Fly Away Sailboat: Cay Sal Bank Crossing and Circumnavigating Anguilla

Bahamian Defense Force cutter at sunset the night before we depart
near Duncan Town, Ragged Island

BDF cutter still anchored the next morning as we depart Ragged Island
We sail off the anchor and do not motor the entire journey

It is calm and the Bahamian Defense Force cutter is still anchored off in the distance next to Duncan Town, Ragged Island, in the same place as when the sun set. We swing to the north but the anchor rode drops limply into the water. I meditate in the stillness – no breeze – and feel the warm sun on my right check and side. I love this and don’t want it to end. D soon gets up and I hear him getting ready for the day. I feel the breeze just start, from the north and the wind generator starts to turn, the wind is freshening! It’s after 8 am but D says let’s go now.

I hesitate. I want to make sure the weather is uninterrupted perfect window which is supposed to start tomorrow. I do not want to be lulled in a lack of wind. We do not want to motor. Once I am convinced this freshening wind is the end of the front, I am happy and excited to go. D is ecstatic, too. We sail off the anchor and leave the Ragged Islands by 9 am.

Captain D and Otto sail in perfect conditions
The sail will take 3 days and 2 nights

Barracuda caught on handline
D caught 5 in one day, lost one lure
We will get edible fish in Cay Sal

The first 15 miles are on the banks in less than 35 feet. Then the depths drop to 600+ - - - 3,000 feet! The water in 35 feet is so clear you can see bottom white sand and black coral rocks speed by as we go 5+ knots. The color deepens as the depths. We have water 360 degrees and no other boats or land. The seas are calm, wind freshens north 10-15 and we carry jib and full main at 6+ knots. We will cross another bank in about 15 nm. The total distance is about 230 nm. It will take us 3 days and 2 nights non stop to cross to Cay Sal Banks and the first island, Anguilla. By lunch time we have come about 20 miles.

All sailing perfection – the right wind, the right direction, the right current, the right seas. D and I take turns at the helm. With the steady winds and calm seas, there is little adjusting of sails. We had one incident hoisting the main, D looped the deck light on the mast and ripped it off. D stabilized it so it didn’t bang the mast. I fix turkey and cheese on Maxine’s bread for lunch after we snacked on banana moon pies. We are sailing 272 degrees or due west with the wind north and ahead of the beam, apparent wind. The sun is at our back in the mornings so we have our sunshade up behind us. The dinghy is silent in its davits, probably relieved not to be drug behind. We have wind, shade and nice temperatures – perfection. Autohelm (Otto) does a great job.

We discuss reefing main at night for comfort. The solar panels are productive as the sun rises. The wind gen is generating 3-5 amperes. The voltage runs 13.3V maintaining refrigerator, electronics, autohelm. We need to maintain 12.6V after dark. At 2:15 pm I spot a boat behind us and as it nears I take a zoom picture – we think it’s the Bahamian Defense Force cutter! Oh no, we may get boarded, oh well, it will be interesting. At 2:30 pm it turns around and heads away. All that angst or “harshing my mellow” (Kansas and Will novel) gone. We see another vessel about 4 pm and as we get closer we see it’s at anchor. It has all kinds of fancy equipment. It’s about 100 feet long. We determine it is probably a salvage or research boat. A dinghy leaves it and runs around. You never know what you’ll find.

D get the fishing gear out and trolls 3 hand lines. He catches 5! Huge barracuda and releases them all – lost one lure. Seas are 3 feet and I decide to cook – noodle pasta, pre-made alfredo sauce, and canned chicken in one pot. I gimble the stove by removing the stabilizer pin, and when boiling water underway I stand in the salon and cook over the seats – it goes well.

Research or salvage vessel
You never know what you are going to see underway

Day 1 is done, mainsail is reefed for night sailing, we maintain 5 knots

Early morning day 2 brings us Cayos Lobos
The USCG ship left just before dawn

Sunrise and Cayos Lobos lighthouse
We sailed 125 nm in 24 hours, over 5 knot average

Day 3 we are about 15 nm from Anguilla

We watch sun set in the clouds and it gets very dark but we are in deep water, not to worry. The clouds obscure the stars as I take first watch 9-12 midnight. The moon rises behind the clouds and sets a glow everywhere. I watch the phosphorescence behind and beside the boat. I see no other boats and its black out. D gets up at 11 pm and starts the watch early. Before sunset we reefed the main and once again reefed it to double reef. We still maintain 5 knots. The wind is shifting east behind us and waves are rocking us. In 40 miles we’ll turn northwest and this will be fine. Meanwhile we sail to the jib trim and go fast. We don’t go under 5 knots!

I lay down below in D’s bed that made up, but don’t sleep. I don’t want to miss anything! I hear everything – D adjusting sails, waves slapping side of the boat, autohelm squeaking. But it’s restful and I hop up at 4 am ready to as D calls me. There is one boat in a channel about 3-5 miles away on our port stern. It slowly passes us. At 4:55 am I see bright white lights ahead. Then a high/low light of a freighter as we approach the white light, I can see it is not moving and there is a dark mass behind it – It’s Cayos Lobos! lighthouse with a USCG cutter anchored nearby with all its lights on. Day breaks and I get a picture of Cayos Lobos and its light house that doesn’t work. The cutter motors away starting its day, too. We text everyone our location – so close to Cuba, so isolated!

