Good times at Galliot Cay

Life was looking to be a fun time at Blackpoint settlement, but the weather was going to be nasty. So we searched the maps for a better anchorage, one with protection from the west, room to drag, and few boats.... Ha! Fat chance, but we found one near Galliot Cay, so away we went.

Getting there was a short sail of maybe 3 hrs, actually we motored into the wind. When we were passing Little Farmers Cay on the bank side, we ended up getting ourselves into 7 ft of water. Tensions were high. We made it into the anchorage and tucked in behind Galliot Cay for protection from the easterlies. We snorkelled and chilled on the beach, Dexter found trees and bouys to chew on, Jennie sun to bath in, and Dave some small coral heads to swim by. As dinner came we, were debating on what to make. Suddenly Dexter went crazy barking at a boat. I looked up to tell Dex to shit it, and it was a boat with three Bahamians returning from fishing. This boat looked like a beat up 14 ft boston whaler with a 6 hp motor on it. They had taken this boat three hrs south to fish and three hours back. No wonder there was nothing around. The boat pulled up and we had noncash, but we traded beers for some conch. They were super chill guys and, of course, loved Dexter. Dinner was cracked conch, yummy.

Over the night the winds picked up and were more southerly, so we moved to the opposite side of the channel. The weather was to swing around from the west and get bad, 30 knots plus squalls. We sat it out and read some books.

The night wasn't to bad, but when morning came the winds really picked up. A squall started coming towards us, and we started to drag, I started the motor waiting to.see if the anchor took again. I decided to put out our second anchor. Jennie and I donned our rain jackets she took the helm as I stood on the bow managing the lines and snubbers. We winched in the anchor, got ourselves set, and decided to set two anchors in a row, one infront of the other. Jennie had just read this in her Montesier book. I set the rope rode anchor first. I had never used this one before. It is a 40lbs supermax, and it held the boat well. Then I winched it in so the scope was real short and started to set the chain rode 40 lbs delta behind it. It was blowing 30 knots with gust and raining like crazy so we didn't need to put the boat in reverse, mother nature did that. Our anchoring comunication skills were tested. I let the rope rode run free and we set the delta. Then I tried to equalize the tension on both rodes and put snubbers on them. Success, Cypraea held fine. Just in time too.

All of a sudden the huge squall hit us, a wall of rain where you could barely see the front of the boat. Luckily Jennie, Dexter and I were safe inside as the boat listed a good 20 degrees. It was windy. The anchors held and we carried on reading. After the morning torrents, the afternoon was quite light, and sunny and calm.

The next day the wind was still blowing pretty good, so we waited another night. We were all.ready to go, but entering a new harbour with a.direct wind and all the books saying how tricky it is,.what was one more day.

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Boy are we glad we waited. We left Tuesday morning around 7:30 am and motored out Galliot Cut, then we opened the jib and sailed to Georgetown. Other than the wind changing abruptly from south west to northnwest half way, we made an average of 5.5 to 6 knots under a various array of sails. Cuttersnare great. With 10 knots of south west wind on our beam we made 6 to 7 knots under full canvas, what a dream. Then with 15 to 20 on our quarter we made 5 to 6 knots with only our jib. Cypraea loves sailing down wind, and surfing the wabes with her full keel. We made it into Georgetown harbour which wasn't so bad following the waypoints and directions. Now we sit peacefully off Volleyball Beach and the Chat and Chill. What a great day, good things come to.those who are patient.