Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Exumas

Hi Everyone,

I'm now tied up at Georgetown getting ready to head south in the morning. Everyone told me that the Exuma Islands could not be beat when it comes to friendly people and exploring and they were very right. The waters were just as clear as in the tourist brochures and the islands were perfect for walking on the trails and tramping around the brush.

All the locals ashore were friendly and helpful and so too were the yachites on all the boats. It was a good thing because many boats got into trouble with the rough headwinds and shallow waters.

Being from Washington State, I'm used to being able to sail in deep water relatively close to shore and to be able to run off to deeper water when the weather becomes unsafe. Here the depth is often just a few feet under your keel and you have to be wary of reefs even when miles offshore.

The Southeast Winds, coming from right in the direction I'm heading, made it slow going. At times, the combination of short, steep seas and maze of reefs made it so progress was nearly impossible and I ended up waiting for better conditions rather than slowly tacking my way among reefs.

Now I'm on my way to Panama via a few more islands en route.

Here's a few pictures of sailing in the Exumas:















2 comments:

  1. Great photo's, Ryan. The weather looks like a total opposite of what you would have experienced back home in Port Angeles last week. Thanks for the update.

    From Seattle, WA, USA
    SaltyDog

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  2. Beautiful pictures! I really hope I can be there some day. Can I ask you a few questions? *If you have Jessica's boat, how come it isn't pink? On her website it looked pink. * Did you run into serious rough weather on the way to Pananma? If so, how did you handle it? * What are you eating. Do you ever try to catch fish?* What do you do for sleep? how do you keep your eye on the ball?

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