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On Monday March 4th, Wild Horses and Caretta left our cozy spots in the south Raggeds after two glorious weeks. We had to time our exit from the anchorage with high tide as the channel leading out of the anchorage can drop below 1 metre in depth. Our keel has a depth of 1.7 metres so working with a flooding tide is critical. In fact, even with high tide, our keel momentarily touched the sandy bottom. No damage was done but it did make our hearts skip a beat! Our first two stops up the Ragged island chain were anchorages just a few hours from each other. The first was Double Breasted Cay (I have no idea who names these anchorages!!) and the second was Buena Vista Cay. Both anchorages were quite beautiful with lots of little sandbars, islands and reefs ready for exploring. We have made notes to make sure to stop at both of these anchorages when we return next winter and have lots of time to explore all their beauty.
On Wednesday we were ready to make the longer jump to the island of Water Cay, at the top of the island chain. The day started well, with Wild Horses as lead boat and Caretta falling just slightly behind us, both motor sailing along in light winds. It was an easy day. That is, until it wasn’t. About 10 nautical miles from the anchorage, Caretta hailed us on the VHF. Their engine had stopped. Yikes! They knew it was likely a clogged engine filter but they wouldn’t be able to fix it underway. The wind was too light to sail so they dropped their dinghy and used it to push their boat along at 3 knots. They got to the Water Cay anchorage just as the sun was setting. We had arrived over an hour earlier and scoped out a spot for them to anchor. Once their anchor was well set in the sand, we chatted and both boats decided to stay an extra day at Water Cay so we could fix Barry’s engine. What we didn’t realize at the time was that we would also need the extra day to fix a problem of our own. During our passage to Water Cay, we kept catching a whiff of an electrical burning smell in one of our aft cabins. We checked the engine wiring, solar wiring, regulator wiring, anything and everything. Then the smell went away later that evening. Hmmm, weird. The next day, the sun was shining bright and the smell was back. Mike removed everything from our back cabin and there it was. Our three solar fuses were in full-on fondue mode. One quick visit with Barry (our solar and electrical mastermind) and fifteen minutes later we had the fuses bypassed. It isn’t a permanent solution but it will get us to Florida with all our solar energy intact. Yes!
With boat issues fixed, we got to enjoy the rugged, wild beauty of Water Cay.
The next day, we weighed anchor and headed away from the Ragged islands. We had decided to take a short cut to Georgetown via the Comer Channel. When arriving in the Raggeds, the only route we ever considered was the “long way”, via the Eastern shore of Long Island, which takes four long daytime jumps or a day and a half of constant around-the-clock travelling. It also exposes you to lots of ocean swell. But a few fellow sailors recommended that we take the shortcut route (the Comer Channel) which shaves two days off the journey but goes over some pretty shallow spots (below 2 metres) that we were a little nervous about. And, our timing for the tides wasn’t ideal. We would be going through the Comer Channel at dead low tide, which on this particular day was 0.1 metres below mean low water. Most of the channel was about 2 metres depth but a few spots were 1.9 metres so at dead low tide we would see 1.8 metres. That is very tight for our 1.7 metre clearance but water under the keel is water under the keel. We went for it. The result? A few “hold-the-breath” moments but we didn’t touch bottom. Not once. What we did get was delightful. A wonderful pod of four dolphins playing at our bow. In just two metres of water, the display was spectacular. I think those dolphins could feel our vibe and were there to tell us all would be okay and to chill out!
We spent that evening and the whole of the next day on the western side of Long Island, at an anchorage called Thompson Bay. Here we had access to a great grocery store, a liquor store and a marine store, as well as several restaurants. As luck would have it, we were there on a Saturday and the local Farmers Market was open. Lots of fresh veggies!
The next day, we headed for Georgetown. We were excited to be returning. It has been just over a year since we left this bustling anchorage, headed for Grenada. That day, so long ago, was full of emotion for us. We were saying goodbye to our buddy boats Sensai and Lola, and heading off into the crazy unknown-to-us ocean with our new buddy boats Kemana and Kesh. We were leaving safe, easy sailing waters and headed for bigger waters, challenges and new experiences. And we have returned as different sailors. We are more knowledgeable, confident, chill and happy. It has been a fabulous year and we are excited to keep doing this sailing gig and seeing where life and the wind takes us. These are pretty special days indeed.
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AuthorVictoria is a hiker, dog-lover, blog writer and planner extraordinaire. Oh, yeah and she is kind of fond of living on a boat. Categories
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