The Catamaran Adventures of Noel and Ceu

180 Miles in under 24 Hours – Provo to Rum Cay

Current Location: Rum Cay, Bahamas
Current Position: 23 38.37 N 074 50.34 W Click to view map.
Distance sailed since last post: 181 nautical miles. View the map of our voyage track here

On Provo we rented a car and toured the island a bit. Actually there is not a great deal there to see. The island itself is very flat and dry. No lush tropical vegetation like you would see in the windward islands. However, the water around it is a spectacular blue.

What is there, however, is a conch farm! The only one in the world, they actually breed and raise over a million conch each year. On the short tour you get to see tiny baby conchs, just a few millimiters long, which you would never see in the wild as they bury themselves into the sand until much bigger.

They also have two ‘tame’ conchs who are used to being lifted up, and so instead of retracting into their shell, will actually hang out of the shell. It is the weirdest sight! They have one big ‘foot’ with a sort of claw at the end, which they use for moving around, two eyes set at the end of long stalks, and a mouth that is rather like an elephant’s trunk. They live in the sand and grass areas and graze on the algae that grows on the sea grass.

We then set off for the Bahamas, as we have to get to Nassau by next week in order to pick up Doug and Cheri who will be joining us as crew on the Atlantic crossing. We decided to just do a straight leg from Provo to Rum Cay so as to burn off half of the total 360 miles on one go.

Another beautiful sail! This time the wind was more from the north, so we were on a fetch all the way, in 15 – 25 kt winds, giving us an average speed of 7.5 knots ‘door to door’ with a single reef in the main and full genoa. No spinnaker this time!

As we did so, we finally left the tropics – crossing the Tropic of Cancer at about 06:30 hours. Certainly we have noticed the evenings getting cooler as we have been moving north, though the daytimes are still hot. The water is also cooler but, of course, that is also because it is still only spring time. The sea temperature will warm up through the summer so as to produce this year’s hurricane season once again.

But by then we will be in Europe!

One Response to “180 Miles in under 24 Hours – Provo to Rum Cay”

  • Heidi:

    Pleased to hear that you have a crew. How old are they? How experienced in ocean sailing?

    We had a great holliday in France.

    We look forward to seeing you in June.

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