18 44.93 N 87 18.77 W
Our next stop was Chinchorro Cays in Mexico. Once again a small island off the Coast. Each sail was overnight so we stopped mainly for a rest. The local Navy has a post on the island and they came over to say hello. The very young officer requested to come aboard and look around – his inspection was extremely quick and cursory – he turned a bright shade of beetroot red – embarrassed with his official requirement to board boats. No doubt he will grow into his importance and become as arrogant as others.
It was scary coming into this bay – over the years I have learned to become very concerned when the water under our keel decreases to 5 metres – now I am a seasoned sailor I panic when the water is less than 3 metres – well the Cays we have been to recently have less than 1 metre – this one was the most heart stopping – we crawled our way into the bay for almost 1 hour with less than 1.5 metres of water under us. Don up the rat lines looking for any coral heads or debris that we may hit. I became so tired of the pressure of watching the depth sounder and trying to navigate the best path – I was tempted to just push the throttle and up the speed – better to get it over with quickly. The water around these parts is so clear that we can see bottom clearly at 4 metres plus, it is very difficult to tell whether the coral head is at 1 metre or 3 metres – ie keep going and pray !!!
Leaving the Chinchorro Banks we had a very fast passage in NE'ly winds of 20 knots and a bonus 3 knot current behind us – we were making an unheard of speed of 7-8 knots so we were starting to feel the effects of the Gulf Stream already.
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