Buena Vista, Jumentos to Black Point, Exumas

We knew it was going to be a long day with an after sunset arrival time.  It was important to sail through the sand bores before sunset so we pulled up anchor at 5 am and started on our way.  Even though the winds blew all night, they held their breath in the morning.  We shook out the reef on the main and had the full jib out, but kept the motor on to keep us over four knots.  We needed to charge the batteries anyway (since the failure of the starter battery in the Abacos, keeping the house batteries healthy has been a daily task).  What little wind we had was on the beam.  After a glorious sunrise, the wind picked up, the motor was off, the mizzen came out in full and we were reaching along at over seven knots and sometimes in the eights.   The longest leg of the trip was 79 miles, 59 of which was great fun.  Then the winds lightened and we could not keep above four knots, forcing us to start up the motor.  We used that opportunity to make 142 gallons of water to top off the tanks and take a couple of Hollywood showers underway.  We were through the sand bores and on one of our last legs of the journey before enjoying a beautiful sunset.  We dropped the sails about a mile from Black Point.  I went on the bow with a spotlight and a radio and guided Myron into the anchorage, around other boats and into an anchoring spot for the night.  We were shut down at 9:30 pm, a good 1.5 hours ahead of our planned arrival time for the 109 mile ‘day’ trip!  It was a fun day traveling with Nancy Lu and Discovery.  No fishing though on all those miles of sand flats, but it sure makes for some indescribably brilliant blue water.

Today’s biggest assignment is laundry.  I expect we will also relocate our anchoring spot (all is much clearer in the daylight!), research weather for our routes the next couple of days, and hopefully we can sneak in a nap.  I will let you know if I can get some pictures up on Picasa.

This morning Myron posted tracks from most of our routes down in the Jumentos and Ragged Island.  Take a look at them on the map as I think you will find it interesting.

Love to all,

Dena

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