We left mayaguana with a 5 knot breeze, a stark contrast from the previous couple weeks. We weaved through 5 miles of shallows and reefs before striding through the break in the barrier reef to the deep blue once more. Mayaguana was great but it was nice to be moving on to explore new islands, next up, The Plana Cays!
With no real wind, we motored to West Plana Cay. The uninhabited Plana Cays are two roughly 5 mile round Cays next to each other and not much else, both are fringed entirely with the whitest, softest sand you’ll ever see. West Plana gave us good protection and tucked in there in 10 ft of water. Alyssa’s eyes lit up at the beaches we had all to ourselves! So it wasn’t long before we were jumping off the bowsprit and swimming to shore. 
We spent the rest of the day exploring the island, finding shells and since there wasn’t another soul in sight, working on getting rid of those pesky tan lines!
The magical day came to an end with a beautiful sunset and we swam back to the boat. Toting a treasure trove of shells in our drycase backpack. 
We dined on fresh fish from Mayaguana and got ready for the next days sail, a 100 miles to San Salvador!
The next morning we tidied up the boat as we prepared for a bouncier crossing, winds were 15-25kts out of the east making for some decent seas but just the kind of wind Heritage likes. We picked up anchor around noon, hoisted sail and left the dazzling Plana Cays awaiting their next set of footprints.
With the fresh wind, we put a reef in the mainsail and mizzen sail. (A reef is when you tie the sail down so that the whole sail isn’t deployed, with one reef in the sails we had about 3/4 of the sail up to catch wind) we trimmed the sails for a close reach, about 60-70 degrees from straight upwind, and we started plodding along at 5 kts settling in for the overnight sail. Much to our amazement, the sail went off without a hitch! We had gusts where the wind picked up and lulls where it dropped, it sheared a little bit south on us by the next morning so that we were on a broad reach (about 120 degrees from straight upwind). 
By then San Salvador had meandered into sight, one moment we’re in 7,000 ft of water and the next we’re pulling in the sails and dropping anchor into 15 ft of crystal clear water in the same spot Christopher Colombus had back in 1492. While certainly not as momentous as discovering the West Indies, we were certainly happy to be there and glad we had a big sail go off without any trouble, hopefully starting to get the hang of this sailing thing.
San Salvador is famous for three things, the Colombus landing, its world class diving and Wahoo fishing. Having repeated the first, we set off to check out the other two off the list. The scuba spot wasn’t far as the wall drops off about 1/4 mile offshore from 40 ft to 130 in one hand length and then down to 7000 ft in another hands length, it is epic and one of the most beautiful dives either of us have ever seen. The wall was covered in lively coral as we descended to 80 ft. Reef sharks swam below us, groupers hid in the crevices and it was fun to stare up from 80ft down and see the surface clearly. We started our dive late and got back to the surface just in time to catch the sunset!
The next day was a dead calm day so we decided to make a run to the wahoo grounds. 10 miles to the north, we packed for the day with water and snacks and loaded up the dingy.
The long run brought us to open ocean in our little dingy and I jumped in the mesmerizing blue water. Nothing in sight but my flashers (series of bright fishing lures hung from a buoy) and the tip of my Gatku Polespear. It’s a bit crazy but it’s has been one of my goals to polespear one of these giant pelagic fish. Wahoo are a wary fish and it’s tough enough to get close to them with a giant speargun, to try and get one with a polespear that has 1/3 the range of a gun will be a real challenge. Throw in the fact that wahoo are around some of the sharkiest waters and that the fish I’m trying to spear is nearly as long as the dingy I’m on and you might see why a bit crazy is a bit of an understatement. Never the less, I was drifting towards the ledge in the deep blue and like a ghost, a 4 ft long wahoo appears down by my flashers. I dive down and as I close within 25 ft I see something out of the corner of my eye, another wahoo, and then another!! First drift and I’m in a school of Wahoo! The third is the closest, close enough for me to clearly see the fluorescent blue/purple shimmer through its missile body with white stripes cutting through to the white underbelly, I can see the details of its eyes so I know I’m getting close, I act uninterested, hoping it’s curiosity will carry it a couple feet further. Alas, the wahoo turns even and starts moving further away, I close within 15ft but just out of range of the polespear. Out of breath, I return to the surface. The wahoo still circle somewhat playfully below but not enough to fall for any of my tricks and get close enough, I’m happy though, any day I can see a wahoo is a good one and today was just a scouting mission. I call to Alyssa, “You gotta see this! Absolutely incredible.”
