Well like all good plans, this one was flexible. My last post said we were heading to Lee Stocking Island and then George Town. The wind favoured us going a different route so off we went heading east across the Emuxa Sound to Cat Island. We left the Big Major anchorage around 6:30am on Tuesday, Feb. 13 and headed to the cut just north of Staniel Cay (Big Rock Cut). It was a perfect wind/weather day for sailing the 54nm to Cat Island with the wind on the starboard aft quarter (wind and waves behind is called fair winds and following seas!). We had all sails up and with really good speed, we arrived at our new anchorage near New Bight, Cat Island by 4pm.
It was a quick overnight stop and we were up early again on Feb. 14 to make the 40nm jump to Conception Island. It was another downwind sail with the wind out of the northeast so it was on our port aft quarter. The first part of the sail was behind Cat Island so the waves were very small. We were really moving with all sails up and were sailing very flat (not heeled over) because of the wind direction and the small waves. Mark decided it was time to do some fishing. We’ve had good luck in this area in the past and Mark jokes that we seem to catch a mahi mahi in this general area once every two years. Well it was 2 years ago that we caught a mahi crossing back to George Town from Cat Island and wouldn’t you know, we caught another one crossing in front of the south end of Cat Island. It was a big one – 40 inches and 11 lbs. We had a very lovely Valentine’s dinner – fresh fish!!!
The last island hop of this new route was going south from Conception to Clarence Town (which is on the south east side of Long Island). We were expecting the wind to shift more to the east and to decrease in strength over the day. We decided to only deploy the jib and mizzen which worked great for the first few hours but it didn’t take long for the waves to build (probably 1.5m waves) and our speed to drop. We turned into the wind (that was exciting with those large waves) and Mark hoisted the main sail and we continued to Clarence Town. The wind didn’t decrease and we made really good time, arriving around 4pm. We followed the supply ship into the harbour so we might be able to get some fresh produce.
So what’s the plan now – we’re in a great position to make the 30 hour (180nm) passage to Providenciales (Turks & Caicos). The wind is looking good for a downwind sail leaving here around 6am on Feb. 20 which should get us into South Side Marina around 12pm on Feb. 21. We’re watching the wind and weather closely!
Crimson Kathryn and her crew 