Winds and Underway
Well, Mr. Wind had returned and we were in for a windy week. Another
major high-pressure system was settling in and 20 to 30 knot winds
were predicted for most of the week. We did manage to get to hike the
caves near Rock Sound before the winds came. The directions were -
walk up the main road until you reach the church at the top of the
hill. Follow the path (unmarked) that is on the right hand side of
the road, opposite the first steeple of the church. We found it,
believe it or not. Lots of people don't as the path is very hard to
spot. The caves consisted of an undercut area in the base limestone
rock with a blue hole in the middle. The water in the hole rose and
fell with the tides on the Atlantic side of the island - we were on
the other side. Somehow there was a connection. It was an interesting
climb but we turned back when we reached spider webs hanging all over.
There is a very large, brown hairy spider called a Wolf Spider in
these parts which I do not want to meet. We saw some as road kill and
thought they looked rather like squashed Tarantulas. The only other
road kill we have seen, for your further interest, is a large boa-type
snake. Both apparently harmless to humans (unless you take into
account Jim's startle reflex).
The Mail Boat comes in at 3:00am on Tuesday morning. Later in the day
is the best time to get locally fresh produce at the grocery store. We
were really getting settled in. With high winds, we stay either close
to or on the boat. Karen put the time to good use making tortillas,
bread and cookies. I put the time to good use eating her output. We
managed to have a scrabble tournament as we have a board where the
tiles fit into little indents. I managed to loose 6 consecutive games
- talk about someone having luck (it has to be luck, right?). I should
get her back to the casino. We also made friends with the couple on
the boat Julia B, long term residents of the anchorage as they were
awaiting some engine parts that were being shipped in. Once again, we
introduced people to the fascinating game of dominos where I again
demonstrated my skill and expertise (what can I say, I am a natural at
dominos - a game of skill and tactics). Later in the week during one
of our brief visits ashore, we met Janice from the gift shop. She was
surprised to see we were still in Rock Sound and invited us for lunch
the next day. Unfortunately, the winds did not cooperate and we could
not make it in. Once again the friendliness of the people really made
the place.
We left Sunday for Spanish Wells, a two-day trip. The window looked
short but the wind direction had changed enough that we could sail. We
did have a great sail to Pelican Cay, a small anchorage on the side of
Eleuthera (anyplace protected from the wind direction with good
holding for an anchor is an anchorage). The winds turned out to be 20
knots on the nose, but it was great to be moving again. Vagus hunkered
down and drove through the waves and the windvane did a great job of
keeping us on track - all was good. After a brief rain shower on the
way in we anchored and settled down for a restful night with the
promise of more adventures tomorrow.