Eastward to Rum Cay! http://www.rumcay.net/ (don't believe everything you read, like the new runway or many of the restaurants...just read this for the history).
We knew Heather & Ken would be going there too, but it turned out that 8 boats traveled the 45 miles from Georgetown to Rum Cay on Monday. We had 5 to 10 kts of wind, close hauled to too close, motor sailing all the way at 7 to 7.5 kts. We passed the northern tip of Long Island, Cape Santa Maria, with the monument commemorating the landfall of Christopher Colombus, and into the adverse Antillies current, about .75 kts against us for the next 25 miles.
We are not any further south than Georgetown,but definitely further east . The waters from GT to Rum are the Atlantic Ocean – 5000+ feet deep. We made it in 8 hours. On our approach to Rum, we saw the most magnificent Atlantic swells, stately and 12-13 seconds appart. Sitting in the cockpit, we would occasionally loose the horizon to a wave crest. The water near shore is shallow, therefore that nice light aqua blue. The waves, however, are still pretty significant on the shore. Here is a picture of the light blue waves, rolling along the long shoreline of Rum Cay. Wish we had a video to show you – it was impressive!
The entrance to the tiny marina is lined with coral heads on both sides, plus shallow water. To help the sailors, the dock master Rastie goes out in his little boat and guides each sailboat into the harbor. It was very reassuring.
The marina is small – 9 boats, and it’s full. Cute and colorful, though. I’ll get some pictures tomorrow. Here's the webpage http://www.rumcaymarina.com/
Lots of sharks in the marina waters - bull heads, sand sharks, and nurse sharks. They like the scraps from the one fishing boat here. You do NOT want to fall into the water here...
Its several miles across the island, so we rented a golf cart with Heather & Ken for the day. First discovery, a cartoon-like machine beside a building. Looks like a one man sub…
Downtown ---- only 80 folks or so on the island.
There is a church, of course, very well kept up and colorful.
The Loyalists got this far, too. The island boasts several ruins. I think I know why they left --- the no-see'ums here are horrible. Never seen them so bad. They are vicious.
We took the golf cart down the semi paved road, onto a dirt road, about the width of the golf cart.
This lead to the other side of the island (about 5 miles) and the beautiful Atlantic. There are coral reefs outside off the shore, with waves constantly breaking on them.
At one end of the beach, the Atlantic swells really pound some large rocks.
Walking the mile long beach with Heather and Ken, and their doggies
We’re lovin’ it. Getting bronzed despite the sunscreen and definitely loving the warm sunny days.
After our long beach walk, we took the cart to the abandoned efforts to build a luxury condominium complex on the island. It didn’t get far, but it did get far enough for the developer to destroy a big chunk of the island. Of course, they just left it with no efforts to do anything about the damage. This disgusting ad/webpage is still in the guidebooks and on the web. Talk about advertising fraud! http://www.rumcay.com/
Back down little deserted dirt roads, and the golf cart decided to stop, a mile from "civilization". Fortunately, Ken and Luke were able to get it started again (tired starter solenoid). That’s Ken’s dog Bantam helping out.
We came back to play dominos at the bar with Heather,Ken, Nancy, and Richard, waiting for dinner. Played dominos lately? It’s more challenging that you think – and a lot of fun! But Luke always wins... always... He's VERY good at the game!
I got the great feed back from a reader, Carmen, who did research on our German patented, French directional float. She says "the German directional float was patented in 1962 by Beon Le Roger Francois Marie. They describe it as a float for a fishing net. I tried to look up the other one you found but could not find anything. It looks like a woman invented the other one and was a geologist." Wow - thanks, Carmen!!!
1 comment:
Good idea to stay out of the water if there are bull sharks. Nat Geo shows say they're one of the most dangerous. Also, re: ironrock in your last post. The Caymans and other lower islands are covered with it, call it ironshore. Supposedly ancient coral that was once under the sea.
Arnie
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