Spanish Wells to Governor’s Harbour to Ten Bay

We left our anchorage at Spanish Wells yesterday at 9:30 am with a planned destination of Governor’s Harbour. As George was walking to the bow to prepare to raise the anchor he saw a small squid on the deck! We have no idea how it got there. I am not aware that squids jump or fly like flying fish. Maybe a large bird dropped its breakfast. In any case, the trail of ink makes us believe it was alive when it landed. 

We timed our departure from Spanish Wells to allow us to arrive at Current Cut around slack tide. Another boat in our anchorage left an hour before us and headed toward Current Cut. We watched them on AIS as they went through the cut. Their speed went from six knots to ten in the middle of the cut. No thanks. That much current can make the boat feel out of control. By the time we arrived, a bit earlier than planned, we had about one knot with us. Not quite slack tide but much more reasonable. We had a nice breeze of 15-20 knots for our sail across to Governor’s Harbour. The harbor has a reputation for being difficult to get an anchor to set. We wanted to arrive with adequate daylight in case it took a few attempts. Once we finally found a good sail plan—reefed main and reefed jib—that kept us moving well without heeling too much, it appeared we would arrive at least an hour before sunset. 

We believed the anchor was setting on the first attempt. However, were only 100 feet from some pilings and would be even closer once we had all the anchor chain out. So, we picked it up and tired again, and again, and again. We made about seven attempts and couldn’t get the anchor to set. Every spot we tried had a thin layer of sand over ledge. As the sun was setting we decided to give up and head south to Ten Bay, where we have successfully anchored before.  If we had had more time, we would have tried anchoring in other spots in the harbor.  We had never visited Governor’s Harbour because of the reputation for poor anchorages and it looks like we won’t be visiting it by boat. It was a strange experience anchoring at Ten Bay in total darkness but we had a track recorded on our chart plotter to a previous anchorage site here. We were a little challenged in the dark (not even any lights on shore) but after three attempts, we were set. 

Today we plan to sail down to Rock Sound and wait there for the next few cold fronts to pass. 

Calamari anyone?