After moving the boat across the marina to the fuel dock in the afternoon to not only top up our fuel tanks but also to double-check that there were no issues with the engine, we paid our bill, checked out with the officials and finally left Puerto Plata at 5pm on Friday, just ahead of the thunderstorms that we could see behind us for quite a long time. We weren’t in a hurry to leave because we knew the trip to Mayaguana would take us at least 34 hours and we wanted to time our arrival so we would have plenty of daylight. As it turned out, we had a beam reach practically all the way with winds mostly around 10 knots (plus or minus 5k). So, we ended up reducing sail (using the staysail instead of the genoa) to slow us down a little and we were slow to turn on the engine when the wind dropped. We each had 3-hour watches, which seemed to work pretty well. On our off watch, we slept in the main saloon so were easily reachable should there be a need for sail changes or any other issues. Rejuvenated Fred was much appreciated as ‘he’ helmed practically the whole way (and didn’t need to sleep, unlike Howard and I). It was a great first passage for just the 2 of us; the moon was up for most of the night, there was little shipping and the conditions were quite benign. Indeed during the day yesterday, we had a steady light breeze, the sails shaded the boat so what with the gentle motion of the boat, conditions were very conducive for catching a few winks during the day.
We are anchored in Abrahams Bay in Mayaguana. It is a very different bay from any other we have anchored in to date. It has two entries, one on the Eastern end of the bay and the other on the Western end of the bay, about 5 miles away. In between the two is a straight line of coral reef with breaking waves (and a few wrecks here and there). Behind the reef is good holding on a sandy bottom but it is relatively shallow, diminishing from about 12-15 feet at the western end to about 4 feet in the extreme eastern end. The additional challenge is to avoid the scattered coral heads throughout the 5 X 1 mile bay. Having entered the (easier) western end of the bay shortly before 9am, we decided to stop at the nearest suggested anchorage and wait until the sun was higher in the sky to proceed further east when it was much easier to spot the coral heads (quite black compared the aquamarine colored sand). Our guide book informed us that Mayaguana was a port of entry to the Bahamas and that you could check in 7 days a week between the hours of 9am and 5pm. That was the main reason for proceeding so far east but of course, it proved not to be true as the sign on the door clearly stated it was only open during weekdays. At least we went ashore, even if it didn’t seem to offer much. I really have a hard time figuring out how the population of 400-500 manage to make ends meet.
Our plan is to head out in the morning, probably to San Salvadore if the weather forecast is still good (need to get it along with sending this email) but if not, then Clarence Town, Long Island, both of which can clear us in to the Bahamas.