Feb 13-15 Little Cistern Cay to Lee Stocking Island

 At Little Cistern Cay the wind blew hard from the north west.  The shore was close at hand immediately behind us.  Through the night we took turns watching the position of the boat to detect any hint of our anchor slipping backwards onto the beach.  The sun came up and we felt ready to leave.

Lois took Sam ashore in difficult conditions. Landing the dinghy through the surf onto the beach was not easy.  Getting dog and dinghy off the beach and through the surf was as harder still.  But it got done.

Back at Second Star Lois took a moment to catch her breath and change into dry clothes, and was then ready to leave here.  

In just minutes we were away from our tropical island stop and running south with the wind over our shoulder.  We started out with two reefs in the main sail due to the strong wind, but as we got more comfortable and the strong gusts abated somewhat we shook out one reef, then the other and picked up speed surfing down the big waves.

It has been a few days since we got an updated weather forecast, so as we were zooming south we stayed within 5 miles of the chain of islands rolling by to catch a signal.  The tall towers of Staniel Cay delivered. With the more current information we then made a plan for the rest of the day.  It was also fun to catch up on communications with friends.  As always there was a Plan A and Plan B, but we would really like to use this wind to get as far south as possible (Plan B).  These southbound winds are infrequent this time of year, so let’s see what we can squeeze out of this one.  

We passed Plan A a little after noon, and went big time for Plan B: reaching for Lee Stocking Island, a straight line distance of more than 55 miles from our starting point. We actually sailed closer to 80 miles zig zagging our way down wind as sailing catamarans do.  We pulled into Lee Stocking anchorage with the sun still just high enough to see the obstacles in the water and appreciate the beautiful inlet.  It was a satisfying sail but quite a long, exhausting day.

The sunrise the next morning was a pleasant greeting. 

The water here is very clear.  We can see details on the bottom, even in deep water.

On our dinghy runs to shore we saw and got quite close to a pair of large rays cruising the shallows. They must be regulars, because we've seen them multiple times in about the same place.  They seem very laid back, and are just beautiful. 

We also had another Lifetime Critter Spotting! A Frigatebird flew overhead, looking very much like a pterodactyl.  Bonus points to Brent who recognized what it was (later confirmed by the google.)

We toured the ruins of the old NOAA research station, which appears to have been abandoned in a bit of an hurry in 2012. Research equipment and even reagent grade chemicals remain where they were when in active use.  Notice there are still post it notes on the wall, despite hurricanes and thousands of touristy visitors.

Nature is retaking the air strip and roads. 

Most of the buildings show signs of decay and storm damage. We found signs of recent renovation activity and even talked with one of the skilled workers restoring infrastructure facilities and a few buildings. So there may be a future here.

"Home Depot" was the name on the supply warehouse. Struck me as a very American sense of humor.

Lois’ birthday was the next day.  No fancy restaurants here so Brent pulled together a serviceable lunch and made made stove top cinnamon rolls for tea time.  

Lois enjoyed a day of stitching, giving the dog a bath, and defrosted the frig. Brent attended to a few boat maintenance tasks.  She declared it a very nice day.