The trip from Warderick Wells to Shroud was about 15 miles up the Exuma chain. We had light winds from behind us. Fat Tuesday even got to ride behind. We were not in a hurry for tide or weather reasons so we decided to try to fly our spinnaker. We managed to get it out from under the v berth. Our spinnaker is in a sock that raises like Jer’s blinds. We attached a sheet, clipped the tack line to the bowsprit with a snap shackle and hoisted it up in the sock. The nexts step was pulling up the sock which raised to the top of the mast as the sail billowed out. We sheeted it in a bit and it was flying. In 10 -12 knot winds, this single sail was pulling us along at 5 knots. And it was beautiful.
Unfortunately, the sock also lowers like Jer’s blinds. When it was time to take it down, it got stuck and we could not get it to come down over the sail. We had to pull it down the old fashioned way by grabbing it in big bunches as the halyard lowered and trying to keep it down on the deck. Luckily there was not much wind and it was manageable. We put it in a big pile to deal with after anchoring.
We were able to get a mooring ball in the Southwest Shroud mooring field. They all filled within the next hour so we were lucky. It was beautiful with these white birds with long tails flying high over the islands. Once moored, we got the spinnaker back in the sock and rearranged the pull cords. Next time we will pull it up a hair and then try to pull it down again before raising it all the way up. Or maybe like Jer’s blinds, we just have to learn the magic touch.
We dinghied to the beach which was nestled amidst the mangroves. We walked up a shallow creek in the mangroves and saw some bone fish and a lemon shark. Snails made tracks at the water’s edge.
Back to the boat for dinner and sunset, conch horn and some music. We are going to sleep on deck tonight to observe the lunar eclipse and the blood moon. Tomorrow, we start at 830 for a dinghy trip to Sanctuary creek which goes through the mangroves and then works around to the ocean side. At the end, you can swim in some rapids called The Washing Machine. Super excited to have this opportunity.
