Cat Island, Old Bight

We leave at 7:00 AM and as soon as we get pass Long Island we are dealing with some pretty good swells from the Atlantic. Unfortunately the period between waves is rather short making for a rough trip requiring hand steering since it is too much for the autopilot to handle well. 

Wind Lass

My favorite old white water life jacket, good protect bouncing around on a sailboat

The wind is blowing around 20 knots out of the southeast and we are looking forward to getting around the southern end of Cat to get some relief from the wind and waves. Well it wasn't to be. After 40 miles of an upper body workout at the wheel, we head northeast to the Bight of Cat for the last 10 miles and the wind kicks up to 25 to 30 knots, SOB! Smaller waves, but now they are breaking over the bow of the boat. We take in even more sail than we had previously. Well, the only good news is Fisherman Mark catches a Maui Maui over a seamount just south of Cat. The Tartar bank rises to a depth of 40 feet where the surrounding ocean floor is ½ mile down. We get a dinner invite over the VHF. The only problem we have is finding a calm anchorage. Mark suggests we head further south to Old Bight and tuck up close to the lee shore. It is not until the last ½ mile that the white caps disappear. We anchor and head into shore to walk along the beach. Since we are on the lee shore it is quite calm where we land the dinghies, although we can see the white caps building out just beyond where are boats are anchored.

Linda makes her Broccoli salad and we have an excellent fish dinner on Sea Vu Play. Played 5's (Dominos) and head back to our boat around 9:00 PM. The winds have dropped off considerably by then.