The “isolated squalls” predicted for Monday had turned into a full day
deluge accompanied by 30 knot winds with a few gusts to 35! We weren’t
leaving the boat in that mess. The weather broke on Tuesday and we were able
to do laundry and get water.
Later on Tuesday our friends on Kianda pulled over to the Kidd Cove side of
Georgetown where we were anchored to get water and groceries before heading
out. We had dinner on JV and we were delighted to learn that they planned to
sail to Black Point on Wednesday because that would be our destination also.
Knowing that we’d get to see them at least one more time was nice.
On Wednesday morning we topped off with water and dropped off our trash.
Then we had to get the dinghy on deck for the rough conditions in Exuma
Sound. Everything seems to take longer than you want it to when you’re
trying to depart, and we didn’t get the hook up until 9:15. Luckily when we
made it to the sound the wind was almost directly on the beam with a nice
current pushing us. We sailed fast and hard through the sound, seeing
speeds up to 8.2 knots in the gusts and sustained in the high 6’s and low
7’s. The waves were 4-6 feet but had a nice period so it was fun sailing.
In the afternoon Dave on Kianda called to say that it looked like the tide
might be turning at Dotham Cut just as we were arriving there. Since the
tidal information in the Bahamas isn’t too exact, Dave had the great idea to
transit the Galliot Cut which is further south and sail to Black Point on
the bank side. Once we made it through the cut it was a whole different
world on the bank side. The water is shallow and sheltered, but the wind was
still blowing nicely. We were a little slower over the ground because the
current wasn’t pushing us, but once we got the sails reset we were flying
along in calmer water. Now we were doing low 7’s through the water and over
ground, it was a blast.
We took a somewhat circuitous route to Black Point, but we hit the Black
Point waypoint at 5:15. The GPS said we’d traveled 53.2 nautical miles over
the ground, that’s an average of 6.65 knots for the day! When you consider
the fact we had to slow down for the cuts and to alter course downwind for
an hour, we had big smiles when we dropped the hook!
Last night Dave and Jess prepared a wonderful dinner on Kianda, a great end
to a great day. Unfortunately, we’re hanging out in Black Point today while
Kianda sails north, headed for home. We wish them well and hope that our
paths cross again sometime in the future.