On the 17th we departed Boysie Cay for Rudder Cut. Rudder Cut Cay has a small anchorage area (for deep draft boats) and is famous for three things: a cave, an underwater piano played by a mermaid, and the residence of the magician David Copperfield. The winds were light and on the stern so we decided to deploy the spinnaker. Unfortunately the chute had a reverse wrap on the furler which is something we are still trying to remedy. All was not lost because the wind dropped down to under five knots so we would have had to motor anyway. After entering the cut and anchorage area we saw two catamarans anchored in the shallows out of the current facing the wind. We also saw the cave and the buoy for the piano sculpture. We set our anchor to the current in the deeper water for our draft. Two boats then came in and anchored in close proximity on either side of us and started spinning between the current and wind. With a long night of bumper boats in the cards and two more boats entering the tiny anchorage we aborted and took off for a less crowded spot. As Yogi Berra said, ” Nobody Goes There Anymore, It’s Too Crowded”. After reviewing our invaluable Explorer Chartbooks once back in Exuma Sound we decided to try Big Galliot Cay. Our choice was confirmed on the recommendation of another boat hailing us to find out about the conditions of the cut we just left. Upon entering Galliot Cut we headed over the suggested anchoring spot. The spot sits between two small islands and has a reef going out to Exuma Sound. Because of its geography, it has a constant current with exceptionally clear water. We took a swim after arriving to pool like conditions with small reefs near the boat. At sunset we saw some large rays jumping out of the water as a barracuda took residence beneath the boat. Today we made water, did laundry, and worked on the furler. We do not have phone service here but do have data service from our MBR-550 cellular extender. Our next leg up to the Black Point area will be over some shallow banks so we will wait for high tide. It looks like we have light winds for the next week or so.
