approaching san salvador and rum cay island pass

Notes From Lee – Log Date: May 6, 2007 08:12
Position: 23ºN27’97″ by 74ºW 28′55″
The sea is calm, there is a light breeze; we are motoring.

This is the place on earth you get to see both the rise and set of the sun; and have time to watch both.

It is my watch from 21:00 hours to midnight and the moon is not up yet. This makes the sea so black. There is neither a shore light nor a marker to be seen. There are not even other ship lights to be seen off in distance. It is just us. The sky has lost its clouds and all that is left is a hood of stars, most bright but millions of dim and struggling ones. There is a small section of the awesome star canopy I cannot see because it is blocked out by the gray silhouette of the boat’s sail. The wind is fresher now and is coming over the port side quarter (left rear). Even though this night’s sail has less danger then the previous night I must stay even closer to the helm. I cannot allow the boat to be pushed off our heading of one hundred thirty five degrees or the wind will get behind the other side of the main sail and cause an unexpected jibe. The force of the wind has a high potential to snap rigging and cause severe damage to our boat. So I will keep an ever-watchful eye until I’m relieved of my watch.

Today was another day of very light-to-no-wind so we motor-sailed to make some headway before making the pass between the island of San Salvador (24N 00′00” by 74W 30′00″) and Rum Cay island. From there we will turn directly south through Crooked Island Passage. We are now heading to our next port located on the Great Inagua Island (21N 00′ 00″ by 74W 30′00″) where we will top off fuel and take on provisions. These Islands are still in the Bahaman island system.

Today I have taken note that I have never seen so many colors of blue in one place. There are clear pastel hues in the sky; aqua blue in the water in the shoals over the white sands; varying shades of green-blue over coral reefs and the sea floor vegetation. As the water deepens, there are shades of clear safari blue, coral blues, and baby blue caused by the reflection of the white clouds from above. There are royal blues that are slowly turning to a cobalt blue, and the black-blue tones as the sun subsides and night skies arrive.

I don’t think Crayola would ever be able to put as many different shades of blue even in their 64-pack Crayon box as I would need to color you a picture of the sea.

Today was our first glimpse of what I except to see many of by this trip’s end–whales. The seas were very calm and then off the beam of our starboard side, all of sudden, Thar She Blows! Small water spouts. There were three at least, or maybe as many as five. But we could not get a good look as to what kind of whales they might be, though we believe they were pilot whales–smaller in size, grayish, and not a large dorsal fin. We shall never know for they were too far off for us to see.