Many people have told us that the Rudder Cut Cay area is among their favorites for snorkeling. We seem to have a bit of more settled weather after tonight so we decided to head up the chain today. It is about 35 miles, so only a days trip away from Georgetown.
We headed north through the George Town boat traffic. There were lots of boats heading in and out of the area. We were careful because some boats are not paying attention or listening to their radios. We were initially able to sail a bit. As the wind turned more north, we had to motor sail. It was a beautiful day and we fished. A boat that passed by us found our boat on No Foreign Land and texted us a picture. That was very nice. Our main needs some adjustments but nice to have some pictures with the sails up.
Shortly after that, we had a fish. It was a barracuda. David was able to get him back in the water in time. We were not prepared with the net or the pliers. Note to self. It is a fishing jinx to think you will actually catch one.
We arrived at Rudder Cut just after the tide change . We wanted to enter with the current and it was just starting to go in. It was calm and deep and no problem. We have heard that there can be 5 foot standing waves there on an ebb flow against a strong east wind.
We still had some daylight after anchoring so we set out to do a bit of exploring. Rudder Cut Cay Island is private, owned by the magician David Copperfield. Going ashore is discouraged but there is a cave to explore and lots of other small islands and sandbars. And people do go to the beach, the word is, just be respectful.
David Copperfield also sunk a sculpture in one of the coves of a mermaid and a piano. We decided to swim around this first and then go to the cave. The mermaid was a little hard to find in the dinghy but the water was clear and soon enough we found it. Some corals and sea plants had grown on the mermaid and piano. Fish seemed to hover over the piano keys, I went down to gently touch the mermaid’s tail. There were conch all around.
After our diving, we dinghied to the cave. The tide had dropped enough to have a little beach inside. It echos nicely and there are holes in the ceiling where you can see the trees. No bats.
We returned to the boat for sunset. The current is strong so we will be changing our direction when the current switches every six hours or so. The wind is light but is supposed to pick up tonight.
