Tuesday 21 Jan, BHS day 22: From Lobster Cay to seek shelter in Warderick Wells Cay.

We have a rather unwelcoming wakening at 6:30am. A guy in a small boat is whistling to get our attention. He says there is a barge coming in and we may have to move! What? We are actually anchored right next to where a digger was working yesterday and we realise it must have been constructing a site that a barge can come into to deliver construction material. And now, slowly approaching us is a big RoRo barge. Of all the places in this tranquil paradise, they have to pick to moor it right where we are anchored! So it’s anchor up and move 100m further behind the island. It’s a good job I did a depth survey from the dinghy yesterday, so we know where we can go without a panic.

After that, we try to go back to sleep but I can’t. I’m rather concerned where we go tonight, when the wind will blow hard again, this time from the north quadrant. I had planned to anchor behind Elbow Cay, a slightly bigger Cay than the one we are currently behind. But last night’s 10-12kt north wind has already kicked up quite a choppy sea. So in the forecasted 25-30kt winds it could be hell! But despite searching the charts and pilots, I just can’t see anywhere safe where we can go with our bloody 8ft draft.
So at 9am I admit defeat and call the Highbourne Marina. And thankfully they have a berth available. Outrageously expensive at $200 a night, but right now I’m so anxious I really don’t care. The only down side is that their only available berth will be on the windward side of a pontoon, meaning we will be pinned hard to it in the forecasted wind direction. Yes, we have fenders, but it’s not a great situation. Beggars can’t be choosers, can they?

After contacting the marina I decide to just have one last go at securing a mooring ball at Warderwick Wells, which is about 20 miles south of us. Surprise surprise, we have risen to the top of the wait list and they have just one buoy available. They also assure me it will be sheltered from the coming NW to NE wind, and also assure me all moorings are minimum 9ft deep at low tide (take note of this comment for later). Perfect. I feel instant relief, and call the marina back to cancel our booking that was made just 10 minutes earlier!

At 11am we are off. Although it’s a bit longer than the obvious Exumas Sound route (east side, in deep water) we chose to go south on the Exuma Bank (west side). The water should be flatter there in this north wind. Unfortunately, with our draft, we cannot simply head onto the bank from our anchorage. We instead have to go up to Highbourne Cay Cut and get onto the bank there, adding 6 miles to the journey.
As we pass Highbourne Cay marina we get a glimpse of what we could have had. It looks very nice in there …. but $400 for 2 days of bashing up against the dock? No, thanks.

Once on the Exumas Bank the sails come out and we have a very nice down wind sail all the way. We have the main out one side and genoa poled-out the other side. The wind is only 9-12 knots but we still manage 6kts average speed. And best of all, very gentle motion. Apart from, that is, when a big speeding motor yacht passes us much too close. What is it with these power boat pratts? Why, why, why do they have to pass so close in this vast sea, other than purely to annoy us with their wake? Sometimes I really wish I have better armament then just being able to curse them on the VHF. [mental note to self: add to the shopping list: a yacht-2-yacht missile system].

Finally, by 4pm we draw level with Warderick Wells Cay and turn north through the cut. 5 minutes away we call the National Park on the VHF for instructions. The lady says to call back when we are at the red and green markers. We are at the markers just 1 minute later (!) and call again for instructions. She tells us to come up the channel and once level with her office call again. Why can’t she just give us the buoy number? Is it really that complicated to get in?
Actually, it’s not complicated, but it is tricky. The channel is extremely narrow and all the way down the middle are yachts on mooring buoys. We have to pass very close to each boat for fear of touching the bottom at the edge of the channel. Next instructions finally tell us which buoy to pick up. She could have simply told us to pick up the only buoy not occupied! As usual, Oana plucks the buoy out the water and secures is first attempt. Good job, because I doubt I could have actually turned around in this narrow channel!
After settling in and tidying up we feel relieved, especially as the wind is already picking up.

It’s now high tide and depth is showing 3.6m. With a 0.8m tide range we should be fine. But then suddenly we realize that is the depth measurement in front of the keel and we are being blown right over one side of this narrow channel. The rudder, which is almost as deep as the keel, is clearly in much shallower water. Time to go in and look with the mask and snorkel. Sure enough, the rudder is only 0.5m off the bottom at best. This doesn’t look like a good situation for low tide 🙁
So I take my strongest mooring line and dive it down and tie it onto the bottom of the mooring chain. Then from the deck, manage to pull us several feet further forward, with the mooring buoy and pennant now totally slack. Let’s hope that does the trick. Low tide is 11pm, right when the wind will really start to blow. The only thing I can think to do, if the rudder touches, would be to reverse the boat and moor stern-on – which would be a big weird. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. But I do spend all evening worrying about it. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to try to cruise the Exumas with an 8ft draft boat! I’ll actually be glad to be cruising in deeper water again, frankly.

Mid evening, 2 hours before low tide and my mobile depth sounder reads just 2.5m off the swim platform. I think the rudder will likely touch at 2.3m. So we set up a line from the buoy pennant to the stern of Cloudy, ready to reverse the boat on the mooring if needed. I don’t mind the keel touching but the rudder bouncing on bottom could have serious consequences, like a bent rudder shaft, which could jam the rudder or worst, cause a leak. So reverse mooring with the rudder in the deeper water could be the answer.

Pretty much dead-on low tide the boat swings to the wind in the slack tide, and the wheel spins. This is the moment. The depth off the stern now reads only 2.2m! We decide to hang on, the rudder is clearly catching the bottom but only just. After 20 long minutes, Cloudy swings with the new incoming tide, placing her more central in the channel, and we are passed the worst. Depths are good again, front and back. Next nervous moment will be the low tide at midday tomorrow. Now let’s get to bed. Enough anxiety for one day. Less of that, thank you!