I realized this morning that in my previous blog post covering our passage to Royal Island, I stressed how important it was for us to sail fast due to limited daylight hours, but failed to report on how fast we sailed.
We departed Lynyard Cay at 0631 and arrived at Royal Island Harbor at approximately 1600, 9.5 hours sailing time. We sailed 61 nautical miles, for an average speed of 6.4 knots. That's quite respectable for Intermezzo, heavy with gear and with the main conservatively reefed down. We motored for a total of 2.5 hours, about half of that time just to get safely through Little Harbor Cut in rough waves and about half to maintain 6 knots boat speed when the wind petered out.
The other thing I noticed this morning is how different the islands look here compared to The Abacos. There are leaves on the trees! Hurricane Dorian knocked down most of the big trees and stripped the leaves off the ones left standing, so the landscape there is typically pretty scraggly and brown. Eleuthera was spared most of Dorian's wrath and the trees onshore are lush and green. I hope the foilage recovers soon in The Abacos so that natural beauty is restored as the man-made environment is rebuilt.
We've been hunkered down here as the wind howls in the solid 20's from the northeast. We got up later than usual and I made omelette's for the crew this morning. Later Amy polished all the interior woodwork while Robin cleaned the salon upholstery. I'm grateful for all their efforts to keep Intermezzo tidy and clean.
Might be off to Spanish Wells tomorrow if the wind cooperates.
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| Looking out the entrance to Royal Island Harbor on a blustery cold front day |
