Rock Sound Harbour to Davis Harbour Marina
We left Rock
Sound Harbour at 1000 sharp which was near high tide. Foreign
Affair led the way following her track from the day before getting into the
anchorage. Hakuna Matata was close behind.
All went well and we were soon in the Davis Channel heading toward the
Exuma Sound. We attempted to sail some
but soon gave up as the winds were very light and we were only making 2 ½ knots
close hauled. We cranked up the engines
and picked up our pace to 5 knots or slightly more. We passed several north-bounders sailing
along nicely in the Davis Channel.
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| Catch of the Day - Barracuda |
We put out our lines to see what we might catch today as soon as we approached the deep waters of the Exuma Sound. We put a large Rapala Magnum on our short, heavy duty rod. Our lighter rod trailed a smaller version which looked like a silver fish with red head. It worked well on the mackerel. We were hoping to land a mahi mahi today.
All we ended
up with was a barracuda which we didn’t even know we had on our line until we
began to reel it in as we prepared to make our approach to the Davis Harbour
Marina. It was a real surprise as the
barracuda are usually pretty aggressive and will run with the line when it
strikes. We ended up giving the fish to
one of the locals when we docked and he was very appreciative. We didn’t want to eat it due to the
possibility of it having ciguatera which can cause severe illness and even
death in humans.
The locals
know how large a fish is likely to carry this toxin. They eat fish which might be harmful at their
own risk; however, they have experience in selecting fish which may be less
harmful to them. Giving away this
barracuda was a mutual benefit. We were
glad to have it off the boat and the local was happy to take it home for
dinner.
Entering the
harbor was another interesting experience.
The navigational aids which appeared on our charts were no longer
present. Rocks and reefs formed a shield
around the harbor entrance which we could barely make out with our binoculars
as it was only about 24 feet wide since it was blasted through the rock
shoreline. The entrance channel was also
blasted through rock and coral when the marina was established several years
ago. The advice we were given by the
harbor master was to go slow, head toward the sign at the harbor entrance and
watch out for rocks and reefs as we made our approach.
We assumed
the channel hadn’t changed since it was blasted and used the navigational aids
which appeared on our charts as a guide despite the fact the aids were
missing. Carla stood at the bow pulpit
directing our route as we picked our way through the rocks and reefs. All was well when we finally entered the
harbor. Docking was easy and
efficient. The place was full of high end sport
fishing boats. We were the only sailboat
besides Hakuna Matata. The marina is very nice but also very remote. It is like going to an up-scale Canadian fishing camp. Not much to do here but fish.
We made the
best of our situation. The marina was
nice and geared to supporting the sport fishing boats that could catch a wide
variety of fish less than a mile off shore.
There was a washer and dryer which was soon filled with our dirty
clothes. The bar and restaurant were
going to open for the evening. RO water
was available; however, the marina was out of fuel. The fuel boat was not due in for several
days. Thank goodness, we had our spare
fuel cans full. We have enough to top up
our tank and hope to find fuel tomorrow at the Highbourne Cay Marina. We plan to cross the Exuma Sound tomorrow as
the weather forecast for the rest of the week doesn’t look good. We’d rather hide out at Highbourne Cay which
is a resort rather than the remote Davis Harbour Marina.
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