To Rock Sound - The Long Way

We managed to get to our destination, Rock Sound, via Royal Island. We chose this northwest and then southeast route to keep the winds aft of our beam and to keep us sailing, as much as possible. We also chose Royal Island Harbour as an interim destination for the strong southwest winds as well as the cold front passage Thursday night. We were expecting 20-25 knots, gusting to 30. We saw gale force winds (35 knots) and a squall with reported winds up to 48 knots. As you know, we do not have a wind instrument, but we use the sound of our rigging. It moans like a cartoon ghost in the upper teens and twenties. It sings a higher pitch in the thirties, and has an even higher pitch and decibel level in the forties. But to get technical, some guy with a wind instrument reported the 48 knots. We were thankful we were in such a protected anchorage that had little or no fetch, therefore it was all about contending with the wind. Plus looking out for the boat that anchored near us.

We were up most of the night, therefore we were not enthusiastic about moving on this morning. Once Myron was convinced this was the only day of favorable winds, northwest 20 to 25 knots, he roused me up and we set off. We knew we would not be off Governor's Harbor before the sunset, but we have been in and out of Rock Sound so many times, our confidence was high to arrive in the dark. The real challenge of the day was negotiating Current Cut in high winds. We tried to time our arrival at slack, but the tide tables were off and it was just beginning to ebb and on its way to getting quite rowdy. On the other side of Current Cut was a completely different world. Complete peace. A local boat passed us with a six year old driving and dad on the bow, both waving and having a great day. That is the thing about that place: if it is bad on the west side, go to the east side!

We filled both saddle tanks with water, probably over a hundred gallons made, and all around had a very pleasant day. After dark, Myron had a dolphin jump out of the water at the side of our center cockpit and take a good look at him. Gotta love dolphins. We arrived about 9:30 pm. Time for a shower and much needed sleep.

Love to all,
Dena

{GMST}24°52.03'N|076°09.94'W|1/29/2016|9:48 PM{GEND}