Going South to Exuma
Encounter with 5’ standing waves while exiting Dotham Cut, near Black Point, the second-largest settlement in Exumas
We plan to head down to Georgetown, Exuma, and anchor off near the town. We thought that we would do this journey slowly. We spent a night in Highborne Cay and headed to Black Point the next morning. We chose to defer our exploration of Staniel National Park until our return trip, when the weather may be warmer. The plan was to spend a couple of days exploring Black Point town. It is the second largest in Exuma after Georgetown. But, given the weather window for safe travel, we decided to push on after spending one night at Black Point Harbor. From there to Georgetown, our boat needs to go out. There is no safe route across the Bahama Bank due to shallow waters. Dotham cut is wide, and there is no problem to enter or to exit, so long as you time your entry such that it is slack current and wind is low to moderate (5-10 knots). The problem was that we did not know how to find out when the slack current is. Deriving tide information from Nassau, we estimated the time. The wind was 10 knots but from the east. The rest of the week, it was supposed to climb up to 15-20 knots with gusts to 25 knots. So, it was now or at least a week's delay.
We left at 7 am, when we thought the current was slack. It turns out we were wrong, and with the wind opposing, we found 5'-plus standing waves on the outside of the cut. Ours is a heavy displacement boat with fairly powerful engines, so we did not have any major problems getting out to the Atlantic side. A lesser vehicle would probably have more problems.
The rest of the journey to Georgetown was easy. The distance is about 54 nm. There were 3-4' waves on our bean with a constant wind of 17 knots. Conch Cut Cay marks the entrance to a very wide body of shallow water leading to Georgetown Harbor. The cut is known as one of the most dangerous cuts in Exuma, Exuma Island. We did not find it that bad. Maybe our timing was just perfect.
Rainbow in Elazabeth Harbor, day after we anchored at Geoegetown.
The harbors off Georgetown are full of ships, mostly sailing vessels. The pictures show anchor lights on both our port and starboard sides. We are anchored on the southern side of Stocking Island and about 1.5 nm ride into the Georgetown dinghy jetty. The sky is blue, nary a cloud in sight, and wonderful green waters around us.
