18 January 2016: Rudder Cut Cay
      Underway at 1030, we followed Solana  out Big Cut into the Sound once again.  Another spectacular day with a light following wind.  About 18 miles down the Sound we turned in at Galliot Cut.  Solana was making a stop at Galliot Cay, but we decided to continue on to Rudder Cut Cay, via the shallow draft route on the Bank side, following the Visual Piloting Rules.  We continued on for 6 miles, with Kathy spotting from the wheelhouse roof, getting the depth sounder down to 6 feet in several spots..  Eventually we came into the lee of Rudder Cut Cay and had the whole anchorage to ourselves and most importantly no current.  It would be our anchorage in the Exumas without some form of cross current to deal with.  What a relief!  Not to mention good sleeping.
     We dinghied over to explore a deep cut in the island that led to a small pond.  Complete protection there, we will keep it in mind if we ever need protection from a big storm.  (Nevermind the PRIVATE!  TRESSPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED! sign.)  We also explored a big cavern carved by wave action.

Galliot Light  (Bahamian light house)

Cavern at Rudder Cut Cay

19 January: Lee Stocking Island
     The NE wind was blowing 20 - 25 knots today, so no trip to GeorgeTown.  We need to be there by Friday, as Kathy's cousin Veronica will be joining us for a week, but it was 32 miles and the only entrance is from the Sound.  20-25 knots makes the Sound quite rough.  It was noticeably cooler today with the passing of the front, so no swimming or snorkeling today.  Kathy did some computer work and I switched out our anchor rodes, adding some new chafe gear in the process.
     After lunch we decided to make another shallow draft passage on the Bank side.  This time our route had us zig-zagging several miles West of the island chain, far enough away from from the main islands that we had some 2-3 foot seas in the shallow water.  We did manage to get the depth sounder down to 4 feet on this passage, so probably no sailboats are going to follow us along this route.  We rounded Normans Pond Cay and came down alongside Lee Stocking Island to a cove about halfway down.  We anchored there with a sloop called Beans that we've seen before in the Keys.  Our Bank passage managed to knock off about 8 miles from our trip to GeorgeTown planned for tomorrow.