April 11-12, 2021 There & Back Again and Lee Stocking Cay

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Last night Black Point harbour was full of rolling waves off the Bank, which made for good sleep but strange dreams.  There are strong winds from the south working around to south west, which will blow straight into the harbor later today.  To stay here will mean the rocking will only increase. 

We considered options including Staniel Cay (4 miles to the north) and Little Farmers Cay (10 miles to the south).  Finally we opted for continuing to move south as per the larger plan for the trip.  

Moving south was pretty much bashing into the waves, but we knew it wasn't very far.  After a couple hours of vigorous sailing we could see straight into Little Farmers mooring field, which was already full of boats.  The anchorage did not look very comfortable.  By now the winds had cranked up to 20 knots and continuing to Little Farmers looked like a hard slog upwind.  
So we turned around for a very pleasant down wind sail back towards Black Point.  

Back in Black Point harbor we shifted as far into the cove as was possible to get as much shelter from the waves as possible.  We ended up with a relaxed roll through the night.  We both slept well in the embrace of the swell.   


April 12
There was a thunderstorm overnight. The whole boat got a fresh rainwater rinse to remove the salt crust on every surface.  Things don't feel quite so grimy this morning. 

The morning also brought a perfect wind for sailing south which we grabbed gladly. We headed out through the cut north of Black Point to the deep water route.

The cut passes between the rocky points of two island.  In the cut the tide driven flow accelerates through the narrow slot between the rocks and meets head on the ocean swell resulting in series of sharp stiff waves  six to eight feet in height.  We spent only maybe two minutes in this malestrom as once passed the rocks we slipped south to exit the fierce tidal flow.  Very quickly the sailing turned gorgeous with a pleasant wind on the beam and a gentle ocean swell.  

Just after the cut is White Horses- cliffs that are said to look like swimming horses. 

Once in the ocean we took inventory of five other boats that had left the same harbour through the same pass in the hour prior to our departure, all now headed south.  These are all boats that we have anchored near before, some as far back as the Berry Islands.  Second Star settled in to this merry band and relished the beautiful sailing day.  No...actually Second Star shredded through this pack sailing casually but much faster than the other boats...as sometimes happens in a performance oriented catamaran.  

As we were sailing along nicely Brent checked our trip stats. Total miles so far 1298 nm since leaving our dock in Virginia. And check out that maximum speed!  I don't think I was aboard when that happened!  LOL

We dropped anchor between Lee Stocking and Normans Pond Cay in the early afternoon.  That left time for a dinghy ride at slack tide around a small place called Leaf Cay for snorkeling off a pristine beach. We  then went around the point to the other side of the same island, and just over the hill from where we beached our dinghy found this:
About a hundred large iguanas sunning themselves.  They looked incredibly prehistoric.  I don't think there would be a rodent problem on that island.

Comments

Jane said…
Iguanas! How cool is that! So glad you are having some good sailing conditions and that Second Star can stretch her legs.
April 15, 2021 at 9:36 AM
Lynn and Ed said…
Got a laugh out of your casual sail south enjoying Second Star’s superior performance. We know it was glorious!
April 17, 2021 at 11:16 AM
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