Our toughest passage yet!
The sail from Eleuthera to Mayaguana wasn't our longest passage but it was definitely our toughest. In hindsight, this could have been partly due to the days leading up to our trip. We had recently filled our tanks with diesel in Spanish Wells and lets just say it was PRICEY! leading to our determination to sail as much as possible moving forward. Yes, this is always the goal but sometimes the wind doesn't cooperate so in the past we have made decisions based on where we are trying to go and maybe not solely on sailability. We had been watching the weather closely and we decided we would ride a slow moving weather front to sail south. This would take us about 1 day and 21 hours. We have never ridden a front before but the idea is the...... Our plan was to move south a day or 2 before we planned to leave from Cocodimama Bay where we were anchored (which is mid island) to the Cape of Eleuthera, then anchor for a night and then leave from there when the window opened up.
Day 1 of moving to Cape Eleuthera: head to wind! o goody. So we tacked back and forth Ten Bay Beach. We had only made it about half the distance of what we originally expected. But the anchorage was nice and had a wonderful beach to take Tito on a nice long walk.
Day 2 of moving to Cape Eleuthera: started with another long walk with Tito and a Workout with a View of Maho. We again had wind in the face so we tacked all day to
the Cape where we found a semi calm area to anchor; it was about 4pm at this point. The plan was to leave by 5:30 to make it around the point before sunset and also to stay ahead of the front. So instead of a relaxing night, or even a few hours, we quick anchored and took Tito to shore for a walk as we knew we had a long passage ahead of us. It is amazing how much a 30 minute walk on shore can reset you though; it was good for the whole family!
We were tired. I think we both thought it but didn't want to admit it. In general we are pretty good at powering through and we had spent so much time planning this passage that we both also didn't want to miss the window to make this big jump. We had decided our ultimate goal this year was to get south, to make it to the Caribbean, take Maho to Maho Bay, etc. so if this is what it took then we would power onward.
A little after 5:30 we pulled up anchor and headed out. It was rough. We were seeing 5-7 foot breaking waves in front and to the side and we were seeing a lot of lightning behind us which was the front pushing through. There was a chance of rain, it was uncomfortable, and in general we were both thinking but not speaking, "What are we doing?!, Why are we doing this?!" We pushed onward.
Overnight and into the morning we were
able to sail; which was our goal! It wasn't ideal but we were making good time at an average of 6-7 knots. By daylight the swells had increased. We decided to check the radar and saw there was a high seas forecast where we were. LUCKILY, the waves were coming from behind the boat.
It was exhilarating to say the least as Maho surfed down the waves at 11-12knots and we were thankful they weren't coming from any other direction.
We did a lot of snacking and Maho handled the conditions well. We passed Rum Cay around noon and we were in the lee of the Crooked and Acklin Islands overnight making for much smoother conditions. By morning we were motor sailing as the wind had died and due to the waves we couldn't stay at any sort of consistent speed. We ran 1 engine at low RPMs and it was just enough. We do 2 hour watch shifts at night and thankfully we both got a little rest due to the calmer conditions. The next morning we called an audible. IMPROMPTU stop at the Plana Cays! It was Valentines Day, all 3 of us were ready to get off the boat, and we were due into Mayaguana around 3 giving us just a little leeway to stop. We didn't want to get to our destination after sunset as the anchorage is behind a coral reef and there are numerous coral heads you have to watch for as you enter the "bay"
Plana Cays was totally worth it! A little triky to get off the dingy safely but we made it. Even picked up a few washed up crates to recycle into shell and shoe bins :)
Back on Maho we pulled up anchor and were back on our way. We made a Bday dinnfast of boxed macaroni and cheese and turkey hot dogs. We hadn't really eaten dinner or had anything yet this am so it was EXACTLY what we needed! Delicious!
We were making good times and the wind was excellent for sailing the rest of the way to Mayaguana. We were functioning a little better due to the calmer sea state and after our beach break. We did some reaching on Luperon, DR which would be one of our upcoming destinations. As we came into Mayaguana we looked out for coral heads and stayed on the designated path shown on our charts and found a spot no problem. Anchos down before 5! We had made it! We had decided to make Pain Killers as our arrival sun downer and wow they hit the spot.
Tito was more than ready to hit the beach so we lowered the dingy and headed for shore. I saw something pink out of the corner of my eye and I told Jonathan "they look like flamingos". They were! Because I had failed to due as much research on this destination as I normally do the flamingos that are in Mayaguana most of the year were a pleasant surprise on arrival!
The next few days were recovery days consisting of a late morning dingy ride to shore, a beach walk to quietly check out the flamingos and then some sort of island exploration. We met Scully, the local "legend", who offered his assistance if we needed anything during our stay. It was very windy over the next few days but we enjoyed taking the time to recuperate and reflect on the passage as well as look forward to and plan the next one!
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