Month: February 2019

This little National Parks Cay claims to be one of the first stops for Christopher Columbus. We decided to take a trip out to Conception Cay because Mark had read about it’s natural beauty and the amazing coral reefs that surround it. Well, it sure had lots of offer and we couldn’t have picked calmer weather for our visit.

We left George Town and stopped overnight at Calabash Bay, North part of Long Island. The next morning we headed for Conception in very light winds so we motored. We were within an hour from Conception when our fishing reel burst into life! Mark reeled in our first mauhi! It was a good size – 6.5 lbs and 35 inches long. It was a great Valentine’s Day dinner!

Once anchored, we decided to check out the coral reef closest to us. The reef was in rough space (lots of sand damage from the last 2 hurricanes) but there were lots of fish to see. I was swimming back to the boat and looking for stingray. There were a few around the boat but the big surprise came when the nurse shark appeared! It really liked our boat and stayed very close for a few hours! It had a larger friend who also came to visit at one point! Sure makes you get out of the water in a hurry!

We met 2 other boats in the anchorage and spent a few days hanging out with the 2 couples. We checked out many reefs and saw some awesome deep water coral that still seemed healthy. We saw lots of fish, plus turtles, birds, and dolphins!

After a great few days, we decided to head back to George Town to get ready for our visitors. Caroline arrives first on Friday, Feb. 22 and Donalda and Bill arrive next on Feb. 28. Our plan is to head back to Conception and spend a bit of time on Long Island. Here’s hoping we get the right wind for all this exploring!

Last time we were in George Town, we arrived early to meet Caroline. This time we have arrived early to meet Caroline and our friends Donalda and Bill. It’s so great to have people joining us on this adventure! This boat was made for company!

We had a great sail down from Lee Stocking Island. The wind was strong from the north east and we joined many boats heading to George Town. We had all sails up and Captain Mark did a great job of trimming our sails so we made some great speed – high 7 knots and some 8 knots. Whitby sailboats are not known for their speed – they are heavy cruising boats that need a lot of wind to get them moving. Well, let me tell you, Crimson Kathryn was loving the wind that day! We sailed past at least 6 boats and headed into Conch Cut (the opening to George Town) ahead of at least 14 other sailboats! It was so cool to look back and see all those sails behind us. Someone in the Harbour came on the radio and said we were the winners of the “Somewhere to George Town regatta”! We laughed and have not stopped talking about it – Whitbys don’t win regattas!

So here we are in George Town! Lots of boats in the anchorages around Stocking Island. It’s been very windy since we’ve arrived – mainly from the north east and east. We’re hoping to get away from GT for a week before Caroline arrives but that depends on the wind. The George Town Cruisers Regatta starts on Feb. 14 and runs until Feb. 26., so we will see some of that while we’re here.

We’re making our way south to George Town. After leaving Allen’s Cay, we anchored near Highbourne Cay. There we had a great snorkelling afternoon where we saw some nice coral and lots of fish. We also saw a wrecked sailboat – you could clearly make out the keel, mast, batteries and a sink.

The next morning we pulled up our anchor and headed to Shroud Cay. Unfortunately, the autopilot wouldn’t work and then the engine’s alternator stopped working. We decided to sail past Shroud and go to Waderick Wells Cay instead, thinking we’d have cell service or possibly wifi at Waderick. Well we were somewhat disappointed- we could get a very limited cell signal and were only able to send an email to the autopilot repair guy in Seattle. On our second day at Waderick, Mark figured out what was wrong with the alternator. We had the fan belt break in the engine while crossing to New Providence. Lots of rubber got into the alternator and shut it down. We took the pump for our dinghy and blew out all of the rubber crap and that worked – alternator is working perfectly.

We decided to head to Staniel Cay where we knew we could get cell reception and wifi. We had a nice upwind sail and Mark got the sails balanced so hand steering wasn’t bad. We anchored by the Big Major Spot (where the swimming pigs are) and tried to figure out what was wrong with auto. Well it turns out that the switch and the solenoid for the autopilot were both not working. We had another switch but not a replacement solenoid. Mark has done some bypass surgery and now auto is working again! Yippy – we don’t have to buy a new autopilot!!! Yesterday we also started the water maker and it is working well. So we had a few days of happy repair stories!

We’re hanging out on Staniel Cay today – having some lunch and doing a bit of grocery shopping. We had a day of rain yesterday but today is sunny and hot (sorry). Our next stop is Black Point Harbour!