After a rolly night, we made our move back out into the sound and over to Cat. It was a long trip but at least we could sail. We started with one reef in the main and ended with a double reefed main and partially reefed genoa. We were flying at 8 knots at times. I liked watching the waves hit the boat, and as the mist flew up, there would be a split second rainbow. One of the reasons we reefed the genoa was because it was too fast for fishing as we neared the shelf. We tried but did not catch any, yet. We are not giving up.
We settled at the New Bight anchorage, launched Fat Tuesday and went to the beach. The new Cat Island sign is still not unveiled. They are waiting for a light. We dropped off our garbage and took a walk down the beach after going for a swim. We walked past the little businesses in the fish fry area from the beach side. A few were open. We were going to explore the beach further but a dog came out and barked at us. She kept following us and barking so we decided to turn around.
We met a local islander on the beach who says that the name Cat Island was given to the island in 1926. He said that he worked for the Bahamian benefits program and that people born on the island before 1926 had District of San Salvador on their birth certificates while those born after 1926, the birthplace was listed as Cat Island. More mystery to the name. He said the island of San Salvador was formerly called Watlins Island.
We met our new friends Cathy and Perry and decided to have dinner together. We opted for Cedee’s which was the only place open except for Hidden Treasures which is reservation only. We made a reservation there for tomorrow night, weather permitting. It is supposed to be very good. Cedee’s is run by a mother daughter team. The fried fish was excellent.
We had a dark dinghy ride back to the boat but it was calm. We knew the wind would be picking up through the night so we pulled Fat Tuesday up. Big east winds in the high 20’s predicted for tomorrow.