Friday, January 31, 2025

Calabash Bay


Thompson Bay to Calabash Bay – 23 nautical miles sailed, 3 miles in dinghy, 200 metres snorkelled, 1 squirrel fish

With a 12 knot east wind we pulled anchor and began our 23 mile sail to Calabash Bay, in the northern end of Long Island. And today, with a perfect wind and flat seas, we traveled by sail power alone. It was the best sail of the entire trip as the protection of the land kept the sea chop to a minimum and the wind blew from 7 to 17 knots right on the beam, giving us an average speed of over 6 knots, and even close to 8 knots on occasion. The waters were the most hypnotic shade of blue we’ve seen and at one point a shark crossed our bow at top speed to get out of the way, and we watched him swim away as we ripped by.


There were 5 or 6 boats already at anchor in the northernmost part of the bay, so we went to the same area, plowing the keel through soft sand once or twice as the 3.5 foot tide was dropping into the low end of the cycle. Across from us on the picture perfect beach was the the Cape Santa Maria Beach Resorts. Once anchored we assembled our snorkelling gear and dinghy’d out to the point to see if we could find coral. And coral, we found.


We dropped into a fish aquarium with so many shapes, sizes, and species of fish, it was almost overwhelming. Coral grew throughout the area and the bottom undulated in waves with banks of rock and sandy flats. One column of coral shot straight up like a condo building, breaking the surface slightly, as fish crowded around it, munching. While the girls swam around, in amazement with the quantity of fish, I prowled with my spears, looking for a lobster. It took some time, but finally I found one – two thick antennae poking out from beneath a deep rock ledge. I tried coaxing him out using my spear as a tickler stick, but he wouldn’t budge, then finally he tired of my pestering and disappeared far beneath the ledge, completely out of view. Maybe tomorrow. I did manage to shoot one squirrel fish, and I came so close to getting a big Nassau grouper, but he took off like a rocket just as I had loaded my spear and was about to release it. Again, maybe tomorrow.


We explored another two areas of coral, but one was mainly rock and the other was quite far out in the bay and the water was extremely choppy, so instead we did a dinghy tour of the immaculate shoreline. In addition to the resort, there were a number of private homes, and people walking the beach. We thought of beaching the dinghy for a walk, but the strong wind was a little chilly so we returned to the boat, had a nice sundowner, played some ukulele, listened to music, had chicken, plantains, and coleslaw for dinner, then converted our main salon into a movie theatre and watched The Big Blue, inspired by yesterday’s blue hole experience.

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