The Voyage of Vagus V
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Year 1
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Rock Sound to Pelican Cay, Eleuthera
Start Date: March 8th, 2004 Location: Pelican Cay, Eleuthera
End Date: March 21st, 2004
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.

Copyright © 2003-2005 Jim and Karen Lait
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