Close Encounters, Crooked Island, A Hop Around A Long Island and The Beautiful Exumas!

March 14, 2021 we finally left Great Inagua after spending more time there than we wanted. The prediction was for 5 foot seas and moderate winds. But no, we had 8 foot seas and 30 knot winds, making for a lively sail to say the least! But as the sun set, the winds became milder and we settled into our alternating 3 hour shifts. After a mildly uneventful overnight, we arrived in Landrail Point, Crooked Island. We claim mildly uneventful as we did have several huge container ships to navigate around in a relatively small cut at the bottom of Acklins Island, which is apparently a main shipping channel. Who knew?! When sailing, we have limited maneuverability, so each encounter (and why are they always at night?) is pretty intense. Our chart plotter tells us the closest point of approach (how far will we be away when we pass). Most times it’s a mile or two….but when it is 600+feet and they are over 800 feet long, this becomes an issue! We managed to escape any life threatening incidents and arrived at day break at Crooked Island.

We got settled into our anchorage with three other boats. During our first day there, we were joined by 4 more boats. One of these was a bit larger than us, by a mere 120 feet.

As we checked the weather over the next two days, we saw why so many boats had bee-lined to this protected cove. There was a storm coming in from the east and we had the island between the storm and us. Smart thinking on everyone’s part! So the next two days were spent waiting……again!

The afternoon of March 18, we upped our anchor and headed out toward Long Island. Our plans were rather fluid. If we got to Calabash Bay on the northwest corner of the island after day break, we would stay there; if it was still dark we would go on to George Town in the Exumas.

Seeing only two large freighters, we were feeling relaxed as we sailed, then motored around the looooong island of the same name. As we rounded the top of the island it was still dark, so on we went to George Town.