The cruise ship arrived around 7am and came surprisingly close to shore. Peter figured they draw about 25 feet, we were anchored in 10 feet. The picture is deceptive, the ship was a lot closer than it looks. The tenders started heading from the island to the ship by 7:30. Willy looked up activities offered to the passengers, there was horse back riding on the beach, snorkelling, etc etc, so it was time for us to depart, especially as the music started blasting from the beach, it sounded like the speaker was ten feet a way from us.
Sailing was not an option today, lots of wind, 20+ knots and even bigger waves than yesterday, max 6-7 feet, and some of the big waves close to each other, – but not confused and pretty much on our nose. It was not fun so we decided to head for the closest harbour on Cat Island instead of the one further down we’d planned on. We did motor sail for several hours so the reefed main helped our speed against the waves. We left shortly after 9am and pulled into the lovely calm Bennett’s Harbour around 2pm. The seas did calm down a fair bit for the last two hours when we were in the lee of Cat Island. Interesting fact about Cat Island, Sidney Portier was born on Cat Island.
Willy found a bit of snorkeling not far from our anchorage, and basically we just chilled for the rest of the day and had great BBQ’d chicken for dinner. Peter and Bob are checking out weather and places to stop for the next three days, we want to be at George Town by Friday. Willy and Peter fly home on Sunday so that gives us a full day in George Town on Saturday. We may stay here another day, depending on weather.