ELECTRONICS
Courtesy of Explorer Chartbooks of the Bahamas
Cruisers picnic on remote Ragged Island thanks to charts
researched by Sara and Monty Lewis, whose Mainship lies
anchored in the background.
but then we would be talking more draft. Our boat is
pretty good for what we do—it has less than 3 feet of
draft and a protected propeller. And it’s pretty
maneuverable. We can get into tight places.”
I personally appreciate the Explorer books for their
treatment of obscure places in the Bahamas. The
Lewises have completed three cruises along the
remote Jumentos archipelago, all the way down to the
tiny settlement of Duncan Town on Ragged Island. By
doing so, the Lewises are mapping one of the paths
that American cruisers will someday use en route to
Cuba once we are permitted to go there. (See “An
Even Greater Loop” PMM Jan. ’ 10.) Duncan Town is
a pretty ambitious destination for a small, single-screw
powerboat, given that only 10 to 15 percent of the
hundreds of North American boats in the Exumas
each winter are power, even though the Exumas are
closer to the United States and feature marinas and
other amenities.
I’ve always been intrigued by a place in the Bahamas
I have never been. Samana Cay is likely the actual first
American landfall by Christopher Columbus, which
happened on Oct. 12, 1492. Samana is about 10 miles
long, and stands 20 nautical miles to the northeast of
Crooked and Acklins Islands (which are themselves
remote and rarely visited). There is an anchorage on
