Day 215, Thursday January 23, 2014

Day 215, Thursday January 23, 2014.... and also 4 days without email

Captain at the helm holding on as we are leaning a lot

Today we are sailing further south.  The winds will be from the NE so we can sail the entire 45 miles as we are heading SE.  Unfortunately it will be a bit of a “beat”, which means a close reach when the wind is crossing the boat at the front quarter and this leads to lots of heeling (leaning of the boat).  The destination today is Georgetown which is the “capital” of the Exumas.  Many people refer to Georgetown as an adult day camp as there is a very organized sailing community that has lots of activities going on each and every day.  We are anxious to get to Georgetown in order to get some internet and some groceries.  Although we have continued to eat well, it takes more planning and creativity as many supplies are down to zero.

There are about 10 other boats also heading in the same direction as us.  Some faster, some slower, but enough that Dawson wants to keep the sails trimmed and wonders why someone may be going faster than us.  Julie on the other hand just wants to get there.  The waves are about 4 feet, but between teh waves, wind and leaning, it is not a fun ride.   7 hours of it of which some of it is spent vacumning, and cleaning toilets leads to less than 100% feeling. 

Typical at anchor reading a book

We try our luck fishing for big fish on the way.  We have 50 pound test line on and a leader that is a big cable.  The hook and bait look large and Julie is concerned we could catch something too big.  That is all we need, some 5 foot fish that will do a thousand dollars damage to the boat flailing around.  (We don’t have a gaff).  Alas we did not catch anything so we were safe from having to pull some monster into the boat.  Oh well.  We will try again another day.

After 7 hours we arrive to see a couple hundred sailboats anchored.  We find a good spot and see fellow boats that we have crossed paths with.  We get the lowdown from Lynn off of Windward, then head to Chill and Chat for dinner.  Great ribs and fish dinner, but no internet.

We have a dark dinghy ride back to the boat for evening coffee and an early night.

Cheers

Julie and Dawson