Apsara's Log: Night at Cayo Herradura
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| ================2100 Thursday March 18, 2004 =========================== |
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Was just up on deck and it is a
moonless night, the wind is blowing 25
knots
and the anchorage is rolling with swell despite of the short fetch from
the
reefs to windward. We are about 30 miles off the Venezuelan coast
anchored
behind a very low lying island/reef called Cayo Herradura. There are a
couple of other sailboats in the area and half a dozen small fishing boats
at anchor, the fisherman are ashore in their camps of small shacks made
from
palms and plastic tarps. The beach is long and curving like a horseshoe,
which is what Herradura means, and the sand is the whitest white and very
powdery. There is no electricity and the tiny island reef has only a
couple
dozen fisherman camping here. The water is gorgeously blue - like the
Bahamas. Nanc and I will get up in about five hours, around 2:00 AM to
set
sail for our next destination, the Roques Islands. I have gone from bow
to
stern several times to make sure that everything is where is should be.
Jack lines in place, safety tethers laid out, dingy lashed down,
instruments
working and uncovered, route check and double checked. Heading out into
the
open sea at night from a dark harbor has never been my idea of fun and I
can
tell you it is not Nancy's tonight. All seems safe once the boat is in
deep
waters and making time toward a destination. It is the getting up in the
dark, weighing anchor in the dark, setting sails in the dark and then
navigating out of the harbor in strong winds that makes me uneasy. It
is
all the shallow water and all the hidden rocks. And it is just the dark
in
a remote unfamiliar place.
The sail should be about 90 miles and take us some where between 11 and 12
hours. Our destination is more remote and is between two long reefs. It
is important to have good light when entering shallow waters in order to
spot the reefs and we hope to arrive when the sun is still fairly high in
the sky. The electronic charts that we have are not especially accurate
and
last night they showed us anchored on land. So GPS and the charts will
get
us close after that it will be eyeball navigation to get us safely between
the reefs and into a protected spot.
As we creep out of the anchorage, set Apsara's big mainsail and roll out
the
jib, we will turn and the wind will move behind us and we will sail west
waiting for the sun to raise over our backs. Nancy has made fresh scones
and the Peet's coffee is ground and in the pot waiting for boiling water.
With luck the sunrise will find us one-third of the way there with the
wind still strong, warm buttery scones in our fists and hot coffee in the
thermos. (That or else we'll be on a reef!)
And that's what happened last night to us.
_________________
s/v Apsara
www.svapsara.com
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