It’s hard to tell when day ends and when it begins on a nonstop sailboat cruise. We sailed 125 nm in 24 hours! 5.2 knots average. Glorious! We start to see several boats – a ketch headed north in front of us, maybe going up west coast Andros. Two matching cruise ships pass closely in the designated shipping lanes of the Old Bahama Channel or Canal Viego de Bahama. Its two-way channel on the charts. We never see land of Cuba nor big city lights. So close yet … not this time. The wind, seas, and current continue to work in our favor and at this rate, we should anchor some time tomorrow. We have not motored at all! We follow the bank line for calmer seas. The wind is east 10-15 knots and our direction is west northwest 300 degrees. So the wind is 30 degrees off stern which is hard to sail with a fin keel. The boat wants to wallow. The waves lift the stern and turn us on the keel and we roll, or wallow. We maintain 4-5 knots and Otto does a good job in the calmer seas. Our double reefed main is not helping; it is blocking air from the jib so we take the main down. It’s good to plow though waves, but when waves are behind, no plowing needed! We go from 600+ feet deep to 25 feet. The water changes back and forth deep cobalt to azure blue. Our depth reader reads up to 417 feet and then goes blank.

D runs hand lines all day – some bites, one barracuda. We’ll get eating fish in the Cay Sal Bank. We had fruit for breakfast, peanut butter and jelly for lunch, and before sunset I’II make angel hair pasta and tomato sauce mixing leftover spaghetti sauce with olives and mushrooms. We settle in – I watch till 12:30 am, D to 4:30 am, then me again. My watches were beautiful, solitary, and uneventful. I watched phosphorescence and the glow of cities in Cuba. I see an airport light radiating but no planes landing or taking off that I could see. It’s cool so I bundle in a sweatshirt and cover with a blanket. I lay in all parts of the boat to watch stars – Orion in the west setting, Big Dipper to the northeast, and the glorious Great Arc of Sirius, which holds 5 of the brightest stars, magnitude 1, Sirius, Procyon, Pollux, Castor, and Capella. These bright stars form the constellations Big Dog (Sirius), Little Dog (Procyon), Gemini Twins (Pollux and Castor), and Charioteer (Capella). D, on the other hand, goes between 2 cruise ships in the Santaren Channel. He has to call the second on the VHF radio. The big ship acknowledges and diverts course around us!! We check the Automated Identification System (AIS) at 30 minute intervals but I see no boat activity. I sleep really well, putting on pajamas, brushing teeth, and everything, so rested at 4:30 am to take over watch – the sun rises … 15 nm to go.

One of the many mini coves of Anguilla
Anguilla is 7 miles long and narrow, with 3 main cays and lots of rocks

One of the rocky points of Anguilla

Two turtles mating and swimming, it's that time of year

Another beautiful day, day 3, underway. Jib is pulling, wind is east 10-15 knots. Blue skies and sunny with a few puffy white clouds. I get text from Jean at 11 pm last night and 6:30 am this morning. I think she is enjoying arm chair sailing! I make coffee ad journal some. It’s sad our perfect crossing is almost over. It’s sad all new areas to explore on this cruise is over. It’s still fabulous that we have many more fabulous days – Anguilla, Cay Sal, Elbow Cay, and on to Marathon. We sail and sail and sail – Land is 8 nm out about 9 am. It’s exciting to see land.

We sail past the south island it many mini-coves and beaches and coral rock jetties Anguilla is about 7 miles long and just ¼ mile across. It has 3 main cays and lots of little islands and rocks. We come to the first gap where Jeff and D sailed Fly Away in 2006. They had west winds and anchored on the east side with long beautiful beaches. We sail past the middle cay and start up the north Anguilla Cay. We look for a lunch anchorage. We see a turtle, no 2 turtles, in the water, mating, swimming, and splashing at the surface. We anchor in 24 feet and sand in a little rocky cove. I cook brunch – Fried eggs, grits, toast and corn beef – a hot feast!

We head through the gap and up north to circumnavigate and check out any little anchorages. At the north tip we see skiffs – sunlight reflecting off windshield and then a big boat anchored and a skiff headed our way with 2 fishermen. We prepare to protect ourselves, just in the unlikely event they mean to do us harm, but they are 2 jovial Bahamian fishermen, Delroy and Jaden. Wanted to know if we had epoxy – a part on their compressor broke. D said no, but he gave them some gorilla glue. We circle the north tip and sail down past their boat. They brought us a bag of conch – 29! I later count and am able to return all but a dozen for conch salad and fried conch.

We sail beyond and find a sexy little cove on north Anguilla. We anchored, D adjusted for swell and it was so calm and cool – a real treat. We shower really well. Change linens – oh, yeah, big deal! What a treat! We are going to sleep well tonight. I heat leftovers – potato soup, spaghetti and have egg salad on crackers. We enjoy dark evening in the cockpit but we are ever so tired we go to bed.

Things that go bump in the night. D gets up a couple of times – to go on deck to check for whatever. Then I heard a bump on the hull of the boat?! I go up in cockpit with flashlight and D goes on deck with flashlight. I see the wheel turn – something is hitting the rudder! D shines his light – it’s a huge turtle, a loggerhead. It comes up for air, a big gulp, and submerges. We can see it clearly in the clear water with our flashlights. We chase it off but it returns throughout the night, and nights after that, and I see its marks on the bottom the next day. D thinks it loves our boat and is being amorous.

What a great night’s sleep. I don’t get up till 8! We are in calm anchorage in Northern Cay of Anguilla. Winds are steady east 10-15 nots, cool temperatures, sunny, hot in sun. There is a swell from the south so D has put a bridle on the anchor line so the boat faces into the swell minimizing the rolling motion.