Well we left Clarence town (Long Island) on Thursday. We had a stiff 20 knots of wind from the East and made it to Acklins island at about 21:00. It was beautiful sailing in under a nearly full moon. Guin and I spent most of Friday fishing off the stern using a barracuda I caught at sea for bait. We caught little groupers & snappers, sharks & rays. We didn’t keep anything.
I got up at 3am Saturday and started our 90 mile crossing for Great Inagwa. We had stiff wind 18-22 knots of wind from the ESE. Splendid doesn’t point so well so we were right on the wind all day. I hate going to weather! Guin got a bit sea sick and was just quiet all day. Sam and I were pretty quiet as well. Splendid did wonderfully though and beat into the wind at about 5 knots all day. This should be our last beating all the way to the San Blas. From here to Jamaica its a broad reach and from Jamaica to the San Blas it should be a reach. Man did I have a fish on the line yesterday. I used one of the old lures that came with Splendid. It had a wire leader that looked a bit rusty. I thought it would be fine but it wasn’t. The reel went wild and as soon as I increased some tension to the line a huge bull Dorado (about 6 feet) jumped out of the water about 300 feet behind Splendid, my eyes and belly went wild. I only had him on the line for a few more seconds before he broke the leader, AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Anyway, that was the one that got away.
We pulled into Man of War Bay here in Great Inagwa at about 23:00, it was quite dark and I couldnt see much. I had been sailing for about 21 hours and was bush wacked! Sam and I got the hook down and it was off to bed.
We got up this morning and can see the salt pans of the Morton salt company. They run the show here. Great Inagwa is not a tourist town, and everyone pretty much works for the salt company. The cool thing about the island though is it is the home to the largest West Indian flaming flock in the world. over 5000 live and breed here.
We are going to hang out here for a few days and leave for Jamaica some time Tuesday through Thursday. It should take us about 50 hours to make Port Antinio.
Peace from Great Inagwa. Check out the satellite photos of where we are under the members tab, current position.
Sail far and live slowly.
– Alex