The Many Adventures of Stray Cat: Hawksbill in the ECLSP

We left Shoud and had a wonderful sail down to Hawksbill. Close into the wind but making good speed and without all the waves we typically see with higher winds. Very very nice way to travel! Once we arrived, we decided to take advantage of being a shallower draft vessel and anchored close in by the beach and protected from the anticipated South wind. Plus the beach was fabulous. When we arrived a yacht had dropped some guests on the beach for the day and not to be outdone by a 100' yacht, we planned a picnic ashore! After our lovely picnic we went to exploring and walking the beach...we eventually met the guests who were three couples there for a week from Kansas City Mo. They were heading home that Saturday..."how about you?" Oh we need to be home in June. Bless her heart, she asked if we would sleep on our boat...yeah, for seven months, not seven days. Oh did that sound catty? Sooooo unlike me...hee hee. Then we went back to the boat and went swimming--including the much loved jump off the front down into the water. Also I practiced with snorkeling which was good to do in a calm shallower area with the boat and the boys right there in case.

Note the super way cool Stray Cat cooler ;-) Thanks Crockers!

That was about the time we noticed the tide had gone down. Like, a lot a lot. We ended up with about two feet under the keels which would normally be ok but not with high winds coming. The next morning we moved about 50 yards over into deeper water....ahhhhh, much better. Jon rested that day and Mark took me snorkeling on a little coral head just south of where we anchored. It was gorgeous and we saw so many colors and shapes and creatures, including my first barracuda. He was sorta following us and (coincidentially?) seemed to stay between us and the dinghy. He wasn't that big and certainly didn't care about us any more than trying to see what we were doing hanging around his coral head. It was a big deal for me because I was able to stay in the water with my head and ears in for a long time without getting too anxious. Yay me.

Not a bad place to spend some time

The next day the winds had indeed picked up but not as bad as predicated luckily. We got our names on the waiting list for the North Mooring Field at Warderick Wells and went about our last day thre. We used that day to take a dinghy ride up to Smugglers Cave then land for a hike up to the Russell Ruins. That was the family that had a plantation on the Cay as well as incinerators used to bake the conch for concrete. Then the path over to the east side of the Cay to see the beaches on the Sound side. It is really interesting to be picnicking on the beach one day, swimming and snorkeling another then hiking the next. We also were able to help another boat that afternoon come into the anchorage safely...the charts conflict on depth and obstacles so we told him our path in and he arrived without issue. They were very appreciative but we thought they would have been fine without our help. Even so, it was nice to be able to support another boat feel more comfortable about entering a new place.