Friday 22nd December
Hog Cay
23 39.00 N
75 21.60 W
We decided on an early start to see if the wind would let us get as far as Santa Maria Cay or hopefully further. We raised the anchor and headed out of the Elizabeth (that’s the Georgetown harbour’s name) at 0700hrs.The harbour took us about an hour to exit as it has many twists and turns to avoid the rocks and reefs. Once we cleared the harbour the wind was directly on the bow of the boat at a speed of 15 – 20 knots, the seas were about 5 foot and we would be heading almost directly into them for the whole trip – what fun. Anyway we’d had enough of Georgetown and decided to proceed. So for the next 9 hours we bashed into the waves making the 27 nautical miles to Cape Santa Maria by 15.00hrs. The trip leaves nothing exciting to report, we watched the white horses dancing on top of the waves and the mini rainbows caused by the wake coming off of our bow, we saw no other boats heading our way and not a sign of sea life anywhere.
Once we got to Santa Maria Cay we headed to the northern most anchorage which according to the cruising guide we are using, can get a bit “rolly” – it certainly was, so we then headed to the next anchorage down and threaded our way through the coral heads to the anchoring point only to find that this anchorage was no better than the first. The last resort was to head a little further south to Hog Cay and try there. Hog Cay is a privately owned Cay and you can only go ashore there by invitation, it is also apparently home to the largest flock of West Indian Whistling Ducks – we looked and listened but didn’t spot a single one! We did spy a very large osprey nest on the top of an old windmill tower and it was occupied by a nesting couple, we weren’t close enough even with the binoculars to see if there were any babies. Dodging more coral heads, running momentarily aground and backing off twice as quickly, we finally found a spot that wasn’t affected by the swell, was deep enough and set our anchor in plenty of time for sundowner drinks and an early night.
23 39.00 N
75 21.60 W
We decided on an early start to see if the wind would let us get as far as Santa Maria Cay or hopefully further. We raised the anchor and headed out of the Elizabeth (that’s the Georgetown harbour’s name) at 0700hrs.The harbour took us about an hour to exit as it has many twists and turns to avoid the rocks and reefs. Once we cleared the harbour the wind was directly on the bow of the boat at a speed of 15 – 20 knots, the seas were about 5 foot and we would be heading almost directly into them for the whole trip – what fun. Anyway we’d had enough of Georgetown and decided to proceed. So for the next 9 hours we bashed into the waves making the 27 nautical miles to Cape Santa Maria by 15.00hrs. The trip leaves nothing exciting to report, we watched the white horses dancing on top of the waves and the mini rainbows caused by the wake coming off of our bow, we saw no other boats heading our way and not a sign of sea life anywhere.
Once we got to Santa Maria Cay we headed to the northern most anchorage which according to the cruising guide we are using, can get a bit “rolly” – it certainly was, so we then headed to the next anchorage down and threaded our way through the coral heads to the anchoring point only to find that this anchorage was no better than the first. The last resort was to head a little further south to Hog Cay and try there. Hog Cay is a privately owned Cay and you can only go ashore there by invitation, it is also apparently home to the largest flock of West Indian Whistling Ducks – we looked and listened but didn’t spot a single one! We did spy a very large osprey nest on the top of an old windmill tower and it was occupied by a nesting couple, we weren’t close enough even with the binoculars to see if there were any babies. Dodging more coral heads, running momentarily aground and backing off twice as quickly, we finally found a spot that wasn’t affected by the swell, was deep enough and set our anchor in plenty of time for sundowner drinks and an early night.
Labels: Bahamas
posted by SV Orpailleur at 6:50 a.m.
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