Mayaguana, Bahamas
22.17.036N
72.47.146S
Another day on the boat, waiting. This morning was still overcast when Calaloo hoisted anchor and pulled out for Luperon. We radioed our bon voyage to them and watched as they circled around the anchorage and headed out of sight.
Dale and I spent the day cleaning the interior of the boat and studying the charts. Elaine radioed us about midmorning that she was tired of talking with just her husband so we went over for a lunch of homemade soup and finalized our plans for moving to a staging area for a midnight departure. The guidebooks advise to be at the entrance channel to the Turks and Caicos by morning so that you can go through the channel with a minimum of engine power against the outgoing water from the banks inside. Apparently the sun heats the water on the banks and they flow out to the ocean during the day at a fairly good rate and then return at night when the banks cool off again.
After lunch we hoisted our anchors and started sailing to the end of the island to the staging anchorage about 1:30pm. Dale let out one of his fishing lines and caught a tuna head (sharks got the rest). I don't think any of us realized just how far the end of the island was (17 miles is really nothing, right?) until we noticed that the sun was getting lower and lower in the sky and we still needed to go about 8 more miles. We turned on our engine and added a little iron wind to our sails to get the 8 kts we ended up with and anchored about 45 minutes before sunset.
We are now anchored (where suggested) in the swell just before the water hits the reef at the end of the island. We never did find the deep sand described in the guidebooks but Dale let out enough chain for the weight alone to hold us in place. Doc-No-More is right beside us. The winds are very calm, so there shouldn't be any problem.
We're off to bed early so that the alarm set for midnight won't be such a shock. Although it won't exactly be an overnight passage, the majority of this passage will be after dark, or should I say before light. This winter sailing is for the birds.
