Royal Island

Except for the smoke from some significant fire on Great Abaco Island, we had a nice rest at Lynyard Cay. We pulled up anchor about 6:45 am and dropped the hook here about 4:30 pm, better time than we expected.

We ran the Little Harbour Cut just after sunrise. It was more favorable for the swell than the North Bar Channel. The winds were out of the west. We had a full main up and later pulled out the full jib. We were running about 3 points free from our closest reach. As forecast, the winds came behind us (NW) for more of a broad reach, so out came the new mizzen. We do find it interesting that the winds do not consistently clock around. They kind of hold their breath for a while, then come back at us from a new point on the compass. More than half way across the Northeast Providence Channel, the winds were nearly on our stern (from the N). We poled out the jib on the windward side and had full main and mizzen to leeward. While great for sailing, it was quite a handful when we thought we had a fish on. All fishing was a bust today, not for lack of trying. We kept catching sea grass. That can be a handful to pull in for cleaning when Hold Fast was clipping along at 8 knots. We had to reef down the jib and slow her down a bit to allow the new autopilot to keep up. As the day progressed, the seas grew, but it did not hamper our running the Little Egg Island Cut. The winds are now out of the NE and may go more east. We are well protected here at Royal Island, at least from the wind and swell. We just saw a 120+ foot landing craft come in and work through the boats anchored to the west (we are on the east side of the harbor). In case of that sort of traffic at night, Myron has installed a large cockpit light that pretty well marks us out.

Time to get some dinner and rest.
Love to all,
Dena

Posted via Ham Radio.
{GMST}25|30.932|N|076|50.618|W|Anchored|Royal Island{GEND}