(see http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/winlink.cgi?KG4EYP for latest position)

The sail from Big Major's to Hawksbill - about 27 miles - was not quite as rough as our previous leg, mostly because we were going more or less northwest rather than north, so the wind was over our right shoulder. It was (and is!) still blowing hard, though, and we put out teeny scraps of sail and still zoomed along at better than seven knots. (Zoomy for a sailboat, okay?)

We might have gone even faster, except that Bob (our Robertson brand autopilot, who - um, I mean "which" - we have obviously completely anthropomorphized) was slewing us around like a drunk driver. He steers a pretty straight course as long as the wind is steady, but gusts and lulls confuse him. We played around with changing some of his settings, but if there's a magic parameter that will result in a straight line under gusty conditions, we haven't figured it out yet.

And honestly, we'd rather lose a little speed and have Bob drive than have to hand steer, especially in heavy air. Windom's skeg-hung rudder causes strong weather helm - the tendency for the boat to try to steer itself into the wind - and it takes a lot of oomph to hold the wheel.

But we watched in envy and admiration as a low-slung Haitian sloop cut neatly through the waves and passed us, the skipper waving at us with one hand, the other resting lightly on the tiller using seemingly no effort at all. Despite what looked to us like a large amount of sail on the boat's gaff rig, it was barely heeled. A gorgeous sight (and I'll put a photo up soon) - at least to us.

The Bahamian Defence Force, however, clearly didn't agree. Shortly after the sloop passed us, a battleship-gray BDF patrol boat came zooming up behind them. They matched speed - and let me tell you, it's really weird seeing a powerboat scant inches behind an underway sailboat - and sent several people to board and search the sloop.

Everything must have been in order, because after ten minutes or so the patrol boat powered away, and the sloop continued on. We see these boats every so often in the Bahamas, but don't know what they are doing up here. John on Asolare said that they're usually smuggling either cocaine or people. Not long after our first trip to the Jumentos in 2000, we heard of a Haitian boat that shipwrecked on an island there with more than 70 people crammed onto it; three cruising boats who arrived the next
day ran their watermakers full-time to provide water for all of the refugees, and stayed there until the BDF arrived.

We've had no such drama here at Hawksbill. This pretty, uninhabited island is part of the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park, so we can't fish here, alas. (Also, for some weird reason the park has installed a bunch of moorings here, for which they charge $$ depending on boat length. There is lots of room, though, and the sand is perfect for anchoring, so I don't understand why anyone would need or want moorings. Nonetheless, the big DeFever trawler that came in yesterday took a mooring. Maybe it's
a powerboat thing.)

We tried to snorkel yesterday, but the water's so turbid from the constant strong wind that visibility's terrible. Instead we've been playing on the beach and walking on the island. Today we and Asolare, who are anchored next to us, hiked across the island (we hiked! across the ENTIRE island! Doesn't that sound impressive? Um, half a mile?) and spent most of the morning attempting to body-surf in the crashing waves. Anne was pretty good at it; to me, it seemed a lot like the dinghy ride to
Staniel the other day, except without the dinghy. The object of body-surfing appears to be to wade out through the incoming waves, which is in itself a challenge, and then wait for a big wave to break on top of you, at which point you throw yourself into the foam and get carried ashore. I think I got a few gallons of saltwater up my nose.

Tomorrow we are going to batten down the hatches and attempt to sail north to Highborne Cay, which will be a beat in this northeast wind. But we'll be out of the Park, so we'll be able to fish, and there are a bunch of likely-looking coral heads on the chart that are tempting us. So hopefully we'll have fresh fish for dinner tomorrow!
- posted by S/V Windom @ 5/28/2007 [link]