Still not much wind, so we are continuing up the shallow west coast of Cat Island at about 3 knots.
We had heard about a cool cave 1/2 mile north of the anchorage at Ben Bluff. We decided to head there.
The sailing was slow, but at least it is dead calm along this coastline, and very beautiful.
We got to Ben Bluff by late afternoon, but it was not a nice anchorage for us.
After threading through the shallow coral heads we found the anchorage off a limestone ridge just off the road. No beach and not good holding. We tried 4 times in different areas, but could not find deep enough sand to bury the anchor.
This late in the afternoon, we had to make a decision. Stay here, with poor holding but light winds predicted, or head off to another anchorage and hope to find better holding there.
We were regretting now that we squeezed in another snorkel, in the morning, rather then getting an earlier start. We were loosing good light to see coral heads.
We decided to head further North up the Island.
A quick look at the charts and we found an anchorage, off the beach on the south side of Alligator Point, that was only a short distance away.
The holding was very good here and I have my beach to run around on.
It is a really lovely swimming beach with soft white sand extending all the way out to the boat.
All worked out well, but we learned a few lesson today.
You can not always depend on Chart and Cruising Guide recommendations for an anchorage. We have a good anchor (a 33kg Rocna) and dropper her in areas of clear sand, at a variety of depths, but could not bury her.
Have a back up plan. We will leave a bit earlier, with a secondary anchorage in mind, for now on. Especially as we need good light to see the coral heads here in the Bahamas.
We have become a little complacent in the calm sailing waters of the Bahamas.
With these calm winds, we have long sailing days ahead, to get north to the Island of Eleuthera.