To my surprise she agrees, the wahoo have left now so I take the boat back upcurrent and get set up for another drift. This time with Alyssa right by my side, hanging onto the dingy rope as we both drift in the deep blue. We get to see a solo wahoo on the drift and I’m very happy alyssa gets to see what drives my passion for this crazy Bluewater spearing. Alyssa has enough after that drift and sits the next one out as I set up for a last drift, I’ve run out of time on this “scouting day.”
I’m enjoying the peacefulness of the deep blue on the last drift, awaiting wahoo, when out of nowhere a darting 8 ft oceanic White tip makes a beeline for my flashers! it nearly chomps them but turns at the last second, it eyes me up but thinks better of coming closer about 10 ft away. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen one of these aggressive sharks and it’s muscular body makes a fierce sight. Not wanting to mess around while I’m diving solo, Alyssa brings the boat over and I happily hop in. The shark circles for quite a while and happy to observe from the boat as a couple smaller reef sharks join in to see about all the commotion. 
That properly concluded my scouting mission, we packed up and headed to a nearby island, uninhabited by anyone except for some nesting frigatebirds, it’s small beach made for the perfect spot to eat our lunch and unwind from the excitement…
The next day Alyssa was flying out to Eleuthera to check out our wedding spot and much needed break from the roll of our boat. The plan was for me to wait in San Salvador for her to return but a quick look at the weather report that morning quelled that idea. A massive westerly cold front was coming in two days and San Salvador with its exposed coastline is the last place you’d want to be. I’m going to have to find a safe harbor and I’m going to have to move the boat myself! Read the next blog to hear about the adventure…
The bay was like bath water and beautiful conchs, sea biscuits and sand dollars lead my paddle board into shore. As I made my way back I saw a shark circling the boat, unaware of the fish head tied onto the boat I booked it back onboard just as he began to attack his prey.
That afternoon the winds picked up as we were prepared for them to do. We had set a second anchor down anticipating the 35kt winds and aware of the surrounding reefs. As we hunchered down and finished off a few bottles of wine the winds raged outside and we caught up on our downloaded movies (from Netflix, what a miracle!) and while a bit overserved decided to paint our galley (kitchen)… somehow this turned out pretty nice and entertained us for the day!
Though as the days began to pass and the winds remained violent and the bay extremely univiting we got bored of our movies, wine, and frankly, each other. We ventured into land in full foul weather gear, (for those of you who don’t know what that means, it’s basically the equivalent of a snow suit but for rain).
It was amazing how the wind was refreshing on land when out on our boat we felt like we were stuck in the beginning scene of Wizard of Oz. We quickly found the only bar on the island and befriended the bartender Tika (and her whole family). She agreed to give us a full island tour which turned out to be 4hours of getting stuck in sand banks, getting gas (because the only gas station is only open on certain days) and grabbing a quick beer with her friend on the other part of the island. 
The island has three settlements, Abrahams Bay (where we were anchored off of and what is considered the “big city” of the island), Pirates Well (named after the ancient well there built by pirates and still fabled to have pirate treasure stored deep down in it) and Besty Bay (“where the old people live”). We had read that the island had about 300 people though as she counted them off she said it was more like 175ish and throughout the day I think we met at least half of them. The island was unlike anywhere I’ve ever been, it is completely dependent on a mailboat which comes hopefully every two weeks but in the case of hurricanes or bad weather the mailboat may be absent for months, when which the island has to band together. There are two stores on the island, one however is closed for the time being and the other is the front of a woman’s house, it has few odds and ends and the bag of sugar when you need it, but you pay for its full transport from Nassau! 
The one restaurant on the island is Big Regs based out of Big Reggie’s house. He was sweet as could be, welcomed us in, sat us on the couch, turned on the tv and let us charge up our electronics as he cooked up whatever he was having for lunch that day as well! It was cracked conch for lunch and we were full for days!
The winds had died down enough so that we had a weather window so it was time to say goodbye to the sweet faces of Mayaguana. We gifted Willy and Tika a loaf of bread, promised to stay in touch and picked up (both) anchors, On to the uninhabited Plana Cays!