Another snapper and more exploring...
White Harbour is home to a Sea Spray Marina, which appears to cater to power boaters who come over to the Abacos for the fishing outside the Sea of Abaco. We skirted the marina and went over to the Abaco Inn, where we had a drink and thought we might catch the Kentucky Derby on TV. Alas, the derby was two hours from starting, so we bagged it and went back to Alizee for the night. Next morning (May 3) we dinghied over to Cracker P's, a bar and restaurant on Lubber's Quarters famous for its full moon parties, had a nice lunch of fresh Wahoo, and then decided to sail to Tilloo Cay.
The anchorage we were aiming for was only a mile away as the crow flies, but the channel was narrow and the water thin and we wanted to sail. So, we sailed out and around Lubbers Bank, a sand bank that stretches a couple of miles into the Sea of Abaco from Lubbers Quarters. It was a nice downwind sail, and we turned port around the end of the bank to head back toward Tilloo Cay. In our turn we confronted a 120-plus-foot power yacht, who saw us coming and then decided to stop right in our path (so he could pull in his tender). We came within 50 meters of her, and I wasn't too happy about the encounter (nor was the yacht's skipper), but we waved and exchanged no epitaphs.
Going back toward Tilloo was mostly very tight on the wind, and we tacked two or three times and were always at a close haul. I managed (much to Pen's joy) not to hit a sunken barge on the route, and 13.7 nm of sailing and three hours later we drifted into our anchorage at Tilloo Cay, where we settled in for the night and grilled a wonderful small rack of lamb. It was the very best.
The winds in this part of the Sea of Abaco force you to either motor or do a lot of out of the way tacking. We're really enjoying sailing, so the next morning (May 4) we sailed across the sea to Snake Cay, anchored and dinghied into some inlets to progue about for whatever we could see. We found a lot of fish in and around the mangroves in the inlet, and then returned, had a sandwich for lunch and weighed anchor for a new anchorage further down Tilloo Cay, near a spot called Tilloo Pond. We literally had to sail almost back to the point we departed, but the wind had shifted, so we got a nice broad reach down the inside of Tilloo Cay to our anchorage.
Yesterday (May 5) we sailed to a snorkeling spot at Sandy Cay, which meant sailing full downwind across the Sea of Abaco to get around the Tilloo Bank, an extensive sand bank. Following Steve Dodge's Cruising Guide to Abaco, I thought we could take a route through a deeper part of the bank, but it turns out his recommendation was wrong. As the water became thin, I turned back, but, alas, I was too late. We found ourselves going downwind and aground in 2.9 feet of water. I couldn't motor out nor turn Alizee, so I got in the dinghy, Pen lowered the anchor to me, and I took it out to set it for a kedge. After one failed attempt, we set the anchor on the second try, and then I had to get the sails around so when we pivoted just a little we could start getting help from the wind to heel us. We worked really good together as a team, Pen bringing in the anchor with the windlass, me at the helm and powering her to turn. After about 25 minutes we were out, and most pleased that we didn't have to wait for five hours for high tide.
Once back underway, we finished the sail through a deeper channel and anchored at Sandy Cay. After lunch we dinghied over to the "coral garden" reef, moored the dinghy on a small boat mooring, and snorkeled for about 45 minutes. The surge and current was pretty strong, so we didn't stay as long as we'd hoped, but it was really beautiful and fun to see a couple of large Mutton Snappers like the one's we'd been feasting on, as well as multitudes of other fish.
Today, by default, I guess we're just staying at anchor. We've both done a bunch of crosswords, Pen's reading now, and I'm about to post this blog entry. We did make some sushi rice (12 hours of soaking, then steaming it), so we'll have sushi tonight ... but, darn, without nori, which we've used up. Tomorrow we are going to start our way back up to Marsh Harbour rather than go on down to the Eleutheras. We're really enjoying gunkholing, and We decided we want to crew for Brain and Sheree on the schooner William H. Albury (which, by the way is for sail). So we'll get back to Marsh on Friday or Saturday for the Sunday sail with them.
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