From the Tropic of Chattanooga to the Tropic of Cancer

Woohoo! 

We've been on this boat trip now for six and a half months.  According to SeaClear, we're 875 nautical miles from our home port of Chattanooga, TN (as the crow flies, if it flies in a straight line).  But we've sailed (and motored, of course) many, many more miles than that.  Two days ago, we crossed the Tropic of Cancer.  Hell yeah!  What an accomplishment!

We almost turned around at Black Point.  We would have missed so much if we'd stopped there.  We've really gotten to know and love Jim and Nancy on Amata Marie and Greg and Janice on Glenice.  We wouldn't have spent nearly as much time with them if they hadn't talked us into coming farther south.  We would have missed great snorkeling (and a lionfish) at Rudder Cut Cay, the crazy sailing (with a dead motor) the following day, the nice people at the research center and the amazing view from Perry's Peak on Lee Stocking Island, and the refuge of Elizabeth Harbor and Georgetown.  We have been in Georgetown for two weeks, and we have enjoyed it so much!  Affordable groceries, friendly locals, cheap phone calls back to the States, and excellent anchoring.  We've been hiking, spearfishing, snorkeling, swimming, working, relaxing, eating, and socializing to our little hearts' content.  It's been awesome!  And we almost turned around.

For that matter, we almost didn't come to the Bahamas at all.  I can't imagine how much we would have missed if we'd just headed up the east coast.  We've had rough times: 25-hour crossing from Bimini to the Berrys, engine troubles, and those pesky, persistent headwinds.  But we've had great times filled with gorgeous scenery, good food, and great friends. 

But you wanted a story, not a sappy recap.  So here goes.

Sunday morning, we decided to scoot down to the Tropic of Cancer.  It's only 5 miles south of here, but there's an island in the way, so we had to go about 10 or 15 miles southeast to cross that imaginary line.  Since it was their idea to go in the first place, we got Amata Marie to go down with us.  We left around 8:00; they came shortly behind us.  Instead of programming waypoints into the GPS and jumping from point to point, we just eyeballed our way down Elizabeth Harbor.  There are some shallow places and some coral reefs to watch out for, but we figured we'd be able to spot them.  But it was cloudy.  Bummer.  We did the best we could comparing GPS coordinates with the charts and trying to keep clear of obstacles.  It worked just fine for the most part.  There was a scary moment when the depth jumped from 22 to 8 feet when we ran over a coral head.  Yikes!  And by the time it shows up on the depth finder, it's too late to avoid it.  Luckily, it wasn't shallower than 8 feet, so we were okay.  But I slowed down a little and looked even harder for the dark coral heads hiding under the water.  Sunshine would have helped.  We made it out of the harbor and hoisted the main, hoping to get a little help.  We were going straight upwind.  I mean, straight into it.  There were coral reefs to avoid, so we couldn't even zigzag our way down.  And we only gained 0.3 knots filling the sail anyway.  So we just let the sail luff and motored on at our measly 3 knots.  Jim and Nancy caught up with us pretty quickly. 

Amata Marie, Jim & Nancy's CSY 44

Amata Marie, after they got tired of the main sail luffing

Eventually, we made it far enough southeast that we could turn straight south and cross the Tropic of Cancer without hitting land.  We aimed for the big, gorgeous beach and anchored just offshore.  We crossed the line!  We were officially "in the tropics".  I think it's a pretty big accomplishment to take a 27-foot boat that far south.  Go us!

It's official: We crossed the Tropic of Cancer!

We all went dinghied ashore to have lunch together.  Getting into shore was a little exciting.  The water is pretty deep right up to the beach, so the waves break two feet from shore.  We were easing our way to the beach when a wave came right up under us and tossed us onto the beach.  Inadvertent dinghy surfing!  We hopped out and used the next waves to drag the dinghy up onto the beach.  Jim and Nancy had an even more exciting trip in.  They anchored their dinghy out because it's too heavy to beach.  Nancy jumped out of the dinghy to wade to shore, but ended up chest-deep in the water.  10 minutes later we were all on the beach, but their dinghy was getting too close to the beach.  Jim got aboard to tighten the line on his stern anchor when a wave crashed right onto the dinghy, flipping him out backwards.  Fortunately, the dinghy didn't smack into him, and he had time to get away from it.  Once they got it situated, we all had lunch and enjoyed the beach. 

Beached dinghy with Earendil off in the background

Beach!  (and a cap'n)

After lunch, Nancy and I wandered up the beach to check out a wreck in the shallows.  It was pretty cool.

Wreck off the beach

Earendil and Amata Marie anchored off the beach

If you look close, you can see our boats in the background.

When we came back from our beach exploration, it was time to head back to Georgetown.  After obligatory couple shots, of course!

Awww!  We love a good beach!

So then we sailed back.  This time, the wind was straight behind us.  It was light, so we didn't pick  up much speed from it.  But it was fun to fly our big, rainbow genoa!  We were enjoying it so much, we decided to take the long way home.  Instead of going back in to Elizabeth Harbor the way we came out, we sailed all the way to the top of Stocking Island on the outside.  At one point, the depth dropped off to over 600 feet (the depth finder stops at 600, so we have no idea how deep it actually was).  Exciting!  We trolled for fish all the way back, but didn't catch anything. 

It was a long day, and we were gone almost 12 hours, but we crossed a major milestone!  And now that we've gone as far south as we're going to, I guess we're officially on our way home.  Sometime in the next couple of days, I think we're going to start our mosey north.

Oh, and yesterday we went spearfishing with Jim.  Trevor and I didn't get anything, but Jim had a very successful day!  And he's generous, so we had schoolmaster (a kind of snapper) for dinner with fried rice.  And tonight, we're going over to Amata Marie for another seafood dinner!  Yum! 

Yesterday did have a sad note, though.  Our friends Greg and Janice on Glenice headed over to Long Island for a few days.  We're not sure when they'll get back to Georgetown, but there's a good chance we'll be gone by then.  We're going to miss them terribly.  They've been such great friends on the trip.  But we'll get together with them sometime!  That's the good thing about cruisers; they're always turning up somewhere!