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Overnight to Long Island, Bahamas Clarence Town (23 06.2N, 74 57.0W) May 14-18, 2006

Sailboat | Voyages | Log

First landfall in the Bahamas Clarence Town does not see a lot of tourists This is a true get away island 80 miles of nothing but sand and beaches The Harbour Restaurant Makes the best Bahamian Guava Duff Owned by Annie and Reginald Minnis This is it The worlds best Bahamian Guava Duff A guava cream sauce over a piece of bread Saint Peter and Paul Catholic Church Built by architect priest Father Jerome Totally dominates skyline on this remote island Overnight Passage Overnight passages are rarely fun, but it is so satisfying to see the sun rise knowing that 60 or 70 miles have passed beneath the keel during the darkness of night. Our nighttime routine of three-on-three-off has worked well. We get nearly six hours of sleep interrupted by a three hour watch. As I write, we are completing a 180 mile run from Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos to Clarence Town, Long Island in the Bahamas. The wind is on our stern, forcing us to run with the wind. No sailboat likes wind on its tail, but Full Circle is particularly displeased with it. The boom can only extend 30 degrees before the mainsail rubs against the shrouds, causing serious chafe. We struggled all day yesterday trying multiple sail configurations including wing-on-wing with the whisker pole to hold the jib out. With only eight knots of apparent wind, we just couldn't get the speed we needed. Long Island was 180 miles away. At five knots that is 36 hours. Since we left Provo at 0800, that would put us into Long Island at 2000 (8 PM) the following day, which is totally unacceptable in these reef riddled waters. We must make landfall during daylight. We needed to average six knots for 180 miles to make landfall before dark, a hearty goal. Our diesel is our friend, and our large full tanks provide the nourishment it needs. We motored out of Prove and along the south side of Mayaguana. At six PM we turned north to cut between the west side of Mayaguana and the east side of Plana Cays. This put us on a course of 340 degrees, which allowed us to sail on a broad reach for six hours of blissful silence. At midnight, we again had to turn west to cross over the north sides of Plana Cays, Acklins, and Crooked Islands. Down came the sails and on came the engine. Motoring with the jib partially extended, we made 6.5 knots, but it was a squirrelly ride with swells on the stern causing the boat to rock wildly back and forth. Shortly after sunrise at 0830, I can see the one hundred foot Bird Rock lighthouse on Crooked Island, eight miles off our port side. It looks like a giant white pencil sticking out of the horizon. We will make it; we will arrive at Clarence Town, Long Island by 1500 this afternoon. Part of the goal in getting to Clarence Town is that we have word of dangerous squalls in the area generating winds up to 50 miles per hour. We don’t need or want that experience. The wind continued to clock around to the south allowing us to sail the last four hours. This wind shift is also an omen of bad weather. We are now safe in the Clarence Town anchorage and may be here for a few days until things blow over. Did laundry last night by letting it soak in a bucket overnight. Hung it out to dry today and am good to go. As everey boy knows, the golden rule concerning underwear is: Once outside out, once inside out, and once without. Do the math; that's three for one. Sounds like a rule for sailors. Clarence Town Clarence Town turned out to be a real charmer - clean and friendly with a down home local restaurant. Annie, the owner of the Harbour Restaurant, talked us into sampling her special Bahamian desert called guava duff (need to check that out on the Internet). We washed it all down with a few bottles of Kalik (see wwww.kalik.com), the local beer before heading back to Full Circle for an early bedtime. How many islands do you think are named "long island" or "sand cay." Seems to be thousands; there are dozens in the Bahamas alone. We awoke Wednesday Morning to 38 knots of winds and blinding rain. It was nice to be at anchor and not at sea. We spent the day at anchor. I cleaned out all the island literature that I had been saving during the trip and kept what might be useful for future trips by pasting it in the log book, which is now become a scrap book. In addition I got all the web pages ready to be uploaded. I just need to find an Internet connection. Doing it on the boat would take 30 or 40 minutes. We did venture into to Clarence Town for another dinner at the Harbour Restaurant and to purchase some ice. Part of motivation was to take Phil and Barb out to dinner and treat them to some Guava Duff. We have been sailing with Phil and Barb, on board Ceres, off and on since Boqueron. They have spent the last five years cruising the Bahamas and have been very generous with their advice and help. After treating us to a Dorado fish dinner on their boat in Sapodilla Bay, we were pleased the weather was nice enough to return the favor. We were the only customers, but for a tiny deserted restaurant, the food was excellent. It's Thursday morning, and based on Jeremy's weather update, we have decided to press on and head for Rum Cay about 30 miles north. It is still drizzling, but the wind has died down. Actually, there is no wind; it will be a day of motoring. Occasional squalls are forecast, but it doesn't sound too serious. I heard from Jim Openshaw, our third crew member who will be doing the final ocean passage from Marsh Harbor in the Abacos to Annapolis with us. He will be arriving in Marsh Harbor on the 28th of May. That gives us another ten days to meander through the Exumas and Eleuthera. I have a friend Bone fishing in Eleuthera, and we may try and hook up (catch the pun) with him. Previous | Next