bow quarter, with water coming over the deck up to the dodger, and sometimes into the cockpit. We had a well-reefed jib flying to stabilize the boat, and were managing to sometimes motor-sail close-hauled at 6.8 knots – fast, considering the conditions. But it still took 5.5 hours to get to the calm little harbour called Joe’s Sound on Long Island, where we are now recuperating.

A final challenge was getting into the harbor and anchored – it’s a very narrow, rocky entry, and the water in the harbor is extremely shallow. But my Captain negotiated it beautifully. In fact there are 5 boats with us here – three floating with no one aboard, and two completely wrecked and aground. So it’s very quiet – almost like a boat graveyard – but quite beautiful with its turquoise water and uncovered sand bars.

Today, we’ll just rest, and tomorrow, early on the high tide, set out on the last leg of our journey to Red Shanks, near George Town – only about 20 miles. It’s supposed to be calmer tomorrow, but as we discovered, you never really know until you get out there.

A Study in Contrasts and a Dream Sail in Paradise

(written yesterday)

The night we spent on Little San Salvador was truly a study in contrasts! A peaceful 4-hour motor from Davis Harbor Marina on Eleuthera took us to the tiny Island of Little San Salvador, which belongs to Holland America Cruise Lines. We saw a whole lot of nothing as we moved through the waves – the only boat on the water. Then we arrived at the Island’s beautiful white beach, just down from a striking development of multi-coloured cabanas, a horse stable and a replica Galleon, complete with fake cannons and cannon-blast holes!

A huge cruise ship was anchored far off the beach, just preparing to leave for the day. So we were able to peacefully wander the beach at sunset, visit the galleon and have a look at the cabanas. The next morning, another cruise ship showed up and disgorged thousands of people onto the beach, who presumably spent the day sailing, kayaking, walking the beach, riding horses in the water and on land, exploring in a glass-bottom boat, drinking at the bar in the galleon, and probably having a great time. But we left to sail away again, into the calm of blue water and nothing on the horizon. It was a bit surreal!

Last night in a tiny bay on Cat Island, we checked the weather forecast, and were shocked to see that our satellite Inreach was predicting 5-foot waves on the Sound for next day. Not what we were expecting, for our sail to the bottom of the Island. But another check on the internet predicted .5 metre waves – quite a difference, and a relief!

The internet prediction turned out to be correct, thank goodness – and we had a 3.5 hour dream sail in about 14 knots of wind, at a close reach (for non-sailors, just off the front quarter of the boat). We were actually managing 7 knots of speed for a while – fast, even on the motor! Considering the fact that most of the time on this trip we’ve been motoring, with the wind on our nose, this was a special treat 😊.

Now here we are, snuggly tucked into Hawk’s Nest Marina, safe and dry from the rainstorm that just went through – good timing!