Cambridge Cay was a wonderful place to spend time. Now that we have been there, we would go back for a frontal passage instead of going between Little Major and Big Major. There is less current and mooring balls along with good holding if the balls are all taken.
We didn’t need protection from a front while on this visit. The winds calmed to less than 20 kts and the Island protected us from the East wind. Judy at Exuma Park told us about the “Sea Aquarium” so we set out on Monday to find it and a sunken airplane. Two dinghy mooring floats and a park sign made it easy to find the spot. Slipping over the side we were surrounded by Sargent Majors looking for a handout. There were hundreds of fish – easily the most variety we’ve seen on the trip. We spent over an hour in the water taking lots of photos and adding new species to our checklist.
Noah made friends with a family visiting their parents on s/v Movin’ On. He and the kids visited in the dinghies after snorkeling. Noah towed the youngest around in a clear bottomed kayak, so got his swimming practice in. We found the sunken plane on the way back to the mooring field, but didn’t dive on it. It was upside down and didn’t have many fish around it. Not as interesting as the plane at Norman’s Cay.
Back at Cambridge we took hot solar showers then Beth made Bar Cheese to take to a pot luck. Mailbox Cay was the spot where we all gathered. Really just a sandbar with a park sign and a mailbox where you can leave your mooring fee. Eight boat crews participated and the kids had a great time running around the Cay. They can’t get into too much trouble on a sandbar!
We talked with John and Jan on Stella Maris by VHF and decided to cross Exuma Sound together in the morning unless the weather forecast changed dramatically. We were torn between staying longer at this beautiful spot or being able to sail across the sound. The winds are predicted to go light and variable soon, so if we wait then we’d be motoring across.
This morning dawned grey with winds in the mid-teens. Couldn’t hear Chris Parker on the SSB until 0650 (he starts at 0630 as does our “official” cruising day) because the propagation has been poor until after sunrise. Anyway, we talked with him directly and he called for 110 at 15 kts with 3 ft seas, so we finished preparations and dropped the mooring pennant at 0825.
Bell Cut was fine passing through at 0840 about an hour before high tide. Rain started shortly after the water became deep enough that our depth sounder couldn’t see the bottom any longer. We put up all three sails and ran the engine to help punch through the five foot seas. By 0953 the wind had picked up enough to turn off the motor and enjoy one of the best sails of the year while waving goodbye to the beautiful Exumas. Stella Maris left from ten miles further north and wasn’t able to sail due to the wind angle.
The rain stopped and the winds picked up by 1100 so we put the first reef in the main. At 1220 we were heeled at 50 degrees so rolled the 130 Jib back to 100% making the ride more comfortable and increasing our speed from 7.0 to 7.6 kts. Noah sighted land about ten miles out from Powell Point. The closer to Eluethera the more settled the seas became and at 1316 we recorded 8.6 kts for a couple of seconds on the face of a wave.
By the time we reached Point Powell, seven other boats were heading in the same direction. Timed it perfectly (unplanned) so that we arrived at the same time as Stella Maris. It was a little disconcerting that the water depth sounder went from infinity right to 18 feet. Other boats reported the same phenomenon, so there must be a fairly sharp wall as the sound meets the island. We doused sail and turned to motor towards Rock Sound in line with the other boats. Only had to alter course two times from the course line in the Explorer chart book to avoid small coral heads.
Approaching Rock Sound, the first thing that stood out was motion on the shore. There are roads on this island with trucks and school busses. It has been a while since we’ve seen anything larger than a golf cart. At 1610 we dropped the hook in seven feet of water just off the church in Rock Sound, Eluethera after traveling 46.9 nm through water over 3000 feet deep.
The Stella Maris crew went ashore to explore while we elected to clean up and eat dinner aboard. They are on a schedule and will probably leave in the morning. We plan to explore Rock Sound and do some serious grocery shopping. Don’t know how long we’ll stay until we find out more about the area.