A pretty nice weather window opened up and we decided to leave early in the morning from the south of Fowl Cay to sail the 48 nautical miles to Hawk’s Nest Point on Cat Island. As we were on our way through Elizabeth Harbor, three other boats were leaving in the same direction, which always gives a bit of confidence that we’ve read the weather correctly:-)
The seas were fairly calm and we had a steady wind on the beam, which made for a wonderful sail across, except that we didn’t even have a bite on the fishing lures that we pulled all the way behind us. It was very peculiar that up to about a half mile from shore, the depth of the ocean was still more than a thousand feet and then suddenly you’re in shallow water. We turned northwest and sailed very close to the shore for a little bit before we turned east into the bight and anchored about one mile from the point of the island. There was a bit of surge throughout the night, but nothing unbearable.
The next morning we took a dinghy ride, but because of the rocky shore there was nowhere to get on land, so we went around to see what Hawk’s Nest Marina looked like. The marina has lovely brightly colored buildings and the docks are nicely tucked away and protected from storms.
The creek that flowed past the marina was mind-blowingly beautiful. The water is crystal clear and we came in on an outgoing tide, so all kinds of fish were rushing out to the ocean, and a few sharks were lounging around the marina waiting for the fishing boats to return. We followed the creek for at least a mile and a half and literally snorkeled from the dinghy. Every blade of grass, fish and conch could be clearly seen without leaving the dinghy. About a mile into the creek is an anchorage with enough water to hold our boat, mangroves around to tie up to in case of strong winds and definitely something we would keep in mind in case of an unexpected storm in the area. When we decided to turn around, we switched the engine off and just peacefully floated down the stream which felt like we were drifting on air. We came across an older gentleman in a small boat who was quietly fishing and collecting conch. What a peaceful life!
The following day, a slight breeze was blowing and we decided to raise the sails and gently drifted about three miles to the east until we anchored in front of a quaint little village called McQueen’s Settlement.
The pretty white sandy beach was very inviting and we didn’t waste time going ashore. Andre burned our trash while I picked up lovely sponges for the crafts that I do from all the beach treasures that I find.
We walked along the beach and then came across what seemed to be some sort of community center, with a gas grill, bar counter and some picnic tables under a newly constructed structure. There’s a basketball hoop, a children’s play area, but no one in sight. Later a young man came to train for sprints and I was very impressed with his dedication and even his style. Waiting to see if I recognize him on TV somewhere:-)
Across the island was a spot that looked very interesting called Devil’s Point, and we decided to walk there and back. Well, it was a paved road that seemed to go on forever through fairly mundane landscape and after about two miles, we decided to turn back without seeing Devil’s Point – will trust Google Earth that is was worth while seeing-:)
We had lovely BBQ’s on the abandoned grill outside the new structure, found some coconuts and had a great time exploring Whale creek with the dinghy and was again blown away how crystal clear the water was – some areas it was almost an ice blue while other areas it had a greenish look and that off course depended on what the bottom was.
With places so beautiful it is difficult to decide when it is time to move on.