Outbound on Pratique: Spanish Cay and Green Turtle Cay

On Thursday, February 7 we set off for our first Abaco island, Spanish Cay. The winds built to 15-20 kts from the east, and after a fast but all-too-short beam reach we quickly rounded the south tip of Great Sale and then turned the nose of the boat back into the wind for more motor sailing!

By around noon, and about half way to the northern entrance to the Sea of Abaco, we passed just to the south of West End Rocks. Looking ahead we saw a distinctly different patch of lighter color water. On our chartplotter's charts, all was well, with depths showing greater than 15'. Plus, we had heard of a peculiar phenomenon, called "fish muds." These are areas that simulate the light color of shallow water, and are thought to be caused by fish stirring up the bottom while feeding. Armed with the "knowledge" of the chartplotter depths at this spot and knowing about the false shallows caused by the fish muds, I called "fish muds" out to Susan, and kept one eye on the water and the other eye on the depth readings: "10 ft . . .9ft . . ." then "THUMP!"

We quickly throttled back to neutral and turned 90° to starboard, and the water immediately deepened, both in color and on the depth sounder. Once we regained our confidence, we turned back on course. But we also immediately reviewed the Explorer chart, and low and behold this chart showed a "shifting sands" warning right where we had touched the bottom! Valuable lesson learned. From then on, and just as we had done the day before for Memory Rock, every route we planned was cross referenced with our cruising guides and especially with the Explorer charts!

"See that line of shallow water out there? That shallow water is shallow water!"

On our way to Spanish Cay we also saw the first sign of hurricane damage:

We were told this yacht was blown up the Sea of Abaco and landed aground on this rock formation.

We got to Spanish Cay at 1630 and tied up at the docks. We learned that this little island is still rebuilding following Hurricane Sandy. Although the marina is open, the restaurant and the resort itself is still closed for repairs. Nevertheless, the island's beauty could not hide from us!

Next morning we set off for Green Turtle Cay. We sailed on a fast beam reach along the eastern side of Great Abaco Island to get there. Besides anchoring outside the island, there are three harbors within GTC: White Sound, Black Sound, and Settlement Harbor. Settlement Harbor is at the town center, commercial and very shallow. Black Sound is deeper, but still dubious for us. White Sound has a channel that looked good to us for a near-high tide entry, at around 6pm. So we needed to find a place to anchor for the afternoon. Just south of GTC is No Name Cay which is uninhabited (except for the pigs!) and has a protected anchorage on its northwest corner with plenty of water. Just after we anchored the skies darkened and we experienced a brief squall with a pretty intense downpour.

Just as quickly as it came, the skies lightened, and the sun and the pigs came out!

We drained then lowered the dinghy, and set out to explore the island, landing on the island's north end on the Sea of Abaco side:

On the ocean side of the island there was still a lot of debris left by the hurricane:

Looking north

Looking south, toward Whale Cay Passage

Lone boat at anchor, waiting for the tide to rise.

When we returned it was time to raise the anchor and head to the entrance to the White Sound channel over at Green Turtle Cay. We entered the channel at around 6, just as planned, and we were thrilled to see at least 8' depth at the entrance, and mostly 9's and 10's along the way. And plenty of room and water within White Sound:

Boats in White Sound, Bluff House docks in the background

The next three days we hung out both in the harbor and docked at the Green Turtle Club, mainly because we had to wait for the seas to calm in the Whale Cay Passage, to go any further south in the Sea of Abaco. OK by us!