As stated in the previous Blog, Persephone sailed over to Thompson Bay to "get otta town". "Regatta" was getting on my last nerve. Thompson Bay is a cute settlement with everything a cruiser needs; a good market, fuel, and a nice bar to enjoy "sundowners" The only down side is the beer-a-torium is a 15 minute car ride out of town. So, before the supply ran out, we sailed out of Thompson Bay yesterday, and sailed north for Calabash Bay at the top of the island. (Did NOT want a repeat of the Farmer's Cay incident of running out of beer !! Now there is ALWAYS plenty of coldies and cash aboard...lesson learned !!) When we got here, the wind was out of the NW and had not clocked around to the NE or E as predicted. So, Calabash was untenable....huge seas were crashing over the reef....NO THANKS. Didn't want to try and go in between the reefs, and once inside, the roll would have been horrible. So, P-Girl turned tail and ran the 5 miles back to Simms Bay. Simms is basically a big open harbor with little protection from anything by easterly winds. The shallow sands extend out about 1.5 miles from the shore. So, the anchor dropped 1.5+ miles off the beach in only 8' of water at mid-tide. Very strange to be anchored so far from shore...sort of like being in the middle of a watery nowhere. Several boats were hanging at Simms waiting for weather, so there was an instant beach party, including the obligatory bonfire. The cow bell was ringing pretty loudly...Did you hear it in the states ?? (The local Bahamian beer is "Kalick" and is named after the sound cow bells make....)
Got up this AM, listened to Chris, (the wx guru) and sailed north without a specific destination. We arrived at Cape Santa Maria late morning with the intent of turning for Conception Island 15 miles further out in the Atlantic. But, upon arrival at Santa Maria big rollers were rounding the Cape with HUGE breaking seas on the rocks at the tip of the island. AND, the wind was right on the nose from the northeast; exactly the direction of Conception Island. Nope....next time.....the fight (or getting beaten up) was not worth it; I again backtracked and this time made it safely into Calabash Bay and dropped the hook behind the reefs which are supposed to break up the seas. The reefs are doing a pretty poor job of stopping the swell rolling through the anchorage. It is very rolly, and you have to hang on just to walk around the boat....you certainly couldn't put a drink down without wearing it instantly.
Speaking of Cape Santa Maria, it is named after Columbus' flag ship the "Santa Maria". Apparently, the "Santa Maria" ran up on the rocks which now bear it's name a couple of days after Chris arrived in the new world. Ole Chris was so proud of his discovery, he promptly ran his flag ship up on the rocks. Guess, he gets also gets credit for the first shipwreck in the new world. The rocks are HUGE, with BIG breakers crashing over them, and are directly under a very high cliff with bright white sand. To say the danger was obvious would be the biggest understatement since 1492. Maybe Chris was enjoying a couple of Kalicks after his discovery and couldn't see or hear the surf over the ringing of the cow bells ??
Bottoms Up !!??
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