Friday, February 28 to Friday, March 7
Calibash Bay, Long Island to
Half Moon Cay, Little San Salvador
110 nautical miles (126 statute miles)
Now that we are more than halfway through our 90-day visa, we have begun our northward trek. Our southernmost anchorage was at Thompson Bay, Long Island (N23d 21’13”, W75d 08’ 15”) arriving one month into our Bahamas stay in mid to late-February. Our plan is to head back to the United States, somewhere along the Atlantic Coast.
Calibash Bay, Long Island to West Bay, Conception Island
19 nautical miles (22 statute miles)
Friday, February 28
This week started off anchored in Calibash Bay, at one of the more northern anchorages of the wonderful Long Island, and we headed out to Conception Island. This was primarily an eastern jaunt after rounding the northern tip of Long Island. The winds were 4 to 8 knots from the east, so we motored our way there where we dropped anchor at our most eastern anchorage location in West Bay (N23d 50’ 49”, W75d 07’ 18”).
Conception Island
Regarded as the most beautiful island in The Bahamas, Conception Island and its surrounding waters are protected in the 30,000-acre Conception Island national park. Established in 1964, this national park protects miles of pristine pink sandy beaches, gorgeous sandstone cliffs, healthy mangroves, and an extraordinary abundance of wildlife on land and in the sea. Its incredible beauty and healthy ecosystems are attributed to the fact that humans haven’t lived on this island for 100 years.
This was a great stop. We hiked, swam, explored the area by dinghy and met other cruisers.
Our hikes took place on both the sound side and the Atlantic side. Once again, we marveled thinking about the early explorers who navigated these waters without any knowledge of an area that is filled with sharp, jagged rocks and coral reefs.
There are some coral reefs in the bay which we took the time to snorkel and were pleased to find some live coral and a bunch of pretty fish. Also, we simply swam around Utopia.
Both Saturday & Sunday mornings we took our dinghy up a tidal mangrove creek just before high tide. The creek started out with a variety of blue hues as the depths changed throughout the creek, then appeared to take on a greenish tint further upstream. We saw terns, turtles and rays on these trips.
There were a lot of boats in the anchorage, possibly over 20, but it seemed like there was always room for one more. Saturday evening there was a meet up on the beach where most of the boaters from the anchorage socialized while watching the sunset.
West Bay, Conception Island to New Bight, Cat Island
41 nautical miles (47 statute miles)
Monday, March 3
The winds were in our favor to head up to Cat Island. We sailed close-hauled to close-reaching in 4’ seas. Even after reefing the sails, we saw speeds up to 7.5 knots.
During our two-night stop here we explored the area, visiting a bakery with the sweetest woman running the place. A highlight of Cat Island was the walk up to The Hermitage on Mt. Alvernia. We’ve heard about this place but were surprised at just how special it was. One evening, we enjoyed a lovely Bahamian dinner with some fellow cruisers (Heliades) at Hidden Treasures.
New Bight to Old Bight, Cat Island
5.5 nautical miles (6.3 statute miles)
Wednesday, March 5
Since there were southern to southwest winds forecasted, we sailed south to Old Bight for a more comfortable anchorage. We tucked close to shore with enough room for a full swing around and felt it was a smart choice for the night. Since moving to Cat Island, our anchorages have been much less crowded. This large anchorage only had four boats in it.
Old Bight to Alligator Point, Cat Island
23 nautical miles (27 statute miles)
Thursday, March 6
A strong front was forecasted to pass through the area this day, so we pulled up anchor and sailed north toward an anchorage that we hoped would provide some protection from northwest winds. Utopia’s main sail was on her second reef and the little staysail was deployed hoping to keep our speed down to five knots to allow the anchorage more time to calm down before our arrival. At times I was in awe at how fast we went with such a sloppy sail arrangement.
As the squall line associated with the front approached us, we saw gusts above 30 knots and quickly let out the main sheet to ease the effect. However, the system was rather narrow, so it was not long before we tightened up the sails back up and trimmed for the new wind direction. The winds remained over 20 knots the remainder of the day.
Earlier in the day I had noticed some “daylight” showing through the luff line of the staysail where the sail attached to the inner-stay. After the front passed small holes turned into a noticeable gap. After debating whether or not to use the sail until it completely failed, we decided instead to reef the staysail in hopes to ease pressures from the tear area. However the sail violently shook in a reefed arrangement, so we rolled it up and will need to figure out a way to patch it up until we get back to the States.
The northwest winds stayed above 20 knots late into the evening and the anchorage was a washing machine most of the night. There were two other boats here, the catamaran rocking the least, and the Beneteau putting on the most incredible rock and roll show, with Utopia somewhere between the two.
Alligator Point, Cat Island to Half Moon Bay, Little San Salvador Island
21 nautical miles (24 statute miles)
Friday, March 7
We woke up to a relatively chilly 67 degrees and calmer anchorage. With no winds to rock the anchorage, there was also no wind to sail to our next anchorage at Little San Salvador Island. After a very calm motoring trip we set anchor in incredibly clear water at Half Moon Bay and had the anchorage entirely to ourselves. This bay is situated on the southern side of Little San Salvador Island, which is owned by a cruise ship company. There is usually a ship parked here with 3,000 guests on the beach during the day. We happened to arrive on an off day and had the beach to ourselves. Well, other than the construction and maintenance teams, we were all alone. During our beach walk in the afternoon, we stopped to talk to one of the guys that maintain the resort area. It was really fun talking to him, learning about where home is, and hearing how he and the other resort crew get to work at this remote location.
One interesting thing I’ve observed is that the people in the Bahamas are so incredibly friendly. In the States when I say hello to a random construction worker, the response is typically on the surly side. In the Bahamas, a man can look mean and surly while working, but once you say hello, they light up and respond with a very friendly response that can only make your smile get larger.
Post # 25-10 | Links to the previous post (25-09) and the following post (25-11) are below.
Wonderful! Buddy boating with you in our imagination